Nexus 7 sales near 1 million a month – Asus has revealed that it is selling nearly 1 million Nexus 7 Android tablets a month. Reported first by the Wall Street Journal, Asus revealed the information in its third quarter earnings call, reporting sales have grown steadily, climbing from about 500,000 units a month at launch.

Apple patents iOS maps interface — Apple has been awarded a patent for the graphical user interface (GUI) for the iOS Maps app according to Apple Insider. U.S. Patent No. 8,302,033 is for a “touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for providing maps, directions, and location-based information.”

Gameloft supports Nexus 10, Windows Phone 8 — Gameloft has wasted no time in preparing apps to run on Google’s brand-new Nexus 10 tablet and Microsoft’s line of Windows 8 smartphones. The company announced this week that 10 of its games were compatible with the the Nexus 10:

• The Dark Knight Rises
• The Amazing Spiderman
• Monster Life
• The Oregon Trail American Settlers
• N.O.V.A. 3 : Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance
• Dungeon Hunter 3
• Kingdoms and Lords
• Asphalt 7 : Heat
• Ice Age Village
• Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation

Meanwhile the company announced it would be bringing the following 12 titles to Windows Phone 8 devices:

• Ice Age Village
• N.O.V.A. 3: Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance
• Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour
• Shark Dash
• Asphalt 7: Heat
• The Dark Knight Rises
• UNO™ & Friends
• Order & Chaos Online
• The Amazing Spider-Man
• Fashion Icon
• Poker for Prizes
• Real Soccer 2013

Playfirst expands to Android – Playfirst has made the jump to Android, bringing its popular Diner Dash franchise to the Kindle Fire.

Punchbox makes bank with Fishing Joy – Chinese developer Punchbox is earning more than $420,000 a month in China from its ultra-popular game Fishing Joy reports Pocket Gamer.

40,000 new users per day for Pulse — Newreader app Pulse is signing up 40,000 new readers a day, reports VentureBeat. Between them, the app’s userbase reads over 10 million news stories a day.

Fortumo Launches in-app payments for Windows 8 – Mobile payments company Fortumo now supports Windows 8, allowing developers to add mobile payments to apps running on Microsoft Surface tablets. The service is available in more than 80 countries.

Millennial Media and AppStori partner — Millennial Media has partnered with app-exclusive crowdfunding service AppStori. Eligible project will receive $500 in cash funding from Millennial and a $500 advertising credit.

[Launch] Gameloft debuts World at Arms — Gameloft’s latest title is military strategy game World at Arms. The free-to-play mid-core title challenges players to construct a military base, allying with friends to battle the evil KRA.

[Funding] It’sOn nets $15.5 million from Andreessen Horowitz — Stealth mobile data startup It’sOn has raised another $15.5 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz, SV Angel and others reports VentureBeat. The company, which has raised a total of $24.4 million in venture capital plans to improve wireless data access.

Nokia and mobile app monetization exchange Inneractive have joined forces to launch a  new mobile monetization platform called the Nokia Ad Exchange, or NAX for short.

Announced today at the Microsoft Build developer conference, NAX is essentially a white-labeled version of Inneractive’s platform, launched under the company’s private exchange line of services. Other companies that have created their own private exchanges with Inneractive include StackMob, Unity and Corona Labs.

NAX is cross-platform, and supports Windows 8, Android, iOS and Blackberry. The service will allow developers to to buy and sell advertising inventory through mechanisms such as real-time bidding and hybrid mediation. NAX will also have access to Inneractive’s stable of 120 mobile ad networks including InMobi, Adfonic and Amobee.

“With the launch of NAX, Nokia will enable developers to simply and effectively monetize their apps, as part of our continued focus on supporting the developers ROI to build successful businesses” said Richard Kerris, VP & Head of Global Developer Relations, Nokia in a statement.

The move is an interesting one, given that Nokia is primarily known for manufacturing mobile phones, rather than providing the services developers use on its hardware. However, with the company’s market share dipping and Microsoft partnering with other manufacturers to create Windows 8 smartphones, it makes sense for Nokia to diversify its product offerings and keep itself open to other platforms.

