Sony is likely to announce closures of Japanese factories and major divisions early next month, the Times of London said on Monday, but the company denied any such plan existed. The maker of Bravia flat TVs and PlayStation video game consoles faces halting sales and mounting piles of inventory in the wake of the financial crisis, even as a stronger yen bites into earnings.

LG Electronics has lately been trumpeting its plans to debut a 3G wristwatch phone with a touch screen technology at CES 2009. The LG-GD910 watch phone is expected to first be sold in Europe next year, although an exact release date has yet to be determined.

It seems that Samsung will be the first tier one handset maker to release an Android phone, pipping Motorola, Huawei and Sony Ericsson to the post with a 2Q launch in the US planned.

"We will continue to combine market share and margins in the right way in order to maximize the bottom line," Nokia CEO Kallasvuo was quoted as saying in an interview. This in stark contrast to some of its smaller rivals, like LG Electronics, who have said they will do anything to reach their sales targets.

Samsung Electronics has been ordered to pay 50 million yuan (US$7.3 million) to a Chinese company for infringing its dual-mode cellphone patent, Xinhua news agency reported. Samsung was sued by Holley Communications in April last year for violating a patented technology allowing cellphones to operate on both CDMA and GSM networks, Xinhua said.

Research In Motion (RIM) is suing Motorola, alleging that the mobile phone company improperly blocked the BlackBerry maker from hiring current and laid-off Motorola employees.

India is hopeful an auction for third-generation (3G) radio waves next month will draw in bids at a "few times" the reserve price of 20.20 billion rupees ($415 million), a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Panasonic is moving to acquire Sanyo Electric after squabbling Sanyo shareholders agreed to a plan whereby the smaller electronics company will be acquired for around US$9 billion. US investment powerhouse Goldman Sachs agreed to participate in the deal for a price per share of 131 yen (US$1.47) after it had rejected an earlier price of 130 yen.

Handset maker Nokia is selling its Internet security business to Check Point Software Technologies for an undisclosed sum. Israel-based Check Point says the acquisition will help it expand its lineup of security products.