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News

• Australians ready for NFC technology

  Australia has a major opportunity to become a world class innovator in near field communications (NFC) services, says Communications Council Chairman, Ian McDonald

• Elpida develops thin memory device for tablets, phones

  Elpida Memory and subsidiary Akita Elpida Memory said Wednesday that they have developed technology to mass-manufacture a four-layer DRAM package just 0.8 millimeters thick that can be used to pack more memory into thinner mobile phones and tablets.

• UK mobile operators join forces on mobile wallet

  Everything Everywhere, O2 and Vodafone plan to create a joint venture in the U.K. that will allow users to pay for goods using NFC-equipped phones, they said on Thursday.

• Nokia loses U.K. patent battle against IPCom

  Nokia is infringing on a patent owned by German company IPCom, the U.K. High Court ruled today. IPCom will be seeking damages and an injunction banning the sale of the Finnish company's 3G phones, it said in a statement.

• Airline picks NFC stickers over phones for new service

  Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) will allow its most frequent flyers to check in using NFC-compatible stickers, the company said on Tuesday.

• Logitech's LifeSize aims for Android video soon

  Logitech's LifeSize division expects to bring one-way video streaming to Android devices in a few months and introduce a two-way videoconferencing system to tablets and smartphones later this year.

• Nokia confident about first Windows Phone arriving in Q4

  Nokia has "increased confidence" that the first of its smartphones with Windows Phone will ship in the fourth quarter, the company said on Tuesday.

• Software AG acquires mobile app platform developer Metismo

  Software AG has acquired Metismo, the U.K. creator of a mobile development platform that allows applications to be deployed natively on multiple smartphone operating systems, it said on Tuesday at its ProcessWorld event in Berlin.

• Mobile phones are great for phishers, researchers find

  Computer users seem to be getting better at spotting fake websites that are trying to steal their passwords, but when it comes to mobile phones, the deck is most definitely stacked against them.

• Broadcom sees NFC in 10 percent of phones next year

  NFC (near-field communication) will hit the big time in mobile phones next year, joining an array of emerging features that carriers are clamoring for, according to communications chip maker Broadcom.

• Gartner: Android and Apple win big globally in Q1

  Android became the most popular smartphone operating system worldwide in the first quarter of 2011, while Apple saw its share of the market grow, according to a report Gartner issued Thursday on sales of mobile phones to end users.

• Apple wants smaller SIM cards for its future phones

  Apple has proposed a standard for new, smaller SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards, in an effort to free up more space on future smartphones.

• Trade judge rules against Apple's Kodak complaint

  One administrative law judge of the U.S. International Trade Commission has ruled that Kodak did not infringe Apple patents in its cameras, possibly setting the stage for dismissal of a complaint by Apple.

• European banks work on guidelines for NFC payments

  The European Payments Council (EPC), which represents the European banking industry, has released a <a href="http://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/news_detail.cfm?news_id=195">draft version of guidelines</a> it hopes will give the use of NFC (Near Field Communications) for payments a boost.

• Nokia hands Symbian OS work and 3,000 employees to Accenture

  Nokia will outsource its Symbian software activities to Accenture, transferring 3,000 employees to the company in the process, as it moves its focus to making phones running on Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system.