Using Inneractive’s technology also means Nokia can use its new ad exchange to help foster the Windows 8 app ecosystem, explains Inneractive’s co-founder and president Offer Yehudai.

“I think Nokia made a very interesting move when they opened the Nokia Ad Exchange to all platforms. I think it’s a very open minded plan,” he says. “Developers can use the Nokia Ad Exchange on any platform, and they can take ad revenue from one platform and use it to promote their apps on different platforms. If you have an Android app you can use that ad revenue in the exchange and use it to promote your Windows Phone application and vice-versa.”

Considering that iOS and Android both now have more than 700,000 available apps compared to the 100,000 currently available on Windows Phone,  it’s easy to see why Nokia would be interested in a solution that could be used to bolster the ecosystem the company is betting its handset business on.

Inneractive is backed by $8.5 million in venture funding from Evergreen Venture Partners and private investrors such as Andy Fruchter and Ehud Hillman. The company closed a $3.5 million round of Series B funding in August.

OMGPOP costs Zynga $85 to $90 million — Zynga may have overpaid for Draw Something developer OMG. The company revealed yesterday it will write down between $85 to $90 million of its initial $180 million purchase price. As The Next Web points out, that’s almost $500,000 a day in losses since Zynga announced the acquisition on March 21.

More Windows 8 devices arriving soon — With the imminent release of the Windows 8 OS, more details are emerging about mobile devices running the OS. According to AT&T, Nokia’s Windows 8-based Lumia 920 and 820 will be available in November. Microsoft has also begun inviting the press to an Oct. 26 midnight launch party for its Surface line of tablets.

Treater debuts mobile apps — Gift giving service Treater has made the jump to mobile with native iOS and Android apps. The service allows its users to instantly send real-life gifts such as spa visits or even a round of drinks at a bar. Gifts bought through the service are delivered as virtual gift cards through email, SMS or Facebook posts.

Appcelerator launches Innovation Fund — Mobile app development platform provider Appcelerator has created the Appcelerator Innovation Fund to help startups building apps on its platform, reports TechCrunch.

Amazon Appstore opens doors to Japan – The Amazon Appstore is now allowing developers to submit their apps for distribution in Japan when the service launches in that country later this year.

Pocket Change integrates with GameMaker: Studio – Universal loyalty currency provider Pocket Change has partnered with YoYo Games to have its product directly integrated into YoYo’s GameMaker: Studio.

We Heart Pics wins Facebook hack award – Mobile photo sharing app We Heart Pic was named a winner at the Oct. 1 Facebook developers hack in Moscow. The app received first prize in the Best Mobile Application category. The company plans to integrate the new functionality it created at the hack into its app soon.

Kiip coming to Passbook — Real-life rewards network Kiip will soon be integrated directly into iOS 6’ Passbook. Consumers will be able to redeem coupons for Kiip rewards directly from notifications, emails and Kiip’s app.

[RUMOR] iPad mini in production — Apple has already started production on a 7.85 inch “iPad Mini”, according to the Wall Street Journal.

[Funding] Contacts+ raises $1 million seed round — Contact aggregator Contacts+ has raised $1 million in seed funding, reports TechCrunch. The funding comes from TriplePoint Ventures, Tencent, TMT Ventures and others.

Project starts for Windows Phone applications among developers using Flurry analytics have increased by 600 percent over the past 12 months. The mobile analytics company is the newest voice suggesting that Microsoft’s platform may be emerging as a viable third option for mobile developers.

According Flurry’s blog post, Windows Phone project starts — defined as setting up an app for analytics tracking before its official launch — currently account for six percent of all new projects the company records. Year-over-year Window Phone apps have gone from accounting for just one percent of Flurry’s starts to four percent — a noticeable increase, but still far behind behind iOS which accounts for 67 percent of all Flurry project starts and Android, which accounts for 28 percent.

What is more telling, according to Flurry is the rate at which iOS, Android and Windows Phone appear to be growing year-over-year. According to the analytics company, Windows Phone has recorded the largest year-over-year growth rate per platform, registering a 521 percent increase. Android takes second place, recording an 82 percent growth rate, with iOS recording a growth rate of 66 percent.

