The worldwide mobile phone market grew 19.8% on year in the first quarter of 2011 fueled by high smartphone growth, especially in emerging markets, and gains made by market challengers, according to IDC.

Future versions of Motorola's Atrix smartphone-laptop combo will be rolled out as Android "alternatives" to tablets and other newfangled devices, Motorola's chief executive said this week.

"Nintendo 3DS has not been selling as expected since the second week [of availability], and this is not just in the Japanese market but also in the US and Europe, where no direct impact from the great earthquake has occurred," said Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.

Sony plans to resume production of Blu-ray and other optical discs at a tsunami-hit factory in northern Japan in late May, according to the company.

Panasonic plans to cut 40,000 jobs globally over the next two years, the Kyodo news agency and the Nikkei business daily reported. The job losses represent about 10% of the company's workforce, and most of the cuts will come from the company's overseas divisions.

ARM, the UK designer of chips that help power Apple's iPhone, said first-quarter sales rose 26% on booming demand for smartphones and tablet computers.

Video games giant Nintendo has seen its annual profits slump by 66%, hurt by a strong yen and a drop in sales.