Hon Hai Precision Industries of Taiwan, the owners of manufacturer Foxconn, say they plan to raise worker's salaries by 20 percent amidst a flood of worker suicides at their Chinese factory.

Foxconn is the maker of the Apple iPhone.

Ten employees of the manufacturer have died via suicide this year, with the latest happening this week, and public anger at the company is rising.

On Thursday, an 11th employee tried to kill himself, slitting his wrists. He was revived by a medical team.

Edmund Ding of Hon Hai said the salary increase had been planned for months.

One of the factory's employees, surnamed Wang, said the increase should help with current spate of deaths: "It may help the suicide situation, because we workers just need money and the financial pressure on us is great. Every little bit helps."

Line workers at the factory make about 900 yuan ($131.80 USD) per month, and the company was allegedly giving 100,000 yuan to compensate families of suicide victims.

Foxconn has a massive amount of employees in China, around 420,000.

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According to new figures from Strategy Analytics, the Sony PlayStation 3 has seen its quarterly global sales market share jump to 31 percent, a large gap up from 18 percent in the same period in 2009.

For the Q1 2010, the Nintendo Wii had 49 percent market share, the PS3 had 31 percent and the Xbox 360 had the remaining 20 percent.

Unit wise, the Wii had 3.5 million sold during the quarter, with the PS3 following at 2.2 million and the Xbox 360 in third at 1.5 million units sold.

Adds David Mercer, principal analyst at Strategy Analytics (via GI): "The PS3 continues to benefit from the price cut last September. This should help the PS3 maintain growth momentum throughout 2010."

The report estimates that for the full year, 17.5 million Wiis will be sold, followed by 14 million PS3s and 10.5 million Xbox 360s. Those numbers work out to about 42 percent share for the Wii, 33 percent for the PS3 and 25 percent for the Xbox 360.

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According to new research from the NPD Group, about four percent of U.S. gamers play videogames for almost 50 hours a week, getting the title of "extreme gamers."

These "extreme gamers" play 48.5 hours per week, while the average gamers play around 13 hours per week.

Overall, gaming time went up from 2009, when the average was 12.3 percent.

Interestingly, portable gaming time fell 16 percent, while PC gaming rose 6 percent and console gaming rose 9 percent.

The age of the average gamer rose as well, from 31 to 32 this year, implying that current gamers will continue to play even as they get older.

Adds Anita Frazier, key analyst with NPD (via GI): "With these kinds of shifts in the composition of the gaming consumer and changes in gaming behaviour, it's clear that the need to understand gamers and their purchase patterns remains critical information to those that develop, market and sell games."

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Amazon will unveil a thinner version of the popular Kindle e-reader in August say two sources, who also say the new, updated model will have a more responsive screen.

The display will also have "sharper picture," but will not have color or be touchscreen, as some had speculated.

Amazon introduced the Kindle in 2007 to slow sales, which have since grown, with one report claiming the e-tailer has sold 3.3 million units of the device, to date.

Apple sold over 1 million iPads in just the first month, and international sales began today, with hundreds of thousands of sales expected in the coming weeks.

The device faces increasing pressure from rivals however, as the Apple iPad is a hit, and Sony and Barnes & Noble have both released devices that have better specs than the Kindle, at a comparable price.

CEO Jeff Bezos was asked this week if a color display version of the Kindle was forthcoming and he said there were prototypes in the lab, but none were "ready for prime-time production."

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The Apple iPad hype reached a fervor today when the tablet began selling in international markets, with fans in the UK and other nations mobbing Apple stores.

Pictures show 600-700 feet lines in Sydney, Tokyo and London and smaller but still large lines in Canada.

The tablet has sold well in the United States, selling over 1 million units in its first month. The unexpectedly high demand caused the international launch to be pushed back a full month.

Rahul Koduri was the first to buy the device at the Sydney location, and says he waited in line for over 24 hours: "It's fantastic, it was so worth the wait," Koduri adds.

The first buyer in the London location was high schooler Jake Lee: "I just came down for the atmosphere, and I don't think I could have waited. I'm a gadget lover."

The device will go on sale in The iPad will go on sale in Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore starting mid-July.

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