Mobile ad network AdMob has just released its latest stats tracking the rise of Android, and it’s clear that Google’s mobile platform is quickly gaining steam. AdMob writes that between October and December, the number of ad requests worldwide from Android devices increased a whopping 97% to over 1 billion ad requests. In other words, the number of Android devices doubled in just two months.

AdMod records the number of ad requests its system generates, meaning this leap has come about through more people downloading and using ad-supported apps via the Android market.

Here are the higlights of AdMob’s latest metrics:

• 97% increase in worldwide requests from Android devices, totalling to 1 billion ad request between October-December
• 98% of the ad requests came from HTC devices in October, 56% in December from HTC devices and 30% from Motorola DROID.
• Among the Android devices that generated more than 3% of ad requests are Motorola DROID, HTC Dream, HTC Magic, HTC Hero, Motorola CLIQ, HTC Droid, HTC Dream, HTC Magic and HTC Hero.
• Motorola DROID received 30% ad requests in December making it the number one Adroid handset in terms of ad requests.

Interestingly, these data have to come in just in time for Google’s announcement of the Nexus Phone. And even more interesting is the fact that AdMob is already owned by Google.

Will the Nexus One phone add spike to Android’s current achievement in terms of ad request?

From today, Nimbuzz users on Symbian can enjoy integration with the world’s fastest-growing social network, as Nimbuzz incorporates a feature-rich Twitter client that includes Timelines, Direct Messaging, Searches, Trends and Profiles, and outperforms standalone Twitter applications.

A groundbreaking world first for Symbian handsets is the introduction of pop-up notifications, notifying users of incoming chats and events, while the application runs in the background.

Further significant additions to the Symbian update include kinetic scrolling for 5th edition touch screen phones, new chat screen and contact list layout, chat history, plus a direct link to the NimbuzzOut rate calculator for international calls have also been added.

Available as a free download from Symbian app stores, such as Nokia’s Ovi Store, and from www.nimbuzz.com, the new Nimbuzz for Symbian is unique in offering a centralised messaging client with the most comprehensive all-in one feature set – VoIP calls, Instant Messaging and file-sharing with the world’s most popular social networks, plus presence, profiles, location and now Twitter – making it the ‘must have’ application for Symbian users.

The Symbian release comes at a time of phenomenal growth for Nimbuzz; having passed the 13 million registration milestone last month, Nimbuzz now enjoys a current growth rate of over a million new registrations each month (that’s a new Nimbuzz user every 3 seconds!), an active user base of over 30% and an international user footprint of 220 countries, covering every corner of the globe.

Evert-Jaap Lugt, founder & CEO of Nimbuzz commented: “We are delighted to announce the integration of Twitter with our new Symbian client. Nimbuzz for Symbian is by far our most sophisticated client and the only product available to offer users such a comprehensive range of features and such a complete communications experience on one.”

20Fourlabs (together with Blueworld Communities) walked away with the top honours last night in the Nokia Africa Calling All Innovators app competition. Their entry, Afridoctor, won the $85 000 first prize beating 125 other entries from developers all over Africa.

Afridoctor has enjoyed huge success since its official launch into the Nokia OVI app store – after 3 weeks of being available in the app store Afridoctor has been downloaded over 5500 times from users around the world.

The application fills a void that currently exists in many African countries where there is a huge demand for basic health related information yet this information is not very reliable or easily accessible.

“Thanks to all those within 20fourlabs/BWCOM for your help in designing and building the product. Thanks also go to Danie Pauw and the Health24 team for partnering with us on this project and supplying key content. It is a great honor for us to win the Nokia application competition and that is testament to our ability to innovate and rapidly execute brilliant ideas in limited time frames.” says Bradley Voges, Business Development Manager for BWCOM.

There are already serious discussions underway to expand Afridoctor and ensure the application reaches those who need it most – development has already begun to port Afridoctor to all capable Nokia handsets to ensure mass adoption.

What is Afridoctor?