We’ve seen several green shoots this year indicating Microsoft has been turning around the fortunes of its long-beleaguered Windows Phone platform. In January Nokia reported it had sold over 1 million Lumia phones, and analysts have reported steady, if not outstanding sales since. In April Distimo reported the Windows Phone Marketplace was the fastest growing app store, recording the largest quarter-over-quarter growth of any mobile app vendor. Even more tellingly earlier this month ComScore reported Windows Phone had increased its share of mobile subscribers, growing from 3.9 percent of the market to 4 percent — a modest gain, but one that came after several months of declines.

While Windows Phone is still a minority player in the mobile app market, it is becoming increasingly apparent Windows is increasing the platform’s support, both with developers and customers. We’ll continue to monitor Microsoft’s progress carefully.

New MMA directors — The Mobile Marketing Association has announced its new 13 member board of directors. The elected directors will serve a two year term. They are:

• Jonathan Carson , CEO of Digital, Nielsen
• Carolyn Everson , VP Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook
• Louis Gump , VP Mobile, CNN
• Jack Haber , VP Global Advertising & Digital, Colgate-Palmolive
• Tobin Ireland , Group Director of Commercial Development, Vodafone
• Barry Judge , Former Chief Marketing Officer, Best Buy
• Joe Kennedy , CEO & President, Pandora Media, Inc.
• Thomas Labarthe , VP Mobile Commerce, Alcatel-Lucent
• Neal Mohan , VP Product Management, Google
• Alex Moukas , CEO, Velti
• Rob Norman , CEO, GroupM
• Jack Philbin , Co-Founder, President, & CEO, Vibes
• Emre Sayin , Chief Consumer Business Unit Officer, Turkcell

DeNA teams with Renren — DeNA has signed a deal with Chinese social networking platform Renren to bring mobile games from DeNA’s Mobage network to Renren’s mobile app. Under the terms of the deal the games will be found in a dedicated section of the app.

GREE buys Korea’s Paprika Lab — GREE has bought Korean mobile-social developer Paprika Lab, reports The Next Web. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Zynga buys console dev Buzz Monkey – TechCrunch is reporting that Zynga’s latest acquisition is Buzz Monkey, an Oregon-based developer that worked on Zynga’s game Pioneer Trail.  Several Buzz Monkey employees have already begun changing their job descriptions on LinkedIn. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Windows Marketplace passes 100,000 apps — More than 100, 000 apps have been published to the Windows Marketplace according to All About Windows Phone. Of the 100,000 published, 88,371 of those are still available.

Google’s mobile maps will now work offline — Mobile users will soon be able to cache Google Maps on their phones, allowing them to be viewed in offline mode, reports TechCrunch.

DFC: Mobile will account for a quarter of video game revenue by 2017 — Research firm DFC intelligence is predicting mobile devices will account for 25 percent of all video game revenue by 2017. According to DFC, PCs will account for 39 percent of revenue and consoles 36 percent.

PayAnywhere comes to Android — Mobile POS company PayAnywhere has added two new Android SDKs to its library. The company’s credit card transaction services can now be integrated into any Android app.

Millennial Media ads now for Windows Phone apps — Mobile ad network Millennial Media has released a Windows Phone version of its SDK.

8 million copies of Camera+ — Developer TapTapTap is reporting its popular photo editing app Camera+ has sold 8 million copies in two years.

Thumb updates to version 3.0 with visual overhaul — Social opinion app Thumb has unveiled its version 3.0 design. In addition to receiving a revamped user interface Thump now lets users post individual likes, save opinions and share from the app to Facebook, Twitter and SMS.

100 million Angry Birds in space — Rovio’s latest game, Angry Birds Space has racked up 100 million total downloads on iOS and Android since its release, according to a Tweet from Rovio’s official Angry Birds account.

[Funding] SCVNGR raises $12 million for LevelUp — Boston-based SCVNGR has raised $12 million in new funding for its mobile payment app LevelUp. Highland Capital Partners, Google Ventures, Balderton Capital, Continental Investors and Transmedia capital all participated in the round.

