ELECTRONICS

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co said on Friday that Nokia's replacement of mobile phone batteries made by the Japanese electronics maker is likely to cost it 10-20 billion yen ($86-$172 million).

Nikon Corp's newest advanced cameras and a lineup of fresh faces will help it outrun rival Canon Inc in a scramble for loyal fans throughout Asia, Nikon executives said on Thursday.

Nokia, the world's top cellphone maker, said on Thursday India overtook the United States in the second quarter to become its second-biggest market by sales after China.

Sharp Corp said it has developed the world's thinnest and lightest LCD TVs with enhanced picture quality, in a pre-emptive move before the release of organic light-emitting diode TVs, known for their thin displays and crisp images.

Struggling electronics maker Sanyo Electric Co said on Tuesday its mobile phone operations will likely turn profitable in the current quarter to the end of September, helped by brisk demand for its latest models.

A recent flurry of deals shows the cell phone microchip market may be about to shrink as some small players take a step toward the big leagues and others get squeezed out.

Viacom Inc's MTV Networks is expected to on Tuesday announce plans to merge its online digital music offerings into a joint venture with music software company RealNetworks Inc, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Viacom Inc's Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc said on Monday they will release their next-generation DVD titles exclusively on HD DVD ahead of what they say could be the biggest holiday season ever for DVDs.

The top executives of Cisco Systems Inc. and Microsoft Corp. said on Monday that they would ensure their products work together, seeking to prevent customers from putting off buying decisions.

Nokia said on Friday it had asked the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to bar the import of some Qualcomm Inc chipsets to the United States, alleging they are infringing five Nokia patents.

Dell Inc said on Thursday it would restate four years of financial results, reducing net income for the period by as much as $150 million and revenue by 1 percent or less per year, after the former leading PC maker completed a lengthy audit of its accounting.

Shares of Apple Inc. tumbled as much as 7 percent on Thursday as investors targeted the high-flying stock in a general U.S. market slide prompted by credit fears.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's top contract chip maker, said on Thursday Microsoft Corp. has started using TSMC's 90-nanometre-embedded-DRAM process technology for the production of the Xbox 360 game console.

Orange, the mobile phone arm of telecoms group France Telecom, declined to comment on Wednesday on reports it had won the license to sell Apple Inc.'s iPhone in France.

Blu-ray high-definition movie discs outsold films on the rival HD-DVD format by 2-to-1 in the United States in the first half of 2007, Home Media Research said on Tuesday.

Publisher HarperCollins said on Wednesday it would make samples from 14 new book titles available for Apple Inc's Web-browsing iPhone in a new effort to extend publishing into digital formats.

Nokia said 46 million batteries used in its phones could overheat and it would replace them free to consumers while negotiating with battery maker Matsushita over who would bear the costs.

Trendy dorm furnishings and stylish cell phones should spur U.S. college students and their parents to spend nearly 9 percent more on back-to-school items this year, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

Stock of Lenovo Group Ltd, the world's No. 3 maker of personal computers, may be overpriced when compared with its peers Hewlett-Packard and Dell , Barron's said on Sunday.

Japan's Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. is considering selling its loss-making mobile phone operations and is already in preliminary talks with several domestic cellphone makers, a source close to the matter said.

Vivendi's Universal Music Group, the world's largest music label, on Thursday said it will test the sale of songs from artists such as Amy Winehouse, 50 Cent and the Black Eyed Peas, without customary copy-protection technology.