Japan has suspended all tourism marketing and promotional activity in light of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant crisis, according to an Australian travel publication. The move comes despite the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) confirming that the disaster has, inevitably, had an "enormous impact" on inbound tourism that would affect its "partners around the world," reports Reed Business Information's Travel Weekly. "While many areas in Japan remained unaffected by the disaster they are also suffering from the sudden decrease in international visitors," the JNTO said in a statement. "We are deeply concerned that this will not …

In case no one knew where Sprint stood on AT&T's planned $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA, the company issued a formal statement opposed the merger. Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier, criticized the deal shortly after it was announced and Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, speaking at the CTIA Wireless 2011 conference last week said the acquisition would stifle innovation and concentrate too much power in the hands of the two biggest players--AT&T and Verizon Wireless. If the deal goes through, Sprint would obviously be the odd man out, contending with two huge rivals accounting for nearly 80% …

The San Francisco Chronicle (citing "well sourced" bloggers not affiliated with the paper) that Apple, for the first time in three years, will not be unveiling a new version of its iPhone this June at its Worldwide Developers Conference. Already riding the waves of success of opening up its iPhone 4 market to Verizon customers and the iPad2, it's probably not surprising that the company might wait until fall or later to launch a new phone. But the delay might give other smartphone makers like Motorola and HTC more opportunity to expand.

BMW of North America is looking for a creative shop. The Woodcliff Lake, NJ company is looking for an agency to handle national brand creative, regional and dealer creative work and multi-cultural/diversity marketing efforts. National creative has been handled by MDC Partners' Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners in New York City on a project basis since October 2010. WPP's Grey West has handled creative duties for regional dealer advertising since 2008, and BMW's multi-cultural marketing efforts were split between Matlock Advertising and Public Relations in Atlanta, GA and Bromley Communications in San Antonio, TX. "This review is …

Google, in the midst a lawsuit on how Java is used in Android, has snagged James Gosling, who founded the technology while at Sun Microsystems. Gosling calls it "an odd twist." And similar to many creative engineers, he points to a poem by Robert Frost to explain his decision. Gosling did not join Oracle last year when the company acquired Sun, but rather left his options open for other opportunities. Shortly after, Oracle sued Google for patent and copyright infringement.

A new, limited-edition flavor of Snapple is carrying the name of a TV show - CBS's "The Amazing Race" -- on its label, as well as being featured in show product placements and ads. The partnership also includes a co-branded contest hosted on Snapple's Facebook site. India's rich tea tradition and the CBS show's stop in Kolkata, India during last night's episode "inspired" the new Papaya Mango Tea, according to brand's promotions. The labels of the new flavor's regular and diet versions feature "The Amazing Race" below the Snapple logo, and have also been embellished with graphics evocative of …

  Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) are jointly contributing $500,000 toward earthquake and tsunami relief efforts in Japan to UNICEF and will be encouraging baseball fans to support the effort during opening week and dates following.  The organizations will also run in-stadium fund raising drives to get fans involved. The distribution of MLB/MLBPA funds will be directed by the Japan Committee for UNICEF, which has a network of relationships with private citizens, local NGOs, volunteers, schools and the business community. The donations by MLB and the MLBPA involves the league, all 30 …

Google plans to introduce in-app billing for applications in the Android Market next week after announcing plans to do so in January. In advance of the launch, developers can now upload apps that use in-app billing for end-to-end testing, according to a blog post by Eric Chu, Android's developer ecosystem manager. Chu earlier this year admitted the company wasn't happy with its sales of premium apps in the Android Market and promised steps to help developers monetize their creations. The new in-app billing models allow customers to "try-and-buy," and purchase virtual goods and upgrades, among other things. Google also …

Research in Motion is hopping on the Android bandwagon. The BlackBerry-maker announced today its forthcoming PlayBook tablet will support Android apps, expanding the market for the Google platform. RIM is also providing Android developers a set of software tools to help them easily port existing apps to run on the PlayBook and be distributed through BlackBerry App World. Will RIM have to rename it Android App World if Android titles outpace native apps? The PlayBook is set to launch in the U.S. and Canada April 19. Read more here.

Havas' MPG was named media agency of record for Transitions Optical. MPG will handle all offline media planning and buying, including TV, radio and print media. Digital was not part of the review.  Publicis' Zenith had been Transitions' media agency.