[Funding] Quixey raises $20 million — App search engine Quixey has closed a $20 million round of Series B funding. WI Harper Group, U.S. Venture Partners and Translink Capital all participated in the round.

[Funding] HotelTonight nets $23 million Series C — San Francisco-based travel app HotelTonight has closed a $23 million round of Series C funding. The round was lead by U.S. Venture Partners with participation rom Accel, Battery Ventures and First Round Capital. So far the service has raised more than $35 million dollars, reports VentureBeat.

Market research firm IDC estimates smartphone shipments will grow 38.8 percent this year, hitting 686 million units in 2012. But while Android and iOS lead the smartphone pack now, in the long term the company is predicting Android and iOS’ market share will decline, largely at the expense of Windows Phone.

According the company’s latest study, the combination of falling prices on devices and data plans, and high subsidies from carriers is boosting current smartphone demand. However, IDC expects smartphone market share growth will be less agressive this year, as the rate at which consumers switch from feature phones to smartphones begins to slow.

“The smartphone parade won’t be as lively this year as it has been in past,” said IDC senior research analyst Kevin Restivo in the company’s report. “The mobile phone user transition from feature phones to smartphones will continue in a gradual but unabated fashion.”

Looking forward, the company predicts by 2016 Google’s Android OS will still be the market leader but will have seen a significant portion of its userbase eroded by Microsoft’s Windows Phone — if Nokia can maintain its strength in emerging markets. IDC estimates in five years’ time Windows Phone will be the No. 2 smartphone operating system, passing Apple with a predicted 19.2 percent market share to iOS’ 19 percent.

Android’s growth may be faltering as Apple and Microsoft see gains in their smartphone market share according to the latest report from comScore.

The metrics firm’s latest survey found Apple was the fastest growing OEM, increasing its share of the handset market to 14.4 percent, up 1.6 percent since January. Samsung was the only other OEM to see an increase in its market share, posting a 0.5 percent gain to account for 25.9 percent of all handsets. LG, Motorola and HTC saw their market share fall by -0.5, -0.7 and -0.4 percent, respectively. When isolated to just smartphones, Apple’s share of the market increased by 1.9 percent, accounting for 31.4 percent of all smartphone users.

ComScore also found that Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform surprised with a modest gain to smartphone subscribers, reversing a five month decline. In Feb. 2012, Microsoft’s share of smartphone users was 3.9 percent, but it was 4 percent in April. The platform’s overall contraction has also slowed — between Jan. 2012 and April 2012, Microsoft’s share of smartphone subscribers fell by 0.4 percent, compared to the 1.3 percent it lost between Nov. 2011 and Feb. 2012.

As we’ve said before, 2012 is the make-or-break year for Windows Phone. Although the platform hasn’t yet emerged as a viable third smartphone platform, there have been some indications the company’s efforts are beginning to turn things around. Sales of the flagship Windows Phone, Nokia’s Lumia 900 have been reasonably good according to Barrons, and in April Distimo found that the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace was the fastest growing app store overall. We’ll continue to monitor the platform’s growth closely.

Meanwhile the picture was not as good for Google’s Android. The operating system posted the biggest increase in market share between January and April, seeing its portion of the smartphone market grow by 2.2 percent to account 50.8 percent of all mobile subscribers. However, the platform’s growth has slowed in recent months.  According to comScore records of the period between Nov. 2011 and Feb. 2012, Google was able to grow its share of total smartphone subscribers by 3.2 percent. As Asymco’s Horace Dediu points out, according to comScore’s data, this is the fourth month in a row that Android’s user growth has declined. It is now at its lowest point since 2009.

Total smartphone adoption also slowed, falling to less than 300,000 new activations a week, an after-effect of the extreme growth seen during the holiday season. During December, mobile analytics company Flurry reported an average of 1.5 million device activations a day. On Christmas Day alone consumers activated over 6.8 million devices.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Marketplace and Amazon’s Appstore are the fastest growing app stores according to Distimo and CSS Insight’s App Vu Global Report.

