Cupertino, Calif. - Apple is now the third-largest mobile phone company in the world, behind Nokia and Samsung, and its iPhone outsold RIM's BlackBerry in the recent quarter, the company revealed in its earnings statement. [more..]

Washington - The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), a trade group of U.S. video game developers and publishers, announced on Wednesday that it will host an "expanded" Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) at its former home in the Los Angeles Convention Center next year, after experimenting with a smaller event over the past two years. [more..]

Milpitas, Calif. - Korean electronics giant Samsung has withdrawn its $5.85 billion offer to acquire SanDisk, the maker of memory cards and MP3 players. [more..]

Los Angeles - Music-focused online social network Imeem is laying off 25% of its 80-person staff, and has hired the investment bank Montgomery and Co. to explore a possible sale of the company, PaidContent reports. [more..]

Los Angeles - Online TV distributor ManiaTV said that it has laid off 20 employees, or about 30% of its workforce, and said it will reduce the number of original programs it produces. [more..]

Reston, Va. - The number of visitors to political blogs and news sites has skyrocketed during the 2008 presidential election season, compared with a year ago, according to new figures from Web audience measurement firm comScore. [more..]

Beijing - Finland-based cell phone maker Nokia's Nokia Growth Partners venture capital fund has invested an undisclosed amount in Madhouse, a mobile advertising network in China. [more..]

Seattle - Online retail giant Amazon.com has acquired Reflexive Entertainment, an online distributor of PC, Mac and Web-based casual games, according to a blog post from Reflexive CEO Lars Brubaker.
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San Mateo, Calif. - AdMob, a developer of mobile advertising technology, announced that it has raised $15.7 million in its third round of funding, led by Sequoia Capital's Growth Fund. [more..]

San Diego - Metaplace, a platform that allows anyone to create virtual worlds on the Web, announced on Wednesday that it has landed $6.7 million in new funding, led by Charles River Ventures and Crescendo Ventures. [more..]

Boston - CitySquares.com, a provider of hyper-local search services in the Northeast U.S., announced on Wednesday that it ahs received an undisclosed amount of new funding from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, and Jonathan Kraft, of the Kraft Group. [more..]

Sherman Oaks, Calif. - AudioMicro.com, the operator of a "crowd-sourced" marketplace for commercial music licensing, announced on Wednesday that it has raised an undisclosed amount of first round financing, led by DFJ Frontier. [more..]

Las Vegas - The composer of the UNLV fight song has sued video game publisher Electronic Arts for using "Win With the Rebels" in several versions of its NCAA sports games, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. [more..]

Jacksonville, Fla. - Major record label Sony BMG announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with grocery store chain Winn-Dixie, to offer digital album download cards at its 521 retail grocery locations in the Southeast. [more..]

New York - Independent film distributor Gigantic Releasing has launched a website that will offer consumers the chance to pay $2.99 to stream films currently playing in theaters, Variety reported. [more..]

San Francisco - Game publisher LucasArts on Wednesday announced the development of "Star Wars: The Old Republic," a massively multiplayer online PC game. [more..]