Students play simulated instruments on iPads, including Chinese instruments such as the guzheng and pipa, and Western ones such as the piano and violin, at the Lilin Primary School, affiliated with Shenzhen Nanshan Shiyan School, in Guangdong province on Monday.

Fifteen-year-old Michael Rowe had never studied Chinese before June. Two weeks into his course, he can tackle what's arguably the hardest part of the language: writing its intricate characters, thanks to a Chinese language learning app for Apple's iPad.

In the classroom at Northern California's Palo Alto High School where Michael is taking - voluntarily- a free introductory course in Mandarin during summer vacation, an overhead projector linked to his iPad shows the result: 学, a character with eight strokes. Transcribed into English's Latin characters through the pinyin system, the word is xue, which means "study".

APPLE Inc has agreed to pay US$60 million to Shenzhen-based Proview to end a dispute over the iPad trademark on the Chinese mainland that started two years ago.

Both sides reached the settlement agreement on June 25 and Apple had transferred the funds to the account of the Higher People's Court of Guangdong Province, the court said on its website today.

A local university teacher has created an uproar by telling his students to bring iPads to class and advising those without the device to give up choosing his class, which he called "a luxury."

His comments on Weibo stirred heated debate and many criticized him for looking down on the poor. University authorities have begun looking into the case after yesterday's public outcry and said they will ban the unreasonable requirement if it is true.

Henry Liang, who teaches finance in English at the Shanghai Maritime University, issued this notice on his microblog last Friday: "In next semester, all PPTs, tests and resources will be presented in iPad format only."

Store, injured parties agree deal following angry scenes

FOR many years, Moore's Law was regarded the sacred rule of information technology. It predicted that industry advances would require a doubling of chip capacity every 18 months.

The law was named after Gordon Moore, a co-founder of Intel, who first postulated the idea in 1965. Unfortunately for Intel, the company paid too much attention to the law and too little attention to what was really going on in the consumer electronics world. Personal computers, the old industry standard, were becoming eclipsed by mobile Internet devices like tablets and smartphones that required a new kind of chips.

Intel officials attending the annual Intel Developer Forum held in Beijing last week admitted with some embarrassment that Moore's Law no longer holds true.

"It's a pity that we looked forward, but we acted at a slow pace," said Ian Yang, Intel China's president.

IPhone maker considers investing $12b to expand operations overseas

IPhone maker Foxconn Technology Group is considering investing $12 billion in Brazil, a move that may help Apple Inc and other tech companies expand in the world's eighth-largest economy.

Company's tablet computer will signal start of market share war

Motorola Mobility Inc will launch its Xoom tablet computer in China before the end of June. The release will see the US-based mobile-phone giant officially competing in the market against Apple Inc's iPad, and Lenovo Group's LePad.

LENOVO Group Ltd targets to sell 1 million of its LePad tablet computers in the domestic market by the end of this year through leading electronics retailers.

Lenovo, China's biggest personal computer maker, officially launched LePad on Monday night, which made it the latest computer maker to jump into an increasingly crowded market which includes rivals Apple Inc, Motorola Mobility, Research in Motion, Samsung and Hewlett-Packard Inc.

"It's a new start for Lenovo to penetrate the huge mobile Internet market in China," Chen Xudong, Lenovo China's general manager, said yesterday during a signing ceremony with electronics retailer Hisap.

Lenovo and Hisap said in Shanghai that LePad would be sold in 100 Hisap stores nationwide this year, targeting sales of 100,000 units. In other cities including Beijing, Lenovo also signed deals with Gome and Suning, the country's top two electronics retailers, to sell LePad nationwide.

Lenovo, the world's No. 4 PC maker, showcased LePad in January in the United States.

The LePad comes in four versions, with the 16-gigabyte Wi-Fi model starting at 3,499 yuan (US$533). A 16GB 3G model with cellular connectivity starts at 4,599 yuan.

It has a 10.1-inch screen, camera, runs on Google's Android system, and features pre-installed games like Angry Birds and Plants vs Zombies.

Apple's iPad 2, which debuted in the US three weeks ago, starts at US$499. It will sell in Hong Kong in April.

CONSUMERS in China have to pay more or wait longer to get their electronic gadgets after the earthquake in Japan last Friday forced several firms to halt production of key components, industry officials said yesterday.

The magnitude-9 quake caused output to stop at many Japanese-based firms, including Toshiba, Nikon, Sony and Sharp, which play key roles in the global electronics industry chain, industry insiders said. The quake has also lifted prices of memory chips.

"The chip plant production will continue to be suspended due to lack of power and (poor) logistical conditions. Therefore, it will cause a supply shortage of memory chips and push prices higher," said Gu Wenjun, an analyst at iSuppli, a United States-based research firm.

The memory chips are used in electronic devices, including smartphones and tablet computers like the iPad, and chip production requires exacting standards of power consumption and clean air conditions. The cut in power supply and poor logistical conditions following the quake will stay for some time, industry watchers said.

Toshiba, the world's No. 2 flash memory chip maker, accounts for more than one-third of the world's memory chip market. By the end of the first quarter of 2010, Toshiba held 33.8 percent of the global flash memory market, second only to Samsung's 38.5 percent, according to iSuppli. Toshiba is also a major chip supplier for Apple's iPad.

Apple, which released the iPad 2 in the US last Friday, said the device will be delivered three to four weeks later than expected, its online store indicated on Sunday.

Venture capital companies vie to invest in the growing market

With the sales boom of Apple Inc's iPad around the world, domestic and foreign venture capital companies have increased their investment levels in Chinese tablet computer makers, hoping that domestic companies will ride on the sales boom in portable computer devices.

Ouyang Xiangyu, managing director of Legend Capital Ltd, one of the first Chinese venture capital companies, said tablet PCs have a huge potential in the domestic market, because "the tablet PC just fills the gap between smartphones and notebooks".

Legend Capital recently injected an undisclosed amount of capital into Beijing ErenEben Information Technology Co, a tablet PC company.

It was the second injection of funds by the venture capital company within a year, pushing total domestic investment by all venture capitalists to 56 million yuan ($8.25 million). The aim of the investment is to enable Legend to maintain its market lead and help it to quickly enhance its technological advantages.

Shareholder of Chinese tech firm claims rights to product's name

US technology giant Apple Inc may face a lawsuit in China because a domestic computer screen maker claims it has the rights to the iPad name in the country.

Businesses reminded that necessity is the true mother of invention

It is hard to imagine any issue more central to Chinese enterprises today than innovation. Rising per capita incomes and wage rates will increasingly make it more difficult for Chinese companies to compete just on the basis of cost efficiency. The imperatives for a shift from a single-minded focus on cost reduction to a focus also on innovation are very strong and very clear.

Amazon's e-reader sales no match for Apple's iPad in China

Apple Inc's iPad and Amazon's Kindle e-book reader have both gained a great number of fans in the global market since their debut, yet local consumer acceptance of the Kindle has paled in comparision to the iPad.

Despite the fact that both products have yet to be officially launched in the country, sales of the Kindle in China's gray market have largely lagged behind that of the iPad. Analysts said strong competition from local rivals is the main reason behind the sluggish performance of Amazon's popular e-book reader.