Afridoctor is Africa’s first personal mobile health clinic, turning your device into a powerful first aid information kit, a doctor-location service, and an emergency distress notifier. Its revolutionary “SnapDiagnosis” system allows users to submit photos of their ailments and remotely receive advice from a panel of professionals. Afridoctor’s mapping feature enables users to find doctors, clinics and all health industry related services within their proximity. Read the rest of this entry »

Vodacom’s the Grid, South Africa’s first location-based mobile social network available to everyone who has a WAP-enabled cellphone, has mapped out close to 11,000 HIV-related support services covering prevention, treatment and support across South Africa.

By utilising the Grid’s location-aware technology, South Africans are not only able to see on their cellphones which HIV support service is closest to them, but they can also obtain the centre’s contact details and get directions to it.

This initiative sees the Grid partnering with the HIV-911 programme – a comprehensive guide of HIV and AIDS related support services in South Africa. The main objective of the programme is to ensure that information about HIV support services are accessible to all South Africans. HIV-911 is funded by United States Agency for International Development / President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief through the Foundation for Professional Development.

Says Shameel Joosub, Managing Director, Vodacom South Africa: “By utilising the broad reach of cellphones in South Africa and tapping into the large user base on the Grid, we are able to make crucial HIV and AIDS support information readily available to all South Africans. This is a great initiative to communicate the value of getting tested to a younger target audience in a social networking environment. It’s just another example of how mobile technology can help create a better life for ordinary South Africans.”

All the HIV-911 information is available in the Grid’s latest application release to coincide with this year’s World Aids Day. To access the Grid SMS ‘GRID’ to 33313 (50c/SMS) or visit http://onthegrid.mobi/

In South Africa, the credit for the development of the certain new services on the mobile platform goes to ordinary people in the lower income brackets who have led the way by adopting, even instigating new ideas to turn the cellphone into a powerful transacting tool.

Compared to a low eight percent fixed internet penetration, South Africa has cellular penetration of a 114 percent. It is clear from the statistics that South Africans have leapfrogged fixed-line telephony and internet in favor of mobile telephony and have called for an increasing array of data services to be delivered to this platform.

This is patently true when it comes to banking and transacting using the mobile phone. To the surprise of the airtime providers, the African continent has witnessed the use of multinational pre-loaded airtime (most notably MTN airtime vouchers) as a type of cross-border grassroots currency, swapped and bartered via sms, and a way to send “money” quickly back to family in other African countries. The informal airtime-economy is an excellent example of the organic development of technology by ordinary people to meet their transactional needs in contexts where credit cards and banking facilities are lacking.

Meet MiMoney

mimoney works essentially like preloaded airtime, or, in other words, converts cash into an electronic currency that can be used to make purchases in a secure and controllable manner. The currency is free to buy, free to get and free to keep, so a R100 note converts into exactly R100 mimoney to be used online, with no leakage or transaction fees incurred. Read the rest of this entry »

You love online poker, and now that you have your fancy new iPhone you want to play poker on it, as well you should. Fortunately for you there are a number of exciting poker apps for the iPhone, each differing depending on the kind of poker you like to play. Here’s a breakdown:

Video Poker on the iPhone: Jacks or Better iPhone Poker

If video poker is your thing, iPhone has you covered with Jacks or Better iPhone poker. This simple app plays just like the real thing, allowing you to play up to five credits at once to win. Payouts occur according to a standard pay table, and you can draw as many cards as you want one time to improve your hand just like in the casino.

Friendly Poker on the iPhone: Apple Texas Hold’em

The first poker application many iPhone users find themselves experimenting with is Apple Texas Hold’em. This is a great app for those who want to kill a little time by themselves or with friends.

The graphics are high quality and the game play is smooth, and you can play against computer opponents or a group of friends who also have the application. You can make full use of the touch screen with Apple Texas hold’em to move chips around or select your actions with just one finger.

Online Poker on the iPhone: Zynga Live Poker

When you’re ready for the iPhone poker big leagues, it’s time to download Zynga. Zynga is as close to an online poker site as you can possibly get from your iPhone wireless device. You can join a variety of games with iPhone players from all over the world, including players linked to social networks like Facebook and MySpace.

