Martyn Williams

With more of a whimper than a bang, NTT DoCoMo Inc. began the world's first fully commercial third-generation (3G) cellular service Monday morning in Tokyo. The low-profile launch, which came with no ceremonies or events, reflects DoCoMo's caution regarding the service until it is confident about the range of content and terminals that it can offer.

With more of a whimper than a bang, NTT DoCoMo on Oct. 1 began the world

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., better known by its Panasonic brand name, unveiled a range of new flat-panel displays and televisions on Thursday, some with built-in DVD (digital versatile disc) players.

At least two top executives of U.S. technology companies were among those killed Tuesday in New York when the aircraft they were traveling on was hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center.

After finding itself on the receiving end of legal action Friday, Taiwan's Via Technologies Inc. blasted back at rival Intel Corp. Monday, filing lawsuits of its own alleging patent infringement, fair trade law violations and destruction of Via property.

Sony Corp.'s Memory Stick got a boost on Wednesday when the company signed a deal with memory card maker and reseller SanDisk Corp. under which SanDisk will supply Sony with flash memory and Sony will supply finished Memory Stick cards back to SanDisk for resale.

Hitachi Ltd., Japan's largest electronics company, announced plans Friday to implement emergency management measures as it slashed sales forecasts for the year and said it expects to post a net loss. The company also said it plans to lay off 14,700 staff before the end of March next year.

Japan Telecom Co. Ltd. and Vodafone Group PLC have announced plans to reorganize J-Phone Group, Japan's number three cellular carrier, through the merger of several companies into one.