Chinese tech titans clash

Two of China's biggest technology companies have set a court battle in Europe over mobile phone patents in a rare public clash between firms Beijing is promoting as national champions, reports the Associated Press.

The fight between Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp highlights the challenge for communist leaders who need to manage Chinese corporate ambitions as they try to create global competitors in telecoms, energy and other fields.

It is the first case of its kind between major Chinese companies, which usually settle disputes in private.

A letter purporting to represent the Anonymous hacking group claims the organisation was not behind the PlayStation Network attack, reveals Cnet.

“If a legitimate and honest investigation... is conducted, Anonymous will not be found liable,” reads the letter, which was posted to the Web. “While we are a distributed and decentralised group, our 'leadership' does not condone credit card theft.”

The letter is a response to accusations on Sony's part that Anonymous is responsible for last month's massive assault on its customer data.

Even as the smartphone market has been undergoing major shifts, sales continue to climb, according to research firm IDC, says V3.co.uk.

The company says its most recent worldwide quarterly report logged an estimated 99.6 million smartphone sales over the first quarter of the year, an increase of 79.7% over the same period in 2010.

IDC senior research analyst Ramon Llamas says the smartphone market is currently in a “perfect storm” as users look to adopt new handsets, while vendors are increasingly looking to add features and drop prices as they move from high-end to lower-end markets.

Samsung is to unveil a mobile device based on Google's Chrome OS at an event to be held on 11 May to celebrate the search giant's I/O conference, in San Francisco, according to a report yesterday on the Telegraph Web site, notes Computing.co.uk.

Very much seen as Google founder Larry Page's baby, the Chrome OS is currently to be found on the experimental CR-48 laptop, which the firm made available free to developers and potential users late last year.

The CR-48 received a mixed reception from users, with Iain Thomson of V3.co.uk torn between admiration and confusion.