It’s important to be aware that you can’t play for real money; Zynga has the functionality for it but Apple doesn’t allow wireless gambling on their mobile devices. Still, you can get a full interactive poker experience using Zynga, and if you want to work out privately with your competitors what your virtual chips are worth, that’s entirely up to you.

Nimbuzz has succeeded in launching its Android Application and the Mac Suite and as far as the future is concerned, they’re now planning to expand by opening new offices in Palo Alto, USA, and London, UK.

Concerning its American expansion, Nimbuzz is seeking to capitalize on the immense opportunity represented by the US market which is said to account for 280 million mobile subscribers. And given the company’s fast growing user base in the United States, the expansion sounds like the right thing to do.

Just to set things straight, Nimbuzz is growing at well over 1 million new users per month, serving more than 200 million VoIP calls per week. Their mobile VoIP and social messaging products have seen quite a few stability and performance enhancements, making Nimbuzz the number 1 app on the GetJar USA app store.

“Nimbuzz has been very warmly welcomed by Silicon Valley and by a huge number of users in the USA. We’re excited by the US opportunity for a number of reasons. Firstly, we will be better able to support and respond to the needs of our growing user base in the US with local representation. Secondly, Nimbuzz will be well positioned to take advantage of the unrivalled business development, media and networking opportunities which exist here,” said vice president Tobias Kemper.

Together, the USA and UK offices will join Nimbuzz’ growing international network comprising headquarters in Rotterdam, offices in India, Argentina, Brazil, Europe, the Middle East, South Africa and Asia.

The AT&T and Apple bonding for the iPhone sales across the United States has solely dominated the market share for years now. But word is that the two companies are about to break up in a years time.

This isn’t a confirmed detail but Apple analysts have reported that the sales for the iPhone have been more conquering in places where the single service provider approach hasn’t been used. Consequently Apple intends to end its single carrier exclusivity model to further expand its market share.

Reports also suggest that this change will be brought about with the launch of a new product in 2010. As far as the American alliance is concerned, people have been happy with the iPhone but the AT&T services have not really been satisfying.

Although AT&T is eager to continue the deal through 2011, Verizon might be next on Apple’s roadmap. Given that Verizon has sped up work for its 4G network and the next iPhone model is bound to adore that, that sounds like a deal made in Heaven, don’t you think?

[via AppleInsider]

Nokia dominates the world cell phone market share and with such a huge customer base it’s no surprise why they’d like to delve deep into this an use it for further profits with a real time monetary service.

It looks like the Finish folks will be presenting the Nokia Money module — an elementary banking and money transfer service, at the Nokia World conference which is to be held next week. The service that will be rolled out next year in a selective number of markets will be an effective electronic money transfer tool, a money management system where the customer will only be required to know the phone number of the receipt of money. Smells like mobile Paypal?

The credentials of the service quality cannot be doubted for it will involve Nokia’s money and mobile money transfer specialist Obopay’s brain.

Rumors about the Apple Pay Pal Killer have also surfaced from time to time, but Nokia seems to have one-upped the competition with a mobile version of the money transfer system … something which could have a more far reaching effect.

Source

The Wikimedia Foundation may be a non-profit organization but that doesn’t stop them from getting competitive — which is great.

A few days ago, Wikipedia rolled out its first official iPhone application dubbed Wikipedia mobile which is available for free in the App Store (note: iTunes link). The new Wikipedia iPhone app has been designed to provide users with Wikipedia-formatted articles, but we’re being left in the dark as it doesn’t look anything different from a regular mobile Wikipedia website. Actually, it simply serve as a wrapper.

There are already interesting applications like the Taptu’s Wapedia, Wikiamo and Wikipanion, which are visibly better than this official Wikipedia App, that doesn’t even bring a single new element to the whole deal except for the fact that it can track your browsing history.

Our take on it? The official Wikipedia App will have to do lots of polishing to compete with the unofficial ones.