ELECTRONICS

Robust demand for cheaper phones boosted third-quarter earnings at Nokia Oyj, the world's biggest maker of cell phones, with the better than expected profits sending its shares higher.

Sony Corp will sell its production facilities for making key microchips used in its PlayStation 3 game console to Toshiba Corp, pulling back from the heavy investment needed.

Sony Corp will launch a cheaper model of its PlayStation 3 in the United States, hoping to attract more buyers as it goes up against rival game consoles from Microsoft and Nintendo this holiday.

Apple Inc Chief Executive Steve Jobs said on Wednesday that outside developers will be allowed to create programs for the iPhone, changing a policy that had angered many.

Sprint Nextel Corp plans to sell a touch-screen phone from Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corp this holiday season, hoping to help stem customer losses to Apple Inc's iPhone, which is only available from AT&T Inc.

Shares in telecoms equipment maker Ericsson plunged more than 29 percent on Tuesday, their biggest intraday fall on record, after the firm said third-quarter earnings were well short of expectations. Last month, Ericsson executives had been more optimistic, saying the company was poised to grab an even bigger slice of the markets it targets.

Appliance and handset maker LG Electronics Inc posted a better-than-expected 15-fold rise in quarterly profit on Tuesday, boosted by rising demand for displays and mobile phones.

Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday said third-quarter profit fell, hurt by restructuring charges and weak demand for its Procrit anemia drug, but the results handily beat Wall Street expectations.

U.S. broadcasters promised on Monday to air more than $327 million worth of television spots as part of a broad campaign to alert consumers about the approaching switch-over to digital television.

For Real Networks' Rhapsody digital music service, there's no place like home. The company has teamed with TiVo to bring subscription-based on-demand streaming music into the living room directly from Internet-connected TiVo digital video recorders.

Nokia slashed this week around 15 percent off from the price of its 3G phone model E65, one of the top sales and profit generators for the world's largest cellphone maker, market data showed on Friday.

Tokyo-Sony Financial Holdings Inc. raised 348 billion yen ($2.9B) in its initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange this Thursday.

Japan's Sanyo Electric Co Ltd said it has reached a basic agreement to sell its loss-making mobile phone business to Kyocera Corp, creating the world's seventh-largest cellphone provider.

Shares of Sony Financial Holdings Inc rose nearly 4 percent on their debut on Thursday, as a stock market rebound boosted demand for the financial firm that recently completed Japan's largest IPO this year.

Retail shares were mixed on Tuesday despite a strong performance from Costco Wholesale Corp, which rose sharply on expectations of higher profits.

Philips Electronics is selling about $2.2 billion worth of shares in flat screen maker LG Philips LCD Co Ltd, reducing its stake to about 20 percent, a term sheet said on Wednesday.

South Korean display screen maker Samsung SDI Co said on Wednesday it started mass producing ultra thin flat screens and would double capacity by next year, sending its shares surging 14 percent.

Tokyo-Sony Corp.’s game unit announced Tuesday that it will cut the prices of PlayStation3 game consoles and sell a cheaper edition of PS3 in Japan.

South Korean flat-screen maker LG.Philips LCD Co. Ltd. posted its strongest profit in 13 quarters on Tuesday, helped by tight supplies and growing demand that is expected to keep the sector healthy through 2008.

Sony Corp said it would cut the price of its PlayStation 3 game console by 10 percent in Japan and launch a new model, in a bid to ignite demand in the run-up to the critical year-end shopping season.

Wireless chipmaker Broadcom Corp said on Sunday that number-two cell phone maker Samsung Electronics Co Ltd was shipping next-generation handsets that use its chips to cellular operators.