Today’s mobile news roundup features Nokia’s China units closure, Chrome mobile being sued for patent infringement, Apple’s new app category, and StealthGenie the updated cell phone tracker for Android ICS devices.

Nokia closes shop in China

Nokia Corp. is closing two of their regional offices in China as well as laying off workers.  The move is just a step in the company’s reorganization and restructuring in the Chinese market – currently the world’s largest mobile market.

Anna Shipley, a Beijing-based Nokia spokeswoman, stated that offices in Chengdu and Shanghai will be the ones shutdown but gave no details as to how many workers will be laid off.  Operations will be consolidated at a northern center in Beijing and a southern hub in Guangzhou,

“As part of the announcement and planned changes that we made on June 14, we are reviewing some elements of our China business,” Shipley said in an e-mail to Bloomberg. Nokia plans to continue “nationwide” market coverage in the country, she said.

Chrome for mobile sued for patent infringement

Google is once again slapped with a patent infringement lawsuit as EMG Technology claims that Chrome for mobile devices violated their “simplified navigation system” for smartphones and tablets.

EMG stated in their lawsuit that by “displaying mobile webpages on smartphones and tablets,” Google is stepping on their patented system which uses unique inputs to manipulate a touch screen for zooming and scrolling.

According to Elliott Gottfurcht, lead inventor of EMG’s patent portfolio, the infringed patent was issued to EMG Technology back in October 21, 2008.

EMG Technology is seeking damages as well as the banning of the distribution of the mobile browser.  No specific amount was stated in their lawsuit as “it would be difficult to ascertain the amount of compensation that would afford EMG adequate relief for such future and continuing acts.”

Apple launches Food & Drink app category

Apple launched a new app category, Food & Drink, in their App Store.  The announcement of the new category was announced a few weeks back to developers.  The new category features 2800 paid and 4000 free apps for iPhones and over 1200 paid and 1000 free apps for iPads.

According to Apple, the new category includes “apps that help users cook and bake, mix drinks, manage recipes, find new restaurants and bars, and learn what their friends like to eat and drink”. Food & Drink doesn’t include diet, grocery shopping, coupon clipping, or food-related game apps.

StealthGenie for ICS devices

Developers of StealthGenie, the cell phone tracking app, released a new version of the app that is compatible with Android 4.0 a.k.a. Ice Cream Sandwich devices.  This makes StealthGenie the only cell phone tracking app compatible with ICS devices.

“Android 4.0 is a very advanced piece of operating software,” said Martin Krajnak, the head of development at StealthGenie.  “It’s not easy to get through and making a cell phone tracking app work on it is an achievement we are very proud of. The reason other mobile phone monitoring applications haven’t been able to break the code yet is because I believe I have the most hardworking and talented team of developers.”