Panasonic, Samsung Electronics, SanDisk, Sony and Toshiba have agreed to work together on a new content protection technology for memory cards and storage devices.

It’s currently called the Next Generation Secure Memory Initiative (although this name may change later) and is designed to protect High Definition content with Digital Rights Management when it’s shared between devices such as tablets and smartphones.

Shipments of smartphones from China’s mobile handset makers are predicted to increase by 94% next year, according to a new report from IHS iSuppli. This year’s total of 52.2 million units will be overshadowed by a projected total of 101.4 million smartphones next year, which is nearly 10 times higher than the 2009 level of just 10.2 million units.

Although ongoing growth won’t be as dramatic, the Chinese smartphone market will continue expanding to reach 188.4 million units shipped in 2015.

Internet privacy business Connect In Private has announced a new secure email and browsing application for BlackBerry smartphones.

The app offers BlackBerry users an email account and a web browser that accesses the internet from behind CIP’s own secure servers. When the user closes the application, no evidence of email or surfing remains on the smartphone other than any attachments they’ve chosen to save.

Digital security company Gemalto has acquired machine-to-machine specialist SensorLogic. Full details of the transaction haven’t been revealed.

SensorLogic will join the Cinterion M2M module business acquired by Gemalto last year.

The US International Trade Commission has announced its decision in a case that Apple brought against HTC.

Apple had originally insisted ten patents had been infringed; the claim was later revised and the ITC has now agreed that one of those patent claims is valid.