Motorola unveils 'BlackBerry killer'

Sprint Nextel's renewed partnership with handset maker Motorola could be yet another blow to BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, as the company struggles to remain relevant among a flood of new products from competitors, says Cnet.

Yesterday, Motorola unveiled the Photon 4G, a high-end smartphone sporting the latest Google Android software, and packed with new security features that could make it an attractive BlackBerry killer for Sprint customers.

“Our enterprise customers definitely have more choices now,” said David Owens, a product development executive at Sprint. “Motorola and really all the Android players are putting pressure on RIM.”

Xhead = UK tech valued at £81bn

The UK has the second-biggest ICT sector in Europe, worth an estimated EUR92 billion (£81 billion), according to data from analyst firm Forrester, reveals Computing.co.uk.

Germany has the biggest ICT industry at EUR99 billion, while France has the third-largest. All three countries combined represent 50% of the European ICT market.

And the Eurozone's ICT market is set to grow by 3.8% in 2011, to total EUR553 billion. This compares with the US tech market at EUR738 billion and Asia-Pacific's at EUR675 billion.

Apple is relaxing its iPad subscription rules in a move likely to be welcomed by newspaper and magazine publishers building applications for the popular tablet in a bid to increase revenue, notes AFP.

The company will no longer require publishers to offer subscriptions through its App Store at the same price or less than offered elsewhere, according to the Web site MacRumors.

Apple takes a 30% cut of subscriptions purchased through the App Store. Some publishers had criticised the size of the cut and expressed displeasure with some of the guidelines laid down by Apple when it unveiled its subscription service for digital newspapers and magazines on the iPhone or iPad in February.

Citigroup has become the latest victim in a string of high-profile data thefts by hackers targeting some of the world's best-known companies, reports the Associated Press.

The New York bank said yesterday that about 200 000 Citibank credit card customers in North America had their names, account numbers and e-mail addresses stolen by hackers who broke into Citi's online account site.

The breach comes after data attacks in recent weeks have struck at companies including Internet search leader Google, defence contractor Lockheed Martin, and media and electronics company Sony.