COMPANIES

Australia’s bestselling sedan, the Holden Commodore, will soon meet its fiercest competitor yet by November though the local carmaker surprisingly remains unperturbed by the prospect.

Millions of mobile phone owners pampered for years by numerous Nokia model handsets could soon expect the release of new smartphones from the Finnish firm powered by Microsoft’s mobile platform, reports said.

Vector, the operator of the natural gas pipeline in New Zealand's North Island, reported a rupture on its Maui pipes. The rupture happened at a considerable distance south of New Zealand Steel's Glenbrook and Taharoa operations.

Alkane Resources (ASX: ALK) has committed 100 per cent the niobium production of its Dubbo Zirconia Project (DZP) in central west New South Wales (NSW) to a joint venture (JV) with a European firm.

ArcelorMittal has decided to pull out from its joint venture with U.S.-based Peabody Energy for Macarthur Coal after issues of management control arises.

Jeff Robbin, the man who worked on Apple's iconic iPod and changed the music industry with Apple's online music store and player iTunes, is now in charge of developing Apple's integrated television set.

AusGroup announced Tuesday its construction, integrated services and fabrication company AGC Industries has been chosen to construct a low grade pilot plant at the Rio Tinto-operated Brockman 4 mine site located in the Pilbara region, Western Australia.

Forgotten and unclaimed money amounting to AU$636 million is waiting for its rightful owners to follow simple step-by-step procedures to claim their money, says the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Through the MoneySmart website, the Aussies are encouraged to determine if any of the state governments has their money, and if so, lodge a claim.

TRUenergy is seeking development approval for two high-efficiency gas-fired power stations in Queensland to meet forecast increases in electricity demand in the state.

Walter Isaacson's biography on the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is an unstinting view of what many claim to be the visionary of our age. "Steve Jobs" is a rare view of a deeply private man who inspired other and drove Apple to change the world.

The Australian Beverages Council, representing the Australian non-alcoholic beverage industry, has criticised the recent US study attempting to link increased soda consumption with violence.

Apple very quietly upgraded its entire MacBook Pro lineup with faster processors and better internal storage but keeping previous prices. The upgrades come just in time to capitalize on the holiday buying season.

Despite the inconvenience suffered by Australian travelers because of the Qantas series of strikes, public opinion still appears to favor the unions that represent the air carrier's workers, instead of Qantas management.

Apple is insistent on closing all doors for rival Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 to enter Australia - even through online retailers.

Microsoft will collect license fees from more than 50 percent of Android devices.

Now stepping up as the latest frontrunners in Google's ongoing war with Apple, Motorola's Droid Razr and Samsung's Galaxy Nexus are both high end smartphones that are both capable of taking on Apple's latest iPhone 4s. While both devices are being compared to the iPhone 4s, they are still competing against one another in the smartphone market. How exactly do they stack up against each other?

Nokia is expected to show the fruit of its partnership with Windows later this week by showcasing three new smartphones running on the Windows 7 OS.

Tourism Australia and Jetstar entered into a $10-million partnership in an attempt to boost the country's visitor arrivals, particularly those from Japan.

Wesfarmers-owned Coles supermarket is set to lift the amount of milk it sources from Western Australian dairy farmers by 33 percent, with its three major new dairy contracts.

Resource-related projects are expected to significantly boost the engineering and commercial construction sectors over the 2011/12 and 2012/13 financial years, according to Australia's leading construction companies.

An Australian teenager's money laundering scam has reached $200,000 because of alleged failure by banks to stop the credit card scheme despite efforts by the teen's mother.

Florida-based asset management firm Stonehenge Capital Management (SCM) announced Monday that its new direction-neutral hedge fund strategy called Forward Curve Realignment (FCR) resulted in strong returns one month after its launching.

Qantas's prolonged labor problem is affecting not only the air carrier's bottom line, but also the financial viability of Australia's tourism industry.

Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics appear, involved in a contentious battle in the courtroom and in the mobile devices market, will be engaged in another showdown: mini tablets.

Leaked pictures have surfaced on the internet of a prototype Nokia Windows Phone called the Nokia Sabre which is set to launch next week.

In two separate interviews Google Android chief Andy Rubin and Microsoft Windows Phone President Andy Lees both had negative things to say about Apple's digital assistant Siri.

The name of Research in Motion's (RIM) upcoming operating system, BBX, is taken and a New Mexico company using BBx prefix to its products has sent a notice to the BlackBerry maker not to use it to avoid confusing the public.

Research has found potential borrowers are saving rather than taking on debt this year, and Australian banks have responded by loosening their lending criteria.

Virgin Australia added another strategic partner on its ongoing quest to put up a global alliance that would allow the company active participation on key aviation markets around the world.