"There are people who want something other than the iPhone, and Softbank is not short-changing those customers," said Softbank CEO. He stressed that all of the seven smartphone models the company is launching carry the latest 2.2 version of Android, which is "far superior" to the previous 2.1 version.

Samsung Electronics said that three million out of its seven million global Galaxy S smartphones shipments were made to the United States since it launched the phone here in July.

Gold prices surged above US$1,400 a troy ounce on November 8, setting a fresh nominal all-time high after World Bank president Robert Zoellick said leading economies should look at a modified global gold standard to guide currency movements.

Kingston Technology has appointed Ingram Micro as one of its national distributors for its DRAM business in India.

"The company has a small foundry business, which operates under the radar and is 'always looking' for customers," according to one source. "The company has been doing this for sometime, but not saying anything about it or at least not publicizing it."

South Korea's SK Telecom said that it will supply mobile content for smartphones made by China's top personal-computer maker Lenovo in a move that would help the mobile phone carrier to strengthen its presence in the highly-competitive content distribution market.

Analysts expect Qualcomm to benefit from new drivers in the market, including the launch of the revamped Windows Phone platform and the expected expansion of Apple's iPhone to new carriers in 2011.

"Overall, the SIA forecast for 2012 looks like the "death" of the semiconductor industry, and we couldn't disagree more!" said Bill McClean, president of IC Insights. In IC Insights opinion, 2012 has tremendous upside potential for the semiconductor industry.

One iPhone owner filed a lawsuit against Apple claiming the company deliberately released a software upgrade that would turn earlier models of the iPhone into "virtually useless iBricks."

Bank of America and Citigroup are considering to let employees use the iPhone as an alternative to BlackBerry for corporate e-mail, said three sources. The banks are testing software for the iPhone that's designed to make it secure enough for company messages.

Dell will shift 25,000 of its employees from RIM's BlackBerry to its own smartphones, the company said.

3D smartphones will soon be a reality--if you live in Japan, that is. Two upcoming Sharp smartphones will offer a 3D-capable display.

Samsung Electronics and LG Display, the world's top two flat-panel makers by shipments, received approval from the Chinese government to set up LCD manufacturing plants in the mainland, two people familiar with the matter said Friday, highlighting the next big wave for LCD makers, which had previously preferred to keep their technology at home.

What happened to the computer industry is now taking place again with mobile phones but at a much faster pace.

Solyndra said it has scuttled its factory expansion in Fremont, a move that will stop the company's plans to hire 1,000 workers.

Elpida will slash production at its Hiroshima site and at the plant of Taiwanese subsidiary Rexchip Electronics and will consider postponing the construction of a plant in Taiwan, the Nikkei reported.