ELECTRONICS

Motorola Inc and Nortel Networks Corp are in talks to combine their wireless infrastructure units, the Wall Street Journal reported, quoting people familiar with the situation.

Samsung and LG Electronics on Monday showed new phones using free Linux software from Mobile Linux foundation, which said in total 18 phones from seven vendors would use its software.

After being on the market for slightly over 200 days, Apple's iPhone managed to take second place in the U.S smartphone market behind Research in Motion's venerable Blackberry, and ahead of Motorola offerings, but some experts contend the growth may shot lived unless the firm's business model changes.

The good news for the environment is that U.S. consumers who bought new mobile handsets in the fourth quarter of 2007 recycled their old phones at double the rate that they did in the third quarter.

Internet phone company Vonage Holding Corp. (NYSE:VG) has substantially completed workarounds in its Internet based telephone systems to begin moving away from technology that violated patents.

Ericsson (ERICb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research) Chief Executive Carl-Henric Svanberg said on Friday the Swedish firm would eye any assets put up for sale by U.S. rival Motorola Inc (MOT.N: Quote, Profile, Research), but would be very cautious about any deal.

Dell will close about 140 retail kiosks in the U.S., in an effort to adjust its evolving product distribution strategy.

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson said it had signed deals with 10 music labels to add content to its PlayNow service, which lets users download music via their mobile phones.

Microsoft and Dell on Wednesday said they will team up to release a Product Red computer and donate $80, for every computer sold, to Global Fund for AIDS medication in Africa.

Japan is planning government-backed exams for phone guides who will help users navigate their increasingly complicated mobile phones.

Japanese electronics firm Fujitsu Ltd said on Monday it would put its struggling semiconductor operations into a new unit, in a move that could smooth the way for partnerships with other chip makers.

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson posted better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings on Wednesday and said it gained market share in that period and in 2007 as a whole. Sony Ericsson, owned by Ericsson and Sony Corp., said in a statement it made a pretax profit of 501 million euros versus 384 million in the third quarter and 502 million a year earlier. The company's goal is still to become one of the top three players in the industry.

Intel reported disappointing earnings for its fourth quarter and an outlook for the current quarter that were below Wall Street expectations, dimming the near future view for electronics.

TCL Corp 000100.SZ began sending BlackBerry handsets to partner China Mobile in 2007's fourth quarter, suggesting the launch of the popular email device in China is just around the corner.

Consumer electronics maker Toshiba Corp said on Monday it is slashing prices of its HD DVD format players by between 40 to 50 percent as major Hollywood studios move to embrace Sony Corp's Blu-ray format high definition DVDs.

Sprint Nextel Corp. plans to lay off several thousand employees, according to a media report Monday.

From tiny music players that dance as they play tunes to smarter toothbrushes and curvy computer screens, U.S. consumers can count on being wowed by another year of cool digital gadgets in the coming year.

Apple on Wednesday announced its move to reduce prices for music on its U.K. iTunes store so as to match the pricing in other European countries after an inquiry by a European Union on a pricing complaint from a British consumer group.

Comcast Corp on Wednesday denied interfering with file-sharing services and promised to cooperate with the U.S. regulators to settle concerns about how it manages its internet traffic.

Microsoft will not launch a product that competes directly with Apple's iPhone, Chairman Bill Gates said in an interview with Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. No, we won't do that. In the so-called smart phone business we will concentrate solely on software with our Windows Mobile program, Gates was quoted as saying in the interview published on Wednesday.

The toll that economic uncertainty has taken on U.S. consumer electronics retailers was made very clear on Tuesday by Circuit City CEO Phil Schoonover. I am not smiling, Schoonover said, when asked to reflect on his 2007 sales.