In looking back at the year that was, GigaOm’s Erica Ogg remarks that 2011 was the “turning point” for mobile, with smartphones outselling desktop and laptop PCs for the first time. She says, “The effect — and perhaps some of the cause of this — is a love affair with mobile apps, leading to more apps sold than ever and more time spent with them than ever.” In this week’s Fiksu Feed, we’ll take a look back at the explosive year of 2011, explore mobile app predictions for 2012 and highlight Apple’s continued growth plans and more.

In this article, “The Year in Mobile Apps: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going,” GigaOm’s Ogg outlines some of the most significant mobile app highlights of 2011, as well as some of the most important trends and themes to watch for as we begin the New Year.

Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch wrote this week that “2011 was the year that Apple and Google won the smartphone wars.” Using comScore data, he deduced that the combined market share of U.S. iPhone and Android mobile phone subscribers shot up from 43.8 percent to 75.6 percent in just 18 months.  Conversely, RIM’s Blackberry fell from 37.6 percent to 19.7 percent, and Schonfeld writes “that the fact that market dominance can shift so rapidly (a year ago, Blackberry was still the single largest smartphone platform in the U.S.) is quite startling.”

Continuing its rapid-fire global growth, Apple announced Thursday that the iPhone 4S will be available in China and 21 other countries starting next Friday, January 13. Apple CEO Tim Cook said this week, “Customer response to our products in China has been off the charts. With the launch in China next week, iPhone 4S will be available in over 90 countries making this our fastest iPhone rollout ever.” GigaOM’s Darrell Etherington has more here.

In other news, Apple Insider reported that Apple is cracking down against app store piracy. Apptrackr, a popular resource for cracked iOS apps, has indicated that Apple’s legal team is now sending out large numbers of takedown notices in a concerted effort to shut down the operation. According to author Sam Oliver, Apptrackr has stopped directly linking to pirated software, and has moved its servers overseas to avoid legal ramifications.

To close out this week’s Feed, the New Year has brought a fresh wave of iPhone 5 speculations. In this rumor roll-up, John Cox of Network World wonders, “Will iPhone 5 bloom in the bleak midwinter? Will round pixels dazzle our eyes? Can the same material used in beer cans elevate the next iPhone to the level of complete redesign? Did you know the iPhone 5 is only waiting on Verizon to get its LTE act together?” It looks like only time will tell.

iPhone anticipation strikes again!

Last month, our insights showed that a hiatus in iPhone sales (ahead of the much-rumored launch of the new iPhone) were directly tied to the drop in app downloads from Apple’s App Store.

Apple’s recent announcement of a significant decrease in iPhone sales during its last quarter now validates that claim, and sets the stage for our newly released September Indexes.

Our latest Index findings reveal that the waiting game for iPhone 4S caused the volume of app downloads to continue to decline in September. Conversely, mobile app marketing costs reached an all-time high, creeping up 70 cents over the last six months. There’s no denying that attracting engaged users continues to be an expensive and competitive challenge for mobile app marketers.

• The App Store Competitive Index tracks the aggregate volume of downloads per day achieved by the Top 200 ranked free iPhone apps in the U.S. In September, the volume of downloads dropped by six percent to 3.8 million from 4.06 million in August.
• The Cost per Loyal User Index measures the cost of acquiring a loyal user for brands who proactively market their apps. Loyal users are defined as people who open an app three times or more. In September, the cost reached $1.64, a jump of six percent – 10 cents – from August’s $1.54.

Our Indexes have spurred a number of interesting industry conversations, including:

In examining the Indexes, AdWeek’s Anthony Ha writes, “On one hand, this seems like yet another way that developers are at the mercy of Apple. On the other, Apple isn't immune to these difficulties itself—the company blamed iPhone rumors (and the decision of consumers to wait for the new device) for sales numbers that fell short of analyst estimates.”

GigaOM’s Darrell Etherington says, “I suggest that declining app downloads may be more attributable to two other possible culprits: a slowdown of fresh, innovative content and/or marquee titles; and a user base growing more resistant to what has been a brand new form of product.” However, he goes on to say, “I still think it’s likely that new devices lead customers to new software purchases, even if my two counterpoints are true, so like Fiksu, I expect App Store downloads to see a rebound in the coming months.”

Thanks also to Sarah Perez of TechCrunch, Kim-Mai Cutler of InsideMobileApps, Phil Hornshaw of Appolicious, Matt Sakuraoka-Gilman of PocketGamerBiz and Jason Ankeny of FierceMobileContent for reporting our latest Index data to their readers.

Now that the new iPhone 4S is here – and more than four million people have already bought it – we’re as anxious as you to see what the October Indexes will reveal. We’ve taken an early peek at the data and all signs point to a spike in app downloads. Be sure to check back in late November when we’ll reveal the full download on October downloads!

After hitting stores last Friday, it took just three days for consumers to snatch up 4 million iPhone 4S devices – an all-time mobile industry record. At the beginning of the week, Apple announced that 25 million people were already using its new operating system, iOS 5, and that more than 20 million had signed up for its iCloud service. We’ll check out Apple’s audacious predictions for the upcoming holiday season, seven Android must-reads and also find out what all the Siri and Ice Cream Sandwich fuss is about in this week’s Fiksu Feed.

On Tuesday, Apple announced its Q4 2011 earnings. Though the company had its second best quarter ever, tongues were wagging as it fell short of the Street’s lofty expectations for the first time in a long time. Nevertheless, it’s onward and upward for Apple. The company is projecting to make $37 billion in revenue next (holiday) quarter – a whopping $10 billion more than last year. Additionally, MG Siegler of TechCrunch reports that "Apple is so confident that next quarter is going to be a blow-out quarter that Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer went out of their way to predict that Apple would see record iPhone and iPad sales next quarter. That’s something Apple never does." So despite some negative press this week, Apple seems more confident than ever.

In other Apple news, the company’s latest game-changer, Siri, the voice-controlled virtual assistant, continues to make headlines. There’s no shortage of reporters singing its praises, while many others are quick to gripe about their experiences. Louis Bedigian shares his thoughts in this Forbes piece – Is Siri Seriously Awesome or Seriously Flawed?

Sharing center stage with Apple this week is Android. AdWeek’s Kim Mae Heussner reports that "While Apple’s iPhone and iOS ecosystem are still a hit among consumers, developers and advertisers, Android’s fortune is slowly changing." The publication surveyed a number of analysts, industry insiders and developers to compile seven things you need to know right now about Android, the platform that may just give Apple a run for its money.

Ryan Kim of GigaOM reports that being at the top of the smartphone market hasn’t satisfied Google execs. The customer experience team behind Android wants to move beyond record sales to inspire user emotions like "wonder" and "awe." In other words, it wants Android users to love their phones as much as iPhone users do.

Android’s efforts to become more usable and lovable were illustrated in the unveiling of its long-anticipated 4.0 mobile operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich. According to Jason Ankeny of FierceMobileContent, the new OS promises a more sophisticated and unified user experience across smartphones and tablets – reducing the platform’s rampant fragmentation issues. Full details can be found here.

Fun Friday fact: did you know that cell phone technology has been around since 1973? Geek.com covered Wilson Electronics’ visual depiction of the cell phone’s evolution – from a "literal brick to the svelte smartphones we have today" – that filled our team with nostalgia and prompted a few chuckles. Check out the infographic – along with some fun mobile trivia – here.