Amazon's brand value soars 32% in Interbrand's 2012 Best Retail Brands report.

Apple's iPad challenger Proview is open to a settlement as Apple extends checks on Chinese suppliers. Apple also signed China Telecom as second iPhone seller.

Cabela's expands and rolls out smaller-store format.

Coca-Cola sponsors teen parties in Tanzania.

FedEx may be eyeing TNT Express.

Ford signals moderate growth and expansion in China.

Gap teams with fashion bloggers for Be Bright global launch.Continue reading...

With The Help holding on to the top spot again, there is little to be said about Hollywood product placement at the US box office (click here to read our product placement overview of The Help). So let's look to Bollywood, where the film Bodyguard just set domestic records for opening day.

The Indian film also happens to be packed with loads of non-Indian product placement.Continue reading...

Not only does X-Men: First Class — the new #1 film in America, taking in an estimated $56 million over the weekend to topple The Hangover's sequel — rewind the Marvel superhero movie franchise's plot back to the 1960s, but it appears to have taken the marketing strategy from that era as well.

No overt product placement. No high-profile marketing tie-ins. No Happy Meals. No Professor X-branded Big Gulps.

It's like the film is some kind of Hollywood mutant.Continue reading...

BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion is making a push to bring apps to wheels as the mobile technology turf wars are heating up.

Jockeying for a better position in the car electronics battle, RIM is leveraging its purchase of QNX Software Systems Co. which designs high-end control and entertainment modules for General Motors, BMW and Toyota.

The software is the platform for RIM's PlayBook tablet and future BlackBerry iterations, and the company has its eye on converting dashboards to computers that play music, receive e-mail and launch apps via voice command or steering wheel touch panels.Continue reading...

There seemed to be a fair amount of excitement surrounding the PlayBook when it was unveiled last September. It was BlackBerry maker RIM's big entry into the tablet category — believed to be, potentially, a grown-up, professional grade version of Apple's iPad.

Now reality sinks in. The PlayBook, which starts at $500, hit the market last week, and the reaction was, well... ho hum. Even before the release date, trade publications like PC World ran articles with such headlines as "BlackBerry PlayBook Gets Panned by Reviewers."Continue reading...

Amazon cloud issues impact sites including Reddit, Quora, Foursquare, and Hootsuite.

Apple reportedly ready to launch cloud-based music service ahead of Google.

eBay and Amazon wage costly battle for shoppers. 

Gap kicks tires on Visa's new mobile commerce program with Gap Mobile 4 U launch.

JPMorgan will return $861 million to Lehman brokerage. 

Linux patent suit ruling goes against Google.

MLB takes control of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

RIM's PlayBook beats odds and sells 50,000 devices on day one.

Samsung launches first Droid-branded smartphone for Verizon.

Banks probed over possible rate manipulation, while NYT looks at dearth of prosecutions in financial crisis.

Bing and Google gain search engine market share as Yahoo fades.

BlackBerry's Playbook tablet critiqued by WSJ, NYT and USAT.

BP and Rosneft extend deadline for a deal.

BRICS demand global monetary shake-up, greater influence. 

GE, Coca-Cola and IBM see promise in water business.Continue reading...

The Black Beetle — "it's coming." Got it. Motorola also released its Super Bowl teaser spot today — one that tweaks Apple's iconic 1984 Super Bowl spot introducing the Macintosh.Continue reading...