China surpasses US smartphone shipments

China has pushed ahead of the US for the first time in terms of the number of smartphone shipments, with a total of 23.9 million devices being delivered to operators in the country during the third quarter, compared to 23.3 million in the US, according to Digital Trends.

Data from research firm Strategy Analytics shows that in China, smartphone shipments increased by a sizable 58% over the previous quarter, whereas in the US they fell by 7%.

Strategy Analytics director Tom Kang pointed to the wider availability of smartphones in retail channels, aggressive subsidising by providers of high-end phones such as Apple's iPhone, and the emergence of low-cost Android models as reasons for the rapid growth in China's smartphone market.

Network equipment maker Nokia Siemens Networks is to undergo a mammoth restructuring programme, which will see it shed 17 000 employees across the globe, as it refocuses on the mobile broadband market, reports Computing.co.uk.

The move comes amid intense competition from Chinese rivals ZTE and Huawei.

The company will aim to shave EUR1 billion off its operating costs by the end of 2013, mainly by cutting more than 17 000 jobs - about 13% of its total workforce.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs' $4.6 billion worth of shares in The Walt Disney Co are now in a trust run by his wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, reveals the Associated Press.

That is according to a securities filing made yesterday. Jobs acquired the 138 million shares when Disney bought his Pixar Animation Studios for $7.4 billion in 2006.

With a 7.7% stake, Jobs' trust is Disney's largest single shareholder.

Groupon, the largest Internet daily-deal site, plunged for a third day, falling below its initial public offering (IPO) price for the first time, writes Bloomberg Businessweek.

The stock tumbled 16%, to $16.96 yesterday, at the close in New York. Groupon, up 31% before this week, raised $700 million selling 35 million shares at $20 each on 3 November, the biggest IPO by a US Internet company since Google first sold shares in 2004.

Groupon was dragged down this week on concern that profit margins will be squeezed by surging marketing costs and competition from rivals such as LivingSocial.com, backed by Amazon.com.