World Business News

Carphone Warehouse has leaked the details of the next Google-branded smartphone days before it was supposed to have been announced.

Steve Ballmer told the BBC: "Is it fair to say we're going to do more hardware? Obviously we are... Where we see important opportunities to set a new standard, yeah we'll dive in."

In the last five weeks, Apple has revamped its entire product lineup with new iPods, iPhones and computers. But on Thursday it said those products would be more expensive to make, nibbling into its ample profits.

The pickup in spending by consumers, along with a burst of defense orders and a stronger housing market, helped the economy expand at an annual rate of 2 percent in the third quarter, a slightly better pace than had been anticipated, according to government data released Friday.