Android

According to 9to5mac.com, Apple will drop the Google Maps app on iOS 6, in favor of a completely in-house maps application.

"The application design is said to be fairly similar to the current Google Maps program on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, but it is described as a much cleaner, faster, and more reliable experience," wrote 9to5mac.com.

LG made headlines today with two big stories: First, that it was abandoning the Windows Phone platform to focus on Android phones, and second, that it was launching an "LG Cloud" service for smartphones, PCs and TVs.

Bye-bye, Windows Phone

As Jordan Crook of TechCrunch reports, LG had spent two quarters in the red and decided to move away from Microsoft's mobile platform.

Over the past year, much has been made about the NFC-enabled mobile wallet concept championed by Google but very few people can say they've actually paid for something using this technology.

So it's almost like plucking numbers out of thin air to say that, 3 years from now, transactions via NFC will reach $74 billion worldwide -- yet that's exactly what Juniper Research has done, as reported by TechCruch.com's Leena Rao today.

iQmetrix CFO Ron Tweddle attended the 2012 Mobile World Congress. The following are his notes from recent keynotes and sessions he attended. Follow Ron on Twitter @rtweddle.

In a move analysts are calling inspired by Apple, online retail giant Amazon is opening a physical store in its hometown of Seattle very soon, reported Alistair Barr of Reuters (Feb. 6).