The Windows Phone 7 Marketplace saw the largest quarter over quarter growth in 2011 and may soon overtake RIM’s BlackBerry App World in terms of the total number of apps available. The Windows Phone 7 Marketplace had more than 80,000 apps at the beginning of April, up from 60,000 at the end of January.

Although still the smallest app market, Amazon’s Appstore is also growing quickly thanks to the success of the Kindle Fire. According to the report, the Amazon Appstore’s number of available apps grew by 40 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Overall, the iPhone App Store is still the biggest app store and is still adding apps at a faster rate than its closest competitor, Google Play.

At the end of 2011 there were almost 1.4 million apps in app stores worldwide, 53 percent were free or freemium and 47 percent were paid.

GetJar shuffles executives — Independent app store GetJar has promoted its COO Chris Dury to the position of CEO. The company’s former CEO and founder, Ilja Laurs will now be the company’s executive chairman.

Urban Airship partners with Intel for PC IAPs – Urban Airship is expanding its in-app messaging and purchasing tools to developers of PC apps. As part of a new partnership with Intel, Intel AppUp developers will have all back-end in-app purchase costs until 2015.

Greystripe brings PC ad targeting to mobile – Greystripe and its parent company ValueClick have released a new segmentation tool called ValueClick Audience Mapping. The targeting tool allows clients to use online data to target audience segments on mobile devices.

New seller countries added to Google Play — Android developers in the Czech Republic, Israel, Poland and Mexico are now able to process app sales and in-app payments using their local bank accounts for payments, according to the Android Developers Blog.

Amazon brings in-app payments out of beta — After several months of testing, Amazon has brought its in-app payment system out of beta. Amazon will have the ability to discount in-app purchases, but developers will always receive 70 percent of the list price reports TechCrunch.

Department of Justice files suit against Apple – The Department of Justice has filed an antitrust suit against Apple, alleging the company and five book publishers colluded to fix the prices on ebooks. Apple’s spokesperson Tom Neumayr released this statement today:

The DOJ’s accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true. The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon’s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry. Since then customers have benefited from eBooks that are more interactive and engaging. Just as we’ve allowed developers to set prices on the App Store, publishers set prices on the iBookstore.

Instagram up to 40 million users – Instagram has added 10 million users in the last 10 days, reports TechCrunch. The jump has been largely fueled by the app’s move to Android and the press coverage of its acquisition by Facebook.

Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planswalkers headed to iPad — Wizards of the Coast is bringing its ultra-popular collectible card game to the iPad. Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planewalkers 2013 will hit the iPad in the summer.

Windows Phone users want Draw Something – Pocket Gamer is reporting a petition for Zynga to bring Draw Something to Windows Phone has gathered more than 3,000 signatures.

SAP acquires Syclo — German business software company SAP has acquired Syclo, a provider of mobile enterprise solutions. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Cellufun is now “Tylted” — Cellufun’s re-name game has ended and the company is now called Tylted. The name was chosen by a popular vote that polled more than 30,000 Cellufun users.

Unity up to 1 million registered developers – Unity now has 1 million registered developers and almost 300,000 monthly active users. In March the company began a promotion to attract developers by giving away the $800 iOS and Android development license.

Gamefly getting into mobile publishing — Video game rental service Gamefly is venturing into mobile publishing, according Gamefly’s Garnet Lee, who announced the news in the Weekend Confirmed podcast.

Chop Chop Ninja coming to TV – Gamerizon’s hit iOS game Chop Chop Ninja will soon be a children’s TV show produced by Teletoon Canada and animated by Sardine productions. The show, available in multiple formats, will have 52 11-minute episodes and 52 one minute episodes and a variety of original web-based material. Chop Chop Ninja has been downloaded more than 5 million times.

Google Currents goes international – Google’s Currents magazine app is now available internationally. According to the Google Mobile blog, the app now has over 400 publisher editions and 14,000 self published publications available.

[Funding] Voxer chats up $30 million round – Walkie talkie app Voxer has closed a $30 million dollar funding round lead by Institutional Venture Partners. Other participants include Intel Capital, SV Angel, CrunchFund, Chris Dixon and Roger McNamee. TechCrunch estimates the round places the company’s valuation at $180 million.

