HTC phone sales face halt in Germany
The Taiwanese technology company HTC faces the bleak prospect of seeing sales of all its smartphones blocked from sale in Germany during the crucial Christmas period, after it withdrew its objections to a patent claim won by the German firm IPCom in February 2009 in a Mannheim court. HTC's appeal against the 2009 decision was due to be decided on this week. Its withdrawal means that the fourth-largest smartphone maker in the world could see its sales halted in the country. IPCom said in a statement that it "now intends to execute this injunction in the shortest possible time" and that: "We will use the right awarded by the courts, likely resulting in HTC devices disappearing from shops during the crucial Christmas season."
Guardian

Starbucks launches mobile payments app
The Starbucks app will be available for iPhone and iPod Touch users from January 5th and allows consumers to pay for their items through their phone with the aim to reduce transaction time by around 10 seconds. Consumers who own a registered Starbucks Card, part of the chain’s loyalty programme, will be able to link the balance on their reward card to the Starbucks app. Each consumer with a reward card will be given a unique barcode that will appear on the app and can be scanned at the till. Starbucks first launched the app in the US earlier this year across 6,800 stores, which have since processed more than 20 million mobile transactions.
Marketing

Adobe to ship mobile Flash update for Android 4.0
Adobe will provide one more version of Flash Player for the new Android 4.0 operating system by year's end before following through on its plan to halt development of the software for mobile browsers. The Flash Player version for Android 4.0 will be available for download to the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone. Early reviewers found that the Adobe software is not pre-loaded on the Galaxy Nexus, the first device to run the new Google OS version, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich.
MacVideo

Best Buy UK to cease trading 15 January 2012: Closing down sale begins
We brought you news on the imminent closure of UK Best Buy at the beginning of November and now the company has posted a letter saying that Best Buy UK stores and website will close on 15 January 2012. The UK venture was a teamup between Best Buy and the Carphone Warehouse, which, following disappointing performance since they first started opening in 2010, has made the tough decision to close its doors just 2 years after launch.
Pocket-Lint

Everything Everywhere heads for independence
Everything Everywhere on Friday took another step towards becoming an independent entity with the announcement that it has agreed new bank financing facilities of £875 million. The facilities will be used to refinance part of the £1.25 billion shareholder loan provided by parent companies France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom when they created their U.K. mobile joint venture in September 2009.
TotalTelecom

Ofcom backs TalkTalk customer claims
Fresh figures from UK regulator Ofcom bear out claims by ISP TalkTalk that its customer satisfaction is on the up, but also show the firm still lags rivals Sky and BT despite the improvement. A regular Ofcom consumer satisfaction survey reveals the overall level of dissatisfaction with TalkTalk’s complaints handling fell 22 percentage points between February and September, when the latest figures were gathered. However, only 59 per cent of subscribers quizzed by Ofcom said they are satisfied with TalkTalk’s service, compared to 78 per cent for Sky and BT’s 63 per cent.
Telecoms Europe

Dawdling EU countries smacked over telecoms reforms
The European Commission has sent formal requests to 16 EU countries asking them to completely transpose the EU's Telecoms Package of reforms into national law. The "reasoned opinions" have been issued six months after the countries were supposed to have fully implemented the new laws. The reforms gave individuals several new rights, including the right to better information about how ISPs manage access to their networks and set out a requirement for website owners to obtain consent from users in order to track their online behaviour. Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain have still to fully implement all of the reforms, the Commission said.
The Register

Netbooks going the way of the Dodo
Samsung has decided that the netbook is dying out and is planning to replace them with 11.6- to 12-inch ultraportables and Ultrabooks next year. According to a leaked memo which found its way into the French edition of Cnet,  Samsung sings that there will be a new strategy in 2012, which will involve killing off the 10.1-inch netbook product range in Q1 2012, in favour of ultraportables (11.6 and 12 inches) and ultrabooks to be launched in 2012.
TechEye

Apple users most brand loyal claims new consumer report
Apple users are the most brand loyal a new report has shown whilst just 70 per cent of Android users plan to remain with the Google made OS Consumers touting a shiny new Apple iPhone, iPad or Mac are most likely to splash out on future devices from the same manufacturer with a new report showing Apple users are the most brand loyal. The new study, conducted by research firm GfK has found that a staggering 84 per cent of current iPhone users claimed they would look to replace their handset with another Apple blower when they come round to replacing their handset. Just 60 per cent of Android users said they would look to remain with the Google OS.
T3