Microsoft is preparing to double the shipments of its Xbox 360 games console to one million a month, chip makers in Taiwan have confirmed.

The software giant has asked local suppliers to double their output of several key chips for the console during the second quarter of the year, according to the Commercial Times, citing unnamed industry sources in Taiwan.

As a result, Microsoft will be able to satisfy demand of up to three million units in the three months to June, compared with 1.5 million in the first quarter, the paper reported.

Local suppliers of Xbox 360 chips include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp, which manufactures the ATI graphics chip used in the console, and Silicon Integrated Systems, which makes the south bridge chipset.

The release of Sony's rival PlayStation 3 console was recently put back several months to November, giving Microsoft more time to establish a hold on the market.

As previously reported by vnunet.com, Microsoft decided last month to add a third lead contractor to the two that already build Xbox 360 consoles.

The chips from the Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturers are delivered to these contractors for assembly into the console's main circuit board.

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Music services for mobile phones will generate almost $1.7bn in revenue in China next year, up from about $900m in 2005, researchers predict.

One of the fastest growing sectors in recent years has been Colour Ring Back Tone, in which callers hear music chosen by the called party instead of a ringing tone, according to analysts at local research firm Analysys International.

"We forecast that the wireless music industry in China will maintain stable growth in the following three years with a compound annual growth rate of 27 per cent," said Edward Yu, chief executive at Analysys.

"Wireless music subscribers will reach 114 million in 2008, accounting for 20 per cent of total mobile phone subscribers in China."

Streaming music delivery is expected to be a leading growth driver in the immediate future.

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Handheld games outsold traditional games consoles in Japan for the first time during the past year, driven by huge demand for Nintendo's DS handheld.

Total Japanese domestic sales of handhelds leapt 62 per cent in fiscal 2005, which ended in March 2006, and the shipments earned $2bn in sales.

Nintendo's DS sold 4.32 million units during the period, more than double the 2.07 million Sony PlayStation Portables sold in Japan, and easily beating sales of the PSP's big brother, the PlayStation 2, the Asahi Shimbun reported.