Apple's next-generation iPad contains chips made by Toshiba, Broadcom and Texas Instruments, according to an initial tear-down report by gadget-repair site iFixit. Toshiba supplied the device's storage chips, iFixit said, while Broadcom made the chips used for wireless Internet access. TI chips were used to control the iPad's touchscreen.

Although more flash production capacity is coming online, SanDisk CEO Sanjay Mehrotra downplayed the risk that oversupply will hurt prices this year.

Apple has started production of a new version of its iPad tablet computer. It will have a front-facing camera for the first time. The new iPad will be available through Verizon and AT&T, but not Sprint or T-Mobile in the U.S.

HTC has filed for a trademark for a product called HTC Scribe, describing it as a "handheld wireless device, namely a tablet computer." The filing was recorded with the US Patent and Trademark Office on Dec. 26.

Imagination will pay US$27 million cash for Caustic Graphics. The deal comes less than a month after the chip designer agreed a deal to buy US-based HelloSoft for up to US$47m to assist its push into video and voice-over Internet protocol products and expand its WiFi offering.

In an online video, the Canadian wireless giant further raised its war of words with Apple by showing how its PlayBook dwarfs the iPad for just about every application.

Western Digital has sought to reassure investors about the slowing hard-drive business, as the advent of tablet computers eats into computer demand.

A new mobile device activation report from Good Technology shows that Apple's iPhone and iPad and smartphones based on Google's Android operating system are being adopted by consumers to help with their enterprise work.

Motorola alleges that Apple's iPhone, iPad, iTouch and some Macintosh computers illegally use Motorola's technology.