Chinese online game developer and operator The9 has announced with smartphone maker Sony Ericsson that starting this month The9 will be the exclusive operator and technical supporter for Sony Ericsson's PlayNow application store in China.

After an upgrade, Apple changed the terms of use of its App Store in China and has started accepting Yuan-denominated settlement in the country.

By the end of September 2011, there were 150 million registered users of mobile phone application stores in China, an increase of almost 50% compared with the previous quarter, according to latest statistics published by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Microsoft has announced that its application store Market Place will open to developers in China at the end of October 2011.

A representative in charge of the planning of China Mobile's online application store Mobile Market has revealed that the company's location-based service module is currently finishing its test phase, and will be launched next month.

China Unicom has reportedly started the public test of its online application store Wostore and the platform will be formally put into operation later this month.

Chinese online gaming firm The9 has made a strategic minority equity investment in Aurora Feint Inc., an American mobile game developer.

According to Tan Qunzhao, chairman and CEO of the Chinese online game developer and operator Shanda Games, the company plans to launch several games for Apple's iPhone handsets and iPad tablet computers in the third quarter of 2010.

Nokia and China Mobile have announced the launch of a joint mobile phone application store, MM-Ovi, marking a new start for two companies' cooperation in the mobile application sector.

China Telecom plans to establish a product center and will set up six content bases in five cities in China to develop a wider array of 3G software applications.

Motorola has announced plans to open an Android applications store, Shop4Apps, in China to further meet the demands of Chinese consumers.

Chinese Internet retailer Taobao.com will launch a software application store on January 15, 2010, marking a big leap for its Taobao Open Platform for online businesses.

Nokia China has launched a CNY1 million developer incentive program to promote development of new application plans.

According to reports in Taiwanese local media, Taiwan-based Far Eastone Telecommunications has inked a cooperation with China Mobile in four areas, including roaming services, network interconnectivity, value-added services, and corporate networks.

Mobile Market, China Mobile's online mobile phone applications store for its OPhone and other devices, has published a notice stating that it started to charge for software and game products downloaded from its website from November 1, 2009.