Bloomberg financial news posted a just updated version of Steve Jobs' obituary online on Wednesday, according to Computerworld (US). The offending item was hastily removed. There has been speculation that Jobs' pancreatic cancer, treated four years ago, had returned. Jobs insists it hasn't.
Nevertheless, Apple found itself in trouble with the UK's advertising watchdog for claiming that the whole internet was available via the iPhone, whereas in fact it doesn't support Flash, among other things. Still most consumers don't care how the internet is rendered on their handsets and I have no recollection of any of the operators (most especially O2) being reprimanded for their wildly optimistic claims about WAP, as Ovum substantiates.
Apple can console itself with the news that T-Mobile Germany has now sold more than 120,000 3G iPhones and the fact that Microsoft is on a mission - to eclipse Adobe's Flash with its own Silverlight video format for the web, as used by NBC for its popular online Olympic coverage.
Microsoft may also have found a way to undermine Google's display advertising business, through the inclusion of an InPrivate function (aka "˜porn mode') on a beta version of its browser launched this week, which keeps individuals' web browsing habits hidden - from other people sharing the same computer as well as those who want to serve targeted display advertising to them on the web.
The news that the Google-inspired Android 1.0 open software for mobiles doesn't include Bluetooth did not go down well. It is a considerable blow for those developing applications using GPS, Wi-Fi and cameras that involve Bluetooth.
Mobile software app developer Zi Corporation was over the moon at the news that Nokia was to renew its licensing agreement of the company's apps, but less thrilled that Nuance intends to sue it over alleged patent infringement, having had its offer to buy Zi rebuffed.
Speculation that Alcatel-Lucent is to appoint a former senior executive at the company, Mike Quigley, as its new CEO, to replace the hugely unpopular Patricia Russo, gave its share price a fillip.
BT's shares remain in the doldrums, with the cash-strapped British incumbent announcing it is considering some or all of its stake in the Tech Mahindra joint venture it set up with Indian conglomerate Mahindra & Mahindra. There should be no shortage of takers for a stake in India's sixth-largest software exporter, even though BT accounts for about two-thirds of its annual income.