AFP - British mobile phone giant Vodafone Group Plc has sought an extra two months to reply to a two-billion-dollar Indian tax claim over its purchase of India's third-largest mobile operator.
PC World - Lenovo will offer Qualcomm's latest Gobi multimode 3G (third-generation) mobile data chipset on ThinkPad laptops, allowing users to connect to the world's two major types of 3G networks and use assisted GPS for location-based services.
PC World - Two competing approaches to equipping mobile phones with contactless communications capabilities vied for supporters at the Cartes exhibition in Paris this week. Either approach could turn phones into self-service electronic tour guides, travel tickets or secure payment terminals.
AFP - Nokia, the world's biggest mobile phone maker, said on Friday it would shed about 330 jobs in Finland and Denmark as part of a streamlining of its vast research and development operations.
InfoWorld - Vapor was in the air this week as rumors swirled around two products that exist only as pixels, not molecules: the Google Phone and the Apple Tablet. In its war over 3G ads, AT&T fired back at Verizon (and missed); Twitter got dissed; and Activision dodged a Kalashnikov bullet with its wildly popular Modern Warfare 2. Can you hit the bull's-eye with this week's quiz? Give yourself 10 points for each correct answer. Now: ready, aim ... fire!
Reuters - French mobile phone games company Gameloft said it and other software developers were cutting back investment in developing games and other applications for Google's Android platform.
PC World - China Mobile is working with partners in Japan and South Korea to set up trials of TD-SCDMA networks as part of a bid to promote use of the Chinese-developed 3G mobile technology outside China.
PC World - The sale of games, mobile apps, e-books and more have been brisk on China Mobile's app store, Mobile Market, since billing started this month, executives from the company say.
PC World - For some reason, Luke Wilson is taking AT&T's side in the 3G coverage wars, appearing in a new ad that retaliates against Verizon Wireless' stinging assault.
PC World - Taiwanese electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn will make a handset for China Mobile next year that supports software developed by the Joint Innovation Lab (JIL) joint venture, according to the head of China Mobile.JIL is a joint venture established by China Mobile, Vodafone, Verizon Wireless and Softbank Mobile to develop software and services for their 1.1 billion mobile phone customers.
AFP - Online auction giant eBay announced it had completed its sale of Skype to an investment group that includes the two founders of the Web communications company.
PC World - China Unicom's next-generation mobile service won more than 1 million users in its first month, a number that took rival China Mobile seven months to reach with its homegrown 3G standard.
PC World - It seems the mobile world is full of silly little battles these days. You've got the AT&T-Verizon ad assault. There's that ever-popular Droid-iPhone rivalry. And then, of course, everyone's favorite Google Phone debate: Is there a Google Phone? If there were one, would it harm other Android phones? Or could it become -- gasp -- the elusive iPhone killer?
NewsFactor - AT&T isn't holding back in responding to attacks from Verizon Wireless. After losing a court fight to stop Verizon from airing commercials that pointed out holes in AT&T's 3G service, AT&T is responding with its own commercial.
NewsFactor - With the public beta of Office 2010, Microsoft is offering an intriguing future for the world's most popular productivity suite. The new version features integration with web-based, lightweight versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint; a mobile version; and social-networking features bolted onto Outlook.
AP - Shoppers face a dizzying array of offers of help in the form of new Web sites, services and mobile phone applications as they set out for their holiday shopping this year.
Reuters - Top cell phone maker Nokia has seen growing interest among companies for its first netbook or mini-laptop, a company executive said on Thursday.
AP - The Associated Press poll on health care, by Stanford University with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, was conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media from Oct. 29 to Nov. 8. It is based on landline and cell phone interviews with a nationally representative random sample of 1,502 adults. Interviews were conducted with 1,052 respondents on landline telephones and 450 on cell phones.
AP - Shares of Malaysia's top mobile phone company Maxis Berhad jumped 9.2 percent on their return to the bourse Thursday following the biggest share sale ever in Southeast Asia.