According to a new study conducted by the Yankee Group, mobile applications are expected to generate nearly $1.6 billion revenue in the United States in the year 2010.

There are several factors in the report which show the increase in the shipments of smartphones, and more application stores including the expensive ones. Though Apple iPhone users and AT&T subscribers download more applications than anyone else, the research organization has predicted that Android will be the next breakout smartphone application platform.

According to Carl Howe, director of anywhere consumer research at Yankee Group, Boston, MA, two factors drove the company to increase their forecast, the first one was an increase in the percentage of apps that consumers were willing to pay for- up from 18 percent in August to 30 percent in January- and an overall increase in average paid application price from $1.99 in August to $2.85 this year.

The 2009 forecast of the company was $343 million, but that was using the prior paid app ratio of 18 percent with an average price of $1.99.

iPhone App now Child’s Play

Kindle Entertainment, an independent production company has come up with an iPhone app version of the CBeebies pre-school show ‘Big and Small’. It will be available in the Apple Store from April 1.

It has been developed by Ace Games in partnership with Kindle. The application features video clips and songs from the series, as well as sound effects from the two main characters, Big and Small.

According to Kindle, the company has targeted the iPhone as a key emerging platform for Big and Small as parents who own the devices often share them with their children. The app features voice of Lenny Henry and Imelda Staunton. the aim of Big and Small is to open young children’s minds to a variety of outlooks and encourage them to appreciate that people have many different ideas and opinions.

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www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Until now, around 135,000 units of Google’s Nexus One mobile phone have been sold.  Over 80 percent of all iPhone OS and Android devices have downloaded applications embedded with Flurry which in turn has allowed the company to estimate total handset sales.

Nexus One has been compared with Apple’s iPhone by Flurry. Apple iPhone sold 1 million units within 74 days on the market. The best-selling Android phone to date, Motorola Droid sold 1.05 million units in the same period.

It has been estimated that by March 19, only 135,000 units of Nexus One will be sold in its first 74 days on the market.

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Absolut Vodka has launched Drinkspiration app for Android. The application is defined as an “interactive encyclopedia of recipes” and it combines the latest mobile technology with GPS, Twitter and Facebook to Google’s Android operating system.

The basic aim of this application is to help a user in finding and sharing drink recommendation based on a variety of conditions including location.With over 400 drink recipes, it will give an individual an all-encompassing gateway to the world of good alcohol.

Drinkspiration by Absolut for Android is available free of cost in the Android Market and there is also a free version of the application in the Apple’s App Store.

According to Fredrick Tallroth, senior manager of interactive marketing at the Absolut Co Stockholm, Sweden, the company wanted Drinkspiration by Absolut to be available for a larger audience and not only for iPhone users.

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TomTom Upgrades iPhone App

TomTom announced that the TomTom for iPhone navigation can now be purchased in the Apple iTunes. The company has come up with several enhancements to its iPhone application, including HD traffic compatibility and Local Search powered by Google.

The company claims that the new features, combined with enhanced integration with the iPhone interface, ensures optimal routing and a more intuitive navigation experience.

According to the Managing Director of TomTom, Corinne Vigreux, millions of users can now get benefitted from the same easy-to-use and intuitive interface, turn-by-turn spoken navigation and unique routing technology that their 30 million portable navigation device users have been relying on everyday.

He also claimed the company to be the world’s leading provider of navigation solutions and digital maps and considered it to be the most natural fit for an advanced navigation application on the iPhone.

TomTom Traffic automatically updates the receiver at an interval of three minutes. It provides a real-time traffic speed and incident reports directly on the iPhone. TomTom HD Traffic is an optional service and can be purchased from App store.

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www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Apple’s iPhone is preferred by 40% of Blackberry users as their next smartphone purchase. However, a third of them would also switch to the Android operating system. The users of the two rival handsets are also very loyal as 90% plan to stick with their current brand when buying their next phone.

According to a latest research carried out by a research agency, the debut of Nexus One on January 5 has affected the research as awareness of the Android operating system jumped six points to 66% from 60%.

The results also show that the restlessness of Blackberry users with their current brand hasn’t just been driven by the allure of iPhone and rather, Blackberry as a brand just isn’t garnering the loyalty seen with other mobile operating systems.

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www.WirelessFederation.com/news: At the cost of $99 plus $6.95, the iPad users whose device has a “diminished ability to hold an electrical charge” can have an entire new unit. $6.95 is the shipping charges.

Both iPhone and iPad manufactured by Apple have sealed-in batteries which cannot be replaced by the owners themselves.

The information has been posted by the company on its website. Apple will introduce its first iPad for sale in the market on April 3. $499 is the cost of the least expensive model.

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UK-based fleet tracking, traffic and navigation provider, Trafficmaster has launched the first ever international mobile phone travel emergency and concierge service. Under this a user will be offered 24/7 access to a team of travel experts located in more than 40 countries, who will be available in case of an emergency.

Travellers can now get connected to Trafficmaster personal assistants in the UK at the press of a button. These assistant have exclusive access to in-country local teams and will be able to provide a liaison between the user, the police, British embassies, border controls and emergency services.

Apart from this, they will also help in locating a restaurant or a hotel or cash machine. The calls will be charged at normal UK landline rate.

According to Trafficmaster Chief Executive, Tony Eales, following on from launching International Rescue on Blackberry, Symbian and Windows-based mobile phones, the company is delighted to be able to offer this on iPhone. It is a fantastic service that offers peace of mind, security and local knowledge to all travelers.

The application costs £20 a month or £65 for an annual subscription. It can be downloaded from the Apple App Store, or from the Trafficmaster website.

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NearVerse, mobile networking firm has unveiled its first mobile application, LoKast. It allows its users to share media between iPhones and iPod touch devices at super-fast speeds. The application can also be downloaded from the Apple App Store.

Also known as ‘Local-casting’, LoKast aims to eliminate the need for sharing content through physical media such as DVDs or CDs. LoKasters can share certain parts of their digital profile with other people, also using the application, within a limited proximity. Its process is very similar to browsing for Facebook profiles, but its target limits to people who are physically closer.

Users can easily download the free app and add photos, videos, music, contacts and web links to their personalized portal. The application will automatically allow other users to view and download their content if they are within proximity of 300 feet of another LoKast user.

The best part of LoKast is that it does not require 3G connectivity; it functions in subways, underground and heavily congested areas such as stadiums where 3G connectivity are not reliable.

The aim of the application is to offer its users the opportunity to distribute exclusive content they receive at shows to other. It thus becomes a walking media distribution hub to help spread the content to others nearby.

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www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Earning over four percentage points of market share, Google’s Android OS has emerged as the only mobile platform experiencing significant growth in the US during the three months ending in January.

Even after an increase in the market share to 7.1% from 2.8%, Android continued to occupy the fourth place. Microsoft’s share of the smartphone market shrank four percentage points to 15.7%. The loss has been attributed to the gain in the Google’s share.

Sale of the iPhones has been stalled with just 0.3 percentage point’s increase in the Apple’s share to 24.8%. However, even after the loss, Apple maintained the second spot behind RIM, whose market share grew from 41.3% to 43%.

Fall in the share of Palm continued with a loss of 2.1 percentage points but it also continued to hold its fifth place with a 5.7% share.

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