Apple has been criticized by Chinese green groups for lax corporate oversight of its suppliers in China, leading to poor environmental and work safety standards that poisoned dozens of factory workers.

In a sign of the rapid shift away from non-smartphones, Apple has recently become the number-one provider of mobile phones, finally surpassing the Finnish giant Nokia as "feature phones" fall out of fashion.

Apple has signed a new deal with AT&T. A non-exclusive deal that is multi year and multiple product.

Apple acknowledged that it still can't make enough iPhones to meet demand, and the addition of the Verizon iPhone will simply add to the crunch.

Jobs, 55, has suffered in the past decade from two serious medical conditions. In 2004, he disclosed he had surgery to remove a rare form of pancreatic tumor. In 2009, he had a liver transplant.

Steve Jobs said in an email to all Apple employees that the board of directors has granted him a medical leave of absence. Jobs will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company. COO Tim Cook will be responsible for all of Apple's day to day operations.

Verizon Wireless unveiled its plans for the iPhone 4, saying the Apple smartphone will be available beginning Feb. 10, with certain Verizon Wireless customers being able to pre-order Feb. 3. A 16 gigabyte Verizon iPhone will sell for $199.99, while a 32 gigabyte will go for $299.99, each with a two-year customer agreement.

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.

The company terminated its employment of Manosha Karunatilaka on December 16, the day of his indictment. Karunatilaka was one of three technology company workers arrested in the US yesterday on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud as federal prosecutors expanded a probe of insider trading to companies.

Nokia sued Apple on Thursday in Britain, Germany and the Netherlands, alleging that the U.S. technology company used 13 of its patents, including a basic touch-screen maneuver, without its permission.

RIM on Thursday claimed another record quarter for the fall. It shipped 14.2 million BlackBerry phones, or just enough to top Apple's 14.1 million iPhones in the summer. The tally was 40 percent higher than a year earlier.

Toshiba will spend about US$1.19 billion to build a new fabrication plant to produce the panels for Apple.

None of the companies involved in the bidding have publicly disclosed their participation. But those patents are likely what Apple is most interested in, since it's rumored that a "Verizon iPhone" will come with LTE support.

In the smartphone business, the conventional wisdom is that everyone is battling for third place behind Google and Apple.