iOS

Yesterday afternoon, Facebook announced its new mobile app store, called "App Center." 

If you look at the mock-up in the above image, it appears users can buy mobile apps from Facebook's desktop format. "The App Center is designed to grow mobile apps that use Facebook –- whether they’re on iOS, Android or the mobile web," wrote Aaron Brady on Facebook's Developer Blog.

High-end cosmetics retailer Sephora is using integrated technology to ramp up its in-store experience.

"Sephora today rolled out what it’s calling a 'social and mobile makeover,'" wrote TechCrunch's Colleen Taylor (April 8).

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.

-- iQmetrix Releases Sales Statistics from the Independent Wireless Retail Industry --

VANCOUVER, BC – Jan. 12, 2012 – iQmetrix, the leading provider of retail management software for the North American wireless industry, today released statistics on consumers’ mobile phone purchasing trends for December 2011.

iQmetrix sampled data from over 1,000 independent wireless retailers across North America reporting that Android phones comprised 36.8 percent of total phones sold, up from 30.5 percent over December 2010.