Opera was in final stages of talks to establish a JV with a "major Chinese mobile phone distributor" combining Opera browser technology with local content, distribution and operations.

Opera's mobile browser controls 21.2% of the market in February, according to Web analytics firm StatCounter. Nokia, The iPhone and Android browsers  have 15-18% percent market shares.

Computerworld reports  that Firefox 4 offers revamped and streamlined user interface; condensed single button menu bar;  speed overhaul of JavaScript Engine and upgraded Add-ons manager with a full-page interface.

This month Microsoft is also to launch Internet Explorer version 9, while Google  releases version 10 of its Chrome browser.

And  at the Pwn2Own at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Apple and Microsoft browsers were both hacked on the opening day, while Google was reported to have patched 25 Chrome weaknesses in a pre-contest update.

The first researcher to hack Chrome gets $20,000 from Google. If no one succeeds on day one, rules change and Google fork over $10,000 for a successful exploit on the next 2 days, with Pwn2Own sponsor security company HP TippingPoint putting up another $10,000.

ITWorld reports  that no one cracked Chrome, but it is also suggested that perhaps its time that an incentive be offered to to get Android OS better secured on mobile phones.

The latest malware appears to come from a faked version of Google "Android Market Security Tool" designed to fix changes caused by Android.Rootcager virus, one of seven new types of malware identified on Android.

The French security company Vupen however scooped $15,000 and a new MacBook Air after using a Safari vulnerability. Apple updated Safari version 5.0.4 and iOS 4.3 minutes before the contest, fixing 62 vulnerabilities. But Vupen was still able to break the browser.

HP TippingPoint said that the last-minute Safari updates could affect who was awarded prize money as browsers are "frozen" two weeks before with current versions of Safari, Google's Chrome 9, Microsoft 's IE8 and Mozilla's Firefox 3.6, to give researchers a stationary target.

 If the vulnerability used by Vupen to hack had been fixed in 5.0.4, TippingPoint would not have awarded the $15,000 prize.