BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – Microsoft Corp. has won backing from major cellular networks for a new generation of phones designed to transform mobile e-mail from executive accessory to standard issue for the corporate rank-and-file.

The partnerships, with operators including Vodafone and Cingular, to be announced Monday at a mobile industry gathering in Spain, could spell more trouble for the embattled Blackberry and other niche e-mail technologies, analysts say.

Unlike the Blackberry and its peers, phones running Microsoft’s latest Windows Mobile operating system can receive e-mails “pushed” directly from servers that handle a company’s messaging – without the need for a separate mobile server or additional license payments.

As costs fall, Microsoft is betting companies will extend mobile e-mail beyond top management to millions more of their employees.

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CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) – Retail gas prices across the country have dropped nearly 3 cents in the past three weeks, according to a new survey.

The weighted average price for all three grades had dropped to $2.32 a gallon by Friday, said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the semimonthly Lundberg Survey of 7,000 gas stations around the country.

Self-serve regular averaged $2.30 a gallon nationwide. Mid-grade cost $2.40 a gallon while the price for premium was $2.50.

Gas prices are 39 cents higher than they were last year, Lundberg said Sunday.

Among stations surveyed, the lowest average price in the country for regular unleaded was in Portland, Ore., at $2.07 per gallon. The priciest was $2.78 a gallon in Honolulu.

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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Ford Motor Co. told dealers Sunday that new data shows the Ford brand outsold the Chevrolet brand in 2005, contradicting General Motors Corp.’s claim that Chevy came out on top.

Ford said it will ask GM to stop referring to Chevrolet as the nation’s No. 1 brand in its ads, but GM said it’s standing by its numbers.

Full-year sales results released by both GM and Ford last month showed Chevrolet was the best-selling brand in 2005, outselling Ford by about 21,100 vehicles.

But Ford spokesman Jim Cain said Sunday that new data from R.L. Polk & Co. shows Ford beat Chevrolet by 5,000 in the number of new vehicle registrations. Southfield, Mich.-based R.L. Polk collects and interprets automotive data..

Registration numbers may not match sales because a vehicle could be sold in one year and registered to an owner the next, GM spokesman Jeff Kuhlman said. He said sales figures – not registrations – give a more accurate picture.

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