iPad Accounts For 1% Og Global Web Browsing

The iPad now accounts for 1% of total global web browsing according to new figures from Net Applications NetMarketshare. The report also says that the iPad accounts for 2.1% of the total U.S. browsing traffic. Those are some impressive figures to attribute to just a single device, but they underscore the fact that mobile browsing in general has been seeing steady rises. Indeed mobile devices now account for 5% of global web browsing (meaning that the iPad accounts for 20% of global mobile web browsing!).

iOS devices in total i..e iPads, iPhones and iPod Touches account for a very healthy two thirds of all mobile browsing in the U.S. That leaves Android in second place with 31.6% and BlackBerry brings up the rear with 7%. The other platforms don't really register in the U.S. although with Windows Mobile coming up steadily and Android expanding at a breakneck pace these figures will no doubt change.

Nokia Takes Credit For Rise In Windows Phone Apps

It was recently announced that Windows Phone had amassed 25,000 apps in its app store. A big achievement for the nascent platform to be sure and Microsoft can be justly proud of that. However, someone else is taking the credit for the jump in app numbers ... and that someone is Nokia.

Yes, the manufacturer that doesn't actually have a Windows Phone device for sale, is taking the credit for the upswing in Windows Phone apps. Is it justified though? Well in the words of Marco Argenti, Nokia's senior vice president of developer and marketplace, "After we announced our partnership with Microsoft, the amount of apps coming in to the marketplace has actually gone up quite a bit, has almost tripled".

Certainly the prospect of having Nokia onboard won't be hurting the appeal of Windows Phone in terms of attracting developers and even without a device ready for market Nokia's power in the market must still be seductive for some as Argenti alluded to "So we've seen this inflection point very clearly that even without launching a device because they [developers] see greater opportunities [to] come".

It's also worth pointing out that Nokia have been keen to get their army of Symbian devs moving across to their newly embraced platform. Nokia is telling them that local success can be had with the new platform, but also there is of course this vast global audience that both Microsoft and Nokia can reach out to. Argenti says as much himself "... embrace the Windows [Phone] platform because we're going to bring it to all these markets that we will launch the device in".

EU Plans To Scrap Roaming Fees

The EU is looking at abolishing roaming fees for voice calls by 2015 across the union. It's obviously a great move for consumers (although the networks may not agree), but it's also part of a longer trend in European roaming that has seen the cost of using your mobile abroad steadily fall.

Vivienne Reding, the previous information commissioner set the ball rolling in that regard and since 2007 the cost of voice calls whilst roaming has been falling by 6% every year. That's great, but the real prize for consumers would of course be the elimination of roaming charges all together, after all the EU is supposed to be a common market.

Now you will notice that this proposalonly covers voice calls, not data. That's still a major expense when outside of your home country and it's sad not to see it mentioned in this initiative, but perhaps the scrapping of voice roaming charges might lead the way?

Nokia N9 Not Launching In UK, France Or Germany

Well it's confirming what we already knew really, but Nokia have released a list of countries that will see the N9 go on sale. What's more interesting here though are the countries that aren't getting the N9 (officially). The list of countries that will receive the N9 are as follows:

Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Finland, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Malaysia, New Zealand, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia,Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE and Vietnam.

Notable by their absence in that list are some of the major European markets such as the United Kingdom, France and Germany. However, Nokia's first Windows Phone handset is expected to launch across Western Europe first, presumably in those markets left out of the N9 launch. That still doesn't answer the question of why Nokia is seemingly ignoring some of Europe's biggest markets. Perhaps they're afraid of the competition?

World data consumption doubles every year