"Facebook believes 2010 will be a watershed year for mobile - The service is now actively used by more than 400 million people - They want to make Facebook even more ubiquitous and reach billions of users - 100 million users (25% of total number of users) actively uses Facebook's mobile products at least once a month - 200 million people have interacted with Facebook on mobile at least once- Over the next 5 to 10 years, Facebook aims to invest heavily in expanding mobile experiences for their users; they expect a lot more growth in this area - Facebook now works together with some 200 mobile operators and they are striving to convince more about the added value of such partnerships."

Robin Wauters
TechCrunch.com

Microsoft has laid down a gauntlet to Apple with the launch of its new mobile phone operating system

Microsoft has unveiled a new version of its mobile phone operating system that it hopes will allow it to replicate its desktop dominance on the next generation of smartphones.Windows Phone 7 is a complete departure from previous Windows Mobile operating systems, focusing more closely on social-networking capabilities, real-time information, and organising contacts and data in to single “hubs” to make it easier to keep in touch.

The software has a redesigned user interface and incorporates many Microsoft services such as Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music service.

According to research firm Canalys, Microsoft's software currently has around 9% of the smartphone market. That puts it fourth in the global market behind Symbian, Rim (makers of the Blackberry) and Apple's iPhone OS.
 
From 2008 to 2009, Microsoft's slice of the smart-phone operating system market shrank to 10.7 percent from 13.1 percent. Meanwhile, Apple grew to 14.4 percent from 9.1 percent, and Google's Android system started with half a percent and grew to 3.5 percent, according to IDC. Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, rose to 19.6 percent from 15.6 percent.

The first multi-touch phones to use the operating system will be available before the end of the year.

04 February, 2010, by ITProPortal.com

According to a newly released market research report, it has been revealed that Apple’s blockbuster smartphone offering, the iPhone, has lost a significant amount of market share in the fourth quarter of 2009.

The data released by ABI research, a New York based market research firm, suggests that Apple’s share in the smartphone market fell despite the fact that Apple’s iPhone sales figures increased in the 3rd and 4th quarter.

It was reported that Apple’s iPhone accounted for 16.6 percent of global smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter of 2009 as compared to 18.1 percent in the third quarter, suggesting a shift in consumer buying trend.

Interestingly, the report revealed that Apple sold around 8.1 million iPhone units in the fourth quarter citing a 18 percent increase in sale from the third quarter, but still didn’t manage to hold on to its market share as the overall smartphone market increased by 26 percent.

Several industry experts are of the opinion that the fall in the market share is due to the skyrocketing popularity of Google’s Android smartphone platform, as Motorola has managed to grab an impressive smartphone market share of 4 percent thanks to the Android smartphones launched by the company.