Top downloads on App Store

Apple has released a list of the most popular apps since the launch of the App store. The list is divided into four different categories that highlight the free and the paid apps for the iPhone and iPad.

The most downloaded paid apps for the iPhone:

Doodle Jump
Tap Tap Revenge 3
Pocket God
Angry Birds
Tap Tap Revenge 2.6
Bejeweled 2 + Blitz
Traffic Rush
Tap Tap Revenge Classic
AppBox Pro Alarm
Flight Control

The most downloaded free apps for the iPhone:

Facebook
Pandora
Google Mobile App
Shazam
Movies by Flixster
The Weather Channel
Google Earth
Bump
Skype
Paper Toss

The most downloaded paid apps for iPad:

SoundHound
StickWars
FlightTrack
Backbreaker Football
Calorie Tracker
BlocksClassic
iFart Mobile
GoodReader for iPad
Cro-Mag Rally
Ambiance

The most downloaded free apps for the iPad:

Pandora
Google Mobile App
Movies by Flixster
Google Earth
Yelp
Fandango Movies
Remote
iBooks
Bible
Solitaire

China Internet user count reaches 457 million

The number of Internet users in China reached 457 million at the end of 2010, growing by more than 73 million users from the previous year, according to official statistics released on Wednesday.

The growth, while impressive, is a slow down from the previous year and points to a gradual maturing of the Internet market in China.

Last year's addition of 73 million people represents a 19 percent growth on 2009, when the Internet population expanded by 86 million people or 28 percent. In 2008 it grew by 88 million, equivalent to a 41 percent increase. The first major surge in the Internet user base occurred in 2007 with the addition of 73 million users for growth of 53 percent.

Internet usage from desktop PCs, laptops and cell phones all increased during 2009. China's Internet population includes 303 million users who use mobile handsets to go online, an increase from the 230 million figure a year ago.

Using search engines, listening to music, and reading news were the top three most popular activities for Web users in the country. Micro-blogging is done by 13.8 percent of Chinese Internet users, while group buying is at 4.1 percent.

While growth has slowed, more than half the population is still not online.

The bulk of China's Internet users live in urban areas. Web users from China's rural areas were 125 million, making up about 27.3 percent of China's total Internet user population.

Source : China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC)

Apple's best quarter results

Record quarterly results from Apple have helped allay fears surrounding the company's future after CEO Steve Jobs (pictured) was forced to take medical leave. Apple reported a 71 percent jump in first-quarter revenue, to US$26.74 billion, and a 78 percent surge in net profit, to US$6 billion.

International sales accounted for 62 percent of the quarter’s revenue. The company sold 16.24 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 86 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter, while 7.33 million iPads fell into the hands of consumers during the quarter.

Chinese government clamping down on fake mobile phones in China

China infamous "shanzhai," or fake mobile phone industry days may be numbered after several years of booming business. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has joined with the State Administration of Industry and Commerce to crack down on the industry for the first time. Targeting sellers and producers, illegal phones will be seized and destroyed and those involved in the business punished.

The phones are mass-produced at low cost by small domestic companies. They are illegal because some producers don't have business licenses and none of the phones has network access licenses.

The phones have been extremely popular in China because they look like all the current popular brands, such as iPhone and BlackBerry, with some even boasting similar functions but selling for a much lower price.

But the cheap phones have many drawbacks. After-sales service is poor or non-existent, some have high power batteries that may explode, and they are prone to the latest "money-stealing" scandal.

Source : People's Online Daily

IDC: Google now controls 59% of U.S. mobile advertising marke

Google is on pace to control 59 percent of the U.S. mobile advertising market by the end of 2010, according to research firm IDC. A year ago, prior to its $750 million acquisition of mobile advertising network AdMob, Google represented 48.6 percent of the U.S. mobile ad market (including search and display ads), IDC notes; Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), which in January 2010 acquired mobile ad network Quattro Wireless for $275 million and introduced its iAd platform in July, will finish the year controlling 8.4 percent of the market, the researcher adds.

Millennial Media will finish the year in third with 6.8 percent of the market, up from 5.4 percent. Both Yahoo and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) lost market share in 2010, IDC reports: Yahoo is down from 7 percent in 2009 to 5.6 percent in 2010, while Microsoft slipped from 6.3 percent a year ago to 5.4 percent.

The U.S. mobile ad market more than doubled over the past year to $877 million, IDC states. The firm said it believes Google will continue to build its market lead as its Android mobile operating system continues to grow. Android controls 23.5 percent of the U.S. smartphone market as of October 2010 per comScore data, up from 17.0 percent three months earlier.

BlackBerry shipments up 40% in Q3

RIM's revenues rose 40% year-on-year and shipped 14.2 million BlackBerry smartphones in its fiscal third quarter, which ended on 27 November. That's up 40% year-on-year, despite stiff competition from iPhone and Android in RIM's key North American markets.

RIM's revenues were also up 40% year-on-year, rising $5.5 billion, as the company added around 5.1 million net new BlackBerry subscriber accounts in its Q3, bringing the total to more than 55 million.

RIM reported net income for its Q3 of $911.1 million, up from $796.7 million a year ago.

RIM's BlackBerry App World is now generating two million downloads a day, and has 16,000 apps available, according to RIM

Microsoft confirms 1.5 million Windows Phone 7 handset sales

Microsoft confirmed that 1.5 million handsets running Windows Phone 7 (WP7) have been sold by its manufacturer partners in the six weeks since launch although this is based on sales to operators and retail channel partners, rather than to end users.

The figures come after speculation that Microsoft was remaining tight-lipped on sales because the numbers were poor, following reports that supplies were limited in some markets. Early in November 2010, Taiwanese publication DigiTimes reported that demand from consumers was outstripping supply, although this was “largely due to limited initial shipments” as manufacturers took a cautious approach with the unproven platform.

Last week, advertising network Chitika said that for every WP7 impression it sees, there are 110 Android impressions and 172 iPhone impressions, which it said was “relatively stable, with very little significant market share growth in WP7.” The company has managed to generate some traction among the app developer community, with 4,000 products now available for the platform.

China Mobile is the leading 3G provider

China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom each had more than 10 million 3G subscribers at the end of October 2010. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the total number of 3G service subscribers reached 38.64 million at the end of October, up 10.4% month-on-month, and up 295.7% year-on-year.

China Mobile is so far leading with a 43.9% share of the 3G market by subscribers.