[Funding] Beamit snags $2.4 million seed round — Mobile payments company Beamit has raised an additional $2.4 million in seed money, adding to its initial $750,000 of angel funding. The round was lead by Founder’s Co-op Bezos Expeditions and TomorrowVentures. Beamit focuses on enabling the mobile transfer of funds between the U.S and developing countries like The Philippines.

50 percent of U.S. smartphones are Androids — According to ComScore’s latest mobile subscriber report, Google’s Android is now the most popular platform with 50.1 percent market share, up from the 46.9 percent it held in November. iOS was second with 30.2 percent, up from 28.7 percent. RIM and Microsoft declined to 13.4 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively.

ODIN looking to set new UDID replacement standard –  Following Apple’s move to begin rejecting apps that use UDIDs to track users, mobile advertising companies Velti, Jumptap, RadiumOne, MdotM, StrikeAd, Smaato, Adfonic and SAY Media are teaming up to create a focus group called ODIN. According to TechCrunch, the companies are hoping push the mobile advertising industry to quickly decide on a UDID replacement. The group currently favors using a secure, hashed version of the iOS MAC address.

Zynga’s Draw Something cloned in China — With the blockbuster success of Draw Something, its not surprising others are looking to get in on the social-Pictionary action. According to Tech in Asia, the game has been cloned in China by Tencent as Guess What and MelonZone as Draw I Guess.

Diamond Dash hits 11 million downloads — The iOS version of Wooga’s Diamond Dash has been downloaded 11 million times in four months. 64 percent of iOS players log in with Facebook.

Angry Birds coming to the small screen – Rovio has revealed it is working on an Angry Birds animated series. Each of the 52 episodes will be about three minutes long, according to VentureBeat.

Indie hits coming and going from iOS — Indie games are crossing to and from mobile. Team Meat is working on a brand-new iOS version of punishingly difficult platformer Super Meat Boy, and Canadian studio Capy Games is bringing its award winning iOS game, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP to the PC via Steam.

Glu Mobile buys Deer Hunter brand – Glu Mobile has bought the trademark to Deer Hunter from Atari. Glu has been releasing mobile Deer Hunter apps for seven years, earning more than $21 million in revenue from the brand.

Windows Phone Marketplace up to 80,000 apps – All About Windows Phone reports that the Windows Phone Marketplace now has 80,000 apps, some of which may have been directly financed by Microsoft itself, according to the New York Times.

Latest version of Android OS only on 2.9 percent of Android devices — According to the latest update from Google’s Android developer platform data, Android 4.0 — aka Ice Cream Sandwich — is installed on just 2.9 percent of Android devices. The most popular Android OS is still 2.3, aka, Gingerbread, with a 63.7 percent market share.

Flurry ditches UDID in latest SDK, adds more features – Flurry has updated its iOS SDK to version 3.1.0. According to the Flurry blog, the SDK no longer collects the iOS UDID. The company has also added Funnels, Alerts and Custom Dashboards to its iOS, Android, HTML5, BlackBerry and JavaME analytics products.

Halfbrick gets in on GetJar Gold — Halfbrick is the latest developer to integrate GetJar’s GetJar Gold virtual currency. The currency, which is only available in GetJar’s independent Android app store, is based off advertising, but players can use the currency to purchase premium in-game items.

Kontagent adds new data mining tools — Kontagent has launched a new kSuite DataMine platform. The cloud-hosted tool allows developers to create detailed, custom queries in order to mine user data.

Samsung launching own mobile ad network — Samsung is partnering with OpenX Technologies to create its own mobile advertising network, reports the Wall Street Journal. The as-yet-unnamed network will launch in the second half of the year.

[Funding] The Tap Lab untaps $550,000 — Cambridge-based The Tap Lap has raised $550,000 in investment funds to work on location based games and its own location-based game engine.

[Launch] MocoSpace debuts HTML-based True Night — HTML5 gaming platform MocoSpace has launched its thirty third HTML5 game, the vampire themed True Night. It was developed by New Game Town.