This week proves to be one of the busiest weeks for mobile manufacturers as different companies launched their products.  New apps are also on the rise, amongst other developments that revolve around the mobile world.  The week started with a study that aims to disprove the theory that mobile devices causes or increases the risk for cancer.  Unfortunately, the study was done in a small population making other researchers to question the findings.

We also learned how extensive mobile use could lead to neck injuries as we are always stooping down or have our heads bowed.  This causes strain on our necks and it starts to hurt.  We shouldn’t ignore these neck pains, as they could cause serious neck injuries and chronic issues.

Manufacturers battle for market share

Nokia launched two lines of mobile devices: the Lumia series and the Asha series.  The Lumia series consists of the Lumia 800 and 710 are high-end smartphones while the Asha series, which includes 200, 201, 300 and 303, are low-end, cross between smartphones and feature phones that comes in a variety of colors.

Sony is acquiring Ericsson’s share for their joint venture for $1.5 billion.  In return, Sony would get broad intellectual property cross-licensing agreement covering all the Japanese company’s products and services, as well as ownership of “five essential patent families relating to wireless handset technology.”

After the four-day service blackout, RIM now faces angry subscribers from the US and Canada who filed for a class action lawsuit against the company.  They are asking for monetary compensation, not the free apps and tech support RIM extended as a peace offering.

Android-iOS wars live on

The Android-Apple feud is further fueled as Android sales top the charts, but we shouldn’t forget that Android is almost every device that is not an iOS device.  Of all the mobile devices used, 54% of them are Android, 23% are iOS and 13% belong to the RIM camp.  Though Android is the leading OS, Apple is still the number one device manufacturer for Q3, with a 23 percent impression share among the top 15 manufacturers in Millennial Media’s network, and 12 percent among the top 20.

Helping to maintain Android’s majority OS share, Fandroids are also anticipating the official rollout of the Android 4.0 or the Ice Cream Sandwich.  And aside from the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, these are the other devices said to be getting the yummy OS: DROID RAZR, DROID Bionic, the Xoom, the Nexus S, HTC Sensation (XL,XE,Original), HTC EVO 3D, HTC Incredible S, HTC Desire HD, HTC Flyer, HTC Rhyme, HTC Desire S, HTC Salsa, HTC Desire Z, and Google Nexus One.  But Fandroids are already thinking about the future.  They are already laying out what they want for the Android 5.0, currently nicknamed Jelly Bean.

Microsoft, on the other hand, keeps getting richer off Android devices as they continue to draw in royalties from ODMs using Google’s mobile platform.  The latest company to sign a patent licensing deal with Microsoft was Compal Electronics.

Mobile apps on the rise

Pageonce, the popular finance service for mobile devices, launched a mobile bill pay service that gives consumers remote control over when and how they pay their bills. Pageonce lets users view all their bills and pay from any account, all in one simple app anytime, anywhere.

Wikinvest, the financial technology company dedicated to creating a world of intelligent investors and empowering them to make smarter financial decisions, launched its free investment portfolio tracking app, Wikinvest Portfolio HD, for the iPad.  The app enables users to track, analyze and manage all their investments, all in one place.

Appcelerator’s acquisition of Particle Code puts them in the top spot for cross-platform development frameworks, as this enables them to offer both web and native app development from a singular code base to developers in every app category.

The large number of Android users speaks well for app developers, as this could lead to higher app revenues.  Android app downloads account for 44% while iOS app downloads is only at 31%.  But iOS users still trump Android in downloads per user, at a 2:1 ratio.

The carriers will play

Sprint plans on launching their LTE-Advanced commercial services in the U.S. by first half of 2013.  With high demand for Wi-Fi connections, we could expect that establishments like hotels would soon implement volume-sensitive pricing for Internet access via Wi-Fi.   Most people who stay at hotels are now complaining of slow internet connection and the problem is the large population of iPad users who connect to hotel Wi-Fi, and most of them use up large amounts of data because of video streaming.