• The Apple App Store hits a new record – 40 billion downloads!
• Recent reports indicate that Apple’s iOS tops 50 percent of U.S. smartphone sales, up nearly 36 percent from last year, achieving the highest percentage of sales in the American market to date.
• Expect to see many more tablets in the workplace this year as the BYOD (bring your own device) trend adds more personal tabets to the business environment and companies seek to purchase these devices over computers.
• Mobile ad spending will increase 400 percent in the next four years, reaching a staggering $37 billion in 2016.

This week, Apple announced that consumers have downloaded more than 40 billion apps – with nearly 20 billion in 2012 alone. Today, the App Store has more than 500 million active accounts and had a record-breaking December with more than 2 billion downloads during the month. Apple’s developer community has created 775,000+ apps for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users worldwide. Also, developers have made $7 billion in revenue since the App Store launched in 2008. Tom Cheredar of VentureBeat has the details.

Data released by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech signals a milestone for iOS, as Apple’s operating system powered 53.3 percent of all smartphones sold in the U.S. from November 2011 to November 2012. Among U.S. iPhone sales, 34 percent of consumers upgraded from an earlier iPhone, and 40 percent acquired their first smartphone. The growth of iOS translated into market share declines for Android, down nearly 11 percent from last year, writes Jason Ankeny of FierceMobileContent.

Analysts from Piper Jaffray and Forrester predict greater adoption of tablets – especially the iPad – for businesses in 2013, reports Lance Whitney of CNET. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster reveals recent survey results of CIOs, where 57 percent of them indicate plans to deploy tablets this year, compared with 46 percent last year. Additionally, corporate users utilizing their own tablets in the workplace are increasingly relying on apps to help manage their busy lives and day-to-day tasks, such as finding a taxi or hotel, following current events, or making payments.

Estimates from eMarketer indicate mobile ad spending will experience 400 percent growth during the next four years. These estimates incorporate display and search advertising and exclude message-based formats (such as SMS, MMS, and P2P). The major beneficiaries would include Google and Facebook, with gains by Apple, Microsoft, and Yahoo!, writes Chuck Jones of Forbes. North America leads globally, with the average ad dollar spend per mobile user expected to reach $46 in 2016. eMarketer’s estimates include analysis of various elements, such as macro-level economic conditions, historical advertising trends, estimates from other research firms, and mobile usage trends.

• After the turkey is carved tomorrow, the 2012 holiday shopping season will officially begin – and mobile will have a giant impact on holiday sales.
• Many big-name brands such as Google, Wal-Mart, Target, and Amazon have unleashed new or updated apps to assist smartphone-wielding holiday shoppers.
• After 66 million tablets were sold during the 2011 holiday season, industry pundits predict that tablets will continue to dominate wish lists this holiday season, thanks largely to to new product releases.

Beginning as early as tomorrow, 28 percent of smartphone or tablet-owning adults plan to holiday shop via their mobile devices, reported Mobile Marketer. The trend of “couch commerce,” coined by eBay and PayPal for when consumers go from the Thanksgiving dinner table to the couch to start holiday shopping, will continue exploding. Both companies saw a 511 percent increase in global mobile payment activities on Thanksgiving 2011 from Thanksgiving 2010. On Cyber Monday, 83 percent of consumers are expected to shop from home, further increasing the use of mobile to purchase gifts.

Aside from carrying bags in their hands on Black Friday, shoppers will also carry a powerful shopping assistant in their pockets – their smartphones. As a result, many big brands have rolled out new apps or updates just in time for the shopping frenzy. Google is now promoting inside floor plans of major retailers, while Wal-Mart is highlighting locations of major Black Friday markdowns. Target’s app is helping busy parents by scanning QR codes next to popular toys, paying via phones and shipping purchases for free. Amazon’s Price Check is expected to see heavy mobile traffic as shoppers search for discounted deals from the online retailer. To help arm smartphone users for the holiday shopping season, WIRED has listed its picks of top retail apps.

Atop wish lists this year are tablets, which are expected to surge this holiday season, according to Fox Business. The catalyst: new slimmer and smaller tablets such as Apple’s iPad Mini and Microsoft’s Surface that recently hit shelves. The iPad Mini will likely draw lots of purchasers because of its smaller price tag, and the Surface will potentially generate big sales because of its positive industry reviews. But consumers will ultimately have the final say in the success of the tablet PC market – and how many units will be sold this holiday season. 

