Sony Computer Entertainment says it’ll start the full-scale launch of PlayStation Mobile in the autumn.

The service, previously named PlayStation Suite, will bring Sony PlayStation games to a variety of mobile devices. This initial launch will include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK and the USA.

Preliminary figures from the International Data Corporation estimate that worldwide tablet shipments for the second quarter of 2012 reached 25 million units, up 33.6% from the first quarter of 2012 and up 66.2% year-on-year.

Once again, Apple was the largest tablet producer, shipping 17 million iPad devices during the quarter. In fact, all the top four tablet vendors saw year-on-year growth.

New figures from the International Data Corporation show that media tablet shipments haven’t increased as much as expected.

IDC’s Media Tablet and eReader Tracker notes that shipments into sales channels rose by 23.9% from the previous quarter to 18.1 million units in Q3 2011. That’s an increase of 264.5% from the same quarter in 2010... but is 5.8% below IDC’s original forecast of 19.2 million units.

ASUSTeK, which produces ASUS computers and smartphones, has announced a new converged device called the Padfone.

It combines a smartphone with a tablet computer, sharing information and 3G access across both formats. The tablet 'pad' can also charge the smartphone's battery.

Garmin and ASUSTeK Computer say they won't be introducing any more co-branded mobile phones. Instead, ASUS will design and manufacture new ASUS-branded mobile phones, some of which will include preloaded Garmin navigation applications, while Garmin plans to offer mobile navigation applications through application stores.