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An increase of 25 % of pedestrian fatalities in the most populated state of Australia, New South Wales, has been partly blamed for using the iPod.

The so-called “iPod zombie trance” that people get into when listening to and playing with their mobile devices is allegedly behind an increase in collisions and deaths in American and Europe too, the Sydney Morning Herald said.

The issue was highlighted in New South Wales at the weekend when a woman in Sydney aged 46, who had been using a helmet, was beaten and killed by an ambulance on the road.

Harold Scruby of the Pedestrian Council of Australia said there is little research on the phenomenon, but the government should require manufacturers to warn consumers of risks posed by potentially lethal devices.

Google may encroach on the turf of Apple with the news that the Mountain View company has talked about music labels about launching its own music download store for mobile users.

Reuters reports that Andy Rubin, Google’s vice president of engineering and the man behind Android, has been leading negotiations with the majors on what a download service to offer new music. Rubin expects the reports, the service will be available by Christmas, to exercise its jurisdiction over Apple’s iTunes for the lucrative Christmas period.

Many companies have tried to battle for dominance of industry leader with a music download service from Apple, which has experienced seven years of market dominance – the latest from Sony, which should start his own shop Download 2011.

Google has launched its music service to offer digital downloads OneBox last October, but this new mobile service based even more, Eric Schmidt, the aim of conquering the mobile Web.

Traditionally cautious label bosses are remaining hopeful about Google’s chances by favouring the mobile market. An unnamed executive told Reuters: “Finally here’s an entity with the reach, resources and wherewithal to take on iTunes as a formidable competitor by tying it into search and Android mobile platform.

“What you’ll have is a very powerful player in the market that’s good for the music business.”

Despite a debt of gratitude to Apple to boost market premium download music since 2003, record companies were increasingly concerned by the Cupertino, mastery of the California-based company in the industry to encourage competition and welcome.

With sales of Android-based phone sales climbed to 200,000 per day, similar to Apple’s iPhone, once dominant, it seems that Google may be the answer to the problems of the music industry.

“There’s no dearth of music available on a computer right now, but Google can still have an impact on the cellphone or any connected device,” said Larry Kenswil of Loeb & Loeb.