• As the holiday season quickly approaches, Google is encouraging developers to build tablet-optimized Android apps.
• According to a new study, nearly half of major brands are displeased with the progress of their current mobile marketing efforts.
• “The Force” will soon be colliding with a flock of bitter birds in the new Star Wars-themed Angry Birds mobile game.

“Tech critics and gadget reviewers have long complained that there simply aren’t enough good Android tablet apps out there,” writes WIRED’s Nathan Olivarez-Giles. But now, Google is pushing to change this by urging developers to build tablet-optimized Android apps. On Oct. 8, Google posted a best-practices blog post series about publishing quality apps to its Google Play store, as well as three successful developer stories that illustrate how apps can take advantage of the tablet’s larger-screen formats. “With the holiday season now approaching, we’re creating even more ways for great tablet apps to be featured in Google Play — including a series of new app collections that highlight great apps specifically for tablet users,” Google said in a developer blog post.

A new study from the CMO Council finds that 47 percent of major brands are unhappy with their present mobile marketing and mobile consumer engagement efforts due to limited resources and talent, according to MediaPost. Thirty-seven percent of brands are still evaluating their mobile efforts, and just 14 percent are happy with results from current activities. These findings, which stemmed from a survey of 250 global marketers, also revealed that only 16 percent of companies have formal strategies for using mobile as a major conduit for customer engagement. But the importance of mobile marketing continues to grow: 32 percent of organizations are allocating more budget to developing apps and other mobile content. Read the full study: "Engage at Every Stage."  

What do you get when you combine lightsabers, slingshots, and a pack of pilfering pigs? The Star Wars-themed Angry Birds mobile game, of course! Officially launching Thursday, Nov. 8, the latest Angry Birds installment is being developed by entertainment media company Rovio, and mobile users around the globe are eagerly anticipating the game. BGR has the full teaser video and image – complete with a bird holding a light saber. May the Force be with you.

Venture capital investments in mobile have boomed this year, reaching levels not seen since 2001. For thrill-seekers hoping to hit the jackpot and “win big,” new smartphone and tablet apps are providing Las Vegas-style gambling options – with real money – at the swipe of an index finger. And following a series of leaks and rumors, Google Play will now offer gift cards for its content-distribution store.

Mobile now represents a staggering 46 percent of all VC investments, with venture backing for mobile consumer apps totaling nearly $4 billion during the first six months of 2012, according to new data from M&A advisor firm Rutberg & Company. During this time, VCs invested in 479 mobile startups, with the median funding round size netting at $3.5 million. “The six-month mobile investment total represents the highest level of activity for a half-year period since the firm initiated coverage in 2001 – in addition, 2012 mobile investments are currently $1 billion ahead of the pace set during the first half of 2011, which was the largest year for mobile tech venture funding in a decade,” reports Jason Ankeny in FierceMobileContent.

Juniper Research estimates that by 2017 consumers will gamble $100 billion on their mobile devices. Game developers have recognized this huge market opportunity and are starting to convert smartphones into virtual casinos – and up the ante by adding real-money bets. In the U.K., where it is legal, Big Fish Games Inc. will soon introduce a version of its gambling app Big Fish Casino with real-money betting, Bloomberg reports. “This is the biggest opportunity that game developers have had since the advent of the Internet,” Christopher Griffin, chief executive officer of Betable, said in his recent Bloomberg interview. While in-app gambling with real money isn’t yet cleared in the U.S., gaming giant Zynga is lobbying hard because the company has plans of its own to launch real-money gaming products in the first half of 2013, according to reports in the The Wall Street Journal.

After months of speculation and increasing user demands, Google Play gift cards are officially expected to hit U.S. retailers in the next few weeks, reports Engadget. The gift cards will be available in $10, $25 and $50 denominations, and users can redeem them for just about any digital content in the Play Store. These new cards represent Google’s latest step toward a “full-fledged content store," helping Google to compete with the popular Apple's iTunes gift cards and others in the physical retail store market, according to The Verge.