"Windows remains committed to the ARM platform," a Microsoft spokesman told CNET. "We are looking forward to new ARM-based Windows devices that will launch later this year."

Nokia sold 7.4 million Lumia smartphones in the second quarter, its best yet for sales of the Windows Phone devices, but still made a net loss.

Huawei would consider buying Nokia to help it become the world's leading smartphone maker, according to the head of the Chinese telecom group's consumer business.

Qualcomm has expanded its Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processors portfolio to include support for Microsoft Windows RT 8.1.

As the PC market continues to tip further into free fall - with IDC forecasting a 7.8% sales decline this year - one Wall Street analyst suggested Tuesday that PC buyers will continue to wait for Windows Blue and the second half of 2013 to upgrade their PCs.

Canonical introduces the Ubuntu tablet interface, which will compete with Android, iOS, and Windows with its own take on multitasking and advanced security features. The launch is the next step in Canonical's quest to unify phones, tablets, PCs, and TVs.

HTC has scrapped plans to produce a large-screen smartphone using Microsoft's operating system because the screen would have had lower resolution than competing models, according to a person familiar with the project.

Microsoft's instant messaging and video chat are set for a major shake-up, with Microsoft announcing today that the Windows Live Messenger brand and client will be retired in the first quarter of 2013. They'll be replaced by the Skype client and Skype name everywhere, except for China, which will retain the Messenger naming.

The Japanese electronics maker said in a statement that it's not introducing tablets based on Windows RT due to delayed components "that would make a timely launch impossible." Instead, Toshiba will focus on bringing Windows 8 devices, which run on chips from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), to market.

Qualcomm is providing chips for new devices from Dell and Samsung Electronics that run Microsoft's Windows RT operating system, people familiar with the matter said.

Qualcomm has lowered its forecast of global cellular device shipments for 2012 due to a gloomy economic outlook, though it expects device sales to surge in the fourth quarter because of upcoming products, a likely reference to Apple's iPhone and Microsoft's Windows 8 tablets.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) said it will hold off selling tablets based on ARM technology when the next version of Microsoft's Windows operating system debuts later this year.

Qualcomm has just confirmed that it will supply its dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus chipset to power future Windows phones.