• Android up from 9.6% to 36% market share
• Symbian down from 44.2% to 27.4% market share
• iOS up from 15.3% to 16.8% market share
• BlackBerry down from 19.7% to 12.9%

Microsoft has dropped from 6.8% to 3.6% (Windows Mobile to Windows Phone transformation) and the others make up a mere 3.3% (down from 4.4% last year.

None of this means a lot because the huge Android jump distorts the other figures greatly. iOS’s modest jump is impressive when Android is considered and RIM’s drop is maybe not a bad as it looks.

From Euro Gamer- “Eurogamer has seen video evidence that verifies reports that Sony’s PlayStation Network password reset system suffers from an exploit that allows attackers to change your password using only your PSN account email and your date of birth – information compromised in the PSN hack of 20th April.

Sony today made PSN sign-in unavailable for a number of its websites, including PlayStation.com and the PlayStation forums. All PlayStation game titles are also unavailable.

Crucially, the website users are directed to by password reset emails is now down.”

From Reuters- “The move by Apple to work with operators is symptomatic of warming relations as Apple, no longer a new market entrant, depends on mobile carrier subsidies to help it maintain high volumes of iPhone sales.

A spokesman for European telecoms standards body (ETSI) confirmed Apple had made the proposal for the new standard for SIM cards, but decision on starting the standardization work, which can take more than a year, was not yet made.”

From BBC- “Armed with the token, criminals would be able to pose as a particular user and get at their personal information.

Even worse, found the researchers, tokens are not bound to particular phones or time of use so they can be used to impersonate a handset almost anywhere.”

“Research conducted for the retailer indicates that Britons could be clogging up their cupboards and drawers with gadgets worth billions of pounds. The poll suggests there could be 35m old mobile phones, 11m digital cameras, 9m PCs, 5.5m laptops, 12m outdated games consoles and more than a million redundant satnavs lying around our houses. The trade-in value of mobile phones alone is thought to be in the region of £700m.”

From Phone Arena- “The Society for Information displays (SID) show is opening up on Monday in Los Angeles for the whole of next week. Both Korean rivals Samsung and LG will be there, and Samsung already issued a stunner press release that it will be demonstrating “Retina Display”-like 10.1″ LCD screens with 300ppi, scheduled for production this year.”

“The noise produced by the bees increased more than ten-fold whenever a phone made or received a call – the noise dropped to normal level when the phone was off or on standby.

Mr Favre explained: ‘The bees’ noise drastically increases as soon as the phone rings – the rays from the phone and the noise clearly disturbs the bees.

‘This gives the bees the signal to leave the hive. But often they are so confused they fly to their death.”

“For the past few days, a mystery has been unfolding in Silicon Valley. Somebody, it seems, hired Burson-Marsteller, a top public-relations firm, to pitch anti-Google stories to newspapers, urging them to investigate claims that Google was invading people’s privacy. Burson even offered to help an influential blogger write a Google-bashing op-ed, which it promised it could place in outlets like The Washington Post, Politico, and The Huffington Post.

The plot backfired when the blogger turned down Burson’s offer and posted the emails that Burson had sent him. It got worse when USA Today broke a story accusing Burson of spreading a “whisper campaign” about Google “on behalf of an unnamed client.”

From cnet- “Surveying Apple iPad owners in March, NPD’s “Apple iPad Owner Study II” report found that only 14 percent of early iPad buyers (those who’ve owned one six months or more) chose an iPad instead of a PC. And over the recent holiday season, that number dropped to 12 percent, according to Baker.”

SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 10, 2011 — In a global mobile threat study released today, Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR) found that enterprise and consumer mobile devices are exposed to a record number of security threats, including a 400 percent increase in Android malware, as well as highly targeted Wi-Fi attacks. Through close examination of recent malware exploits, the study outlines new areas of concern and delivers clear recommendations on essential security technologies and practices to help consumers, enterprises/SMBs, and government entities guard against mobile device exploits.

With smartphones set to eclipse PCs as the preferred method of both personal and professional computing, cyber criminals have turned their attention to mobile devices. At the same time, the gap between hacker capabilities and an organization’s defenses is widening. These trends underscore the need for further mobile security awareness, as well as more stringent, better integrated mobile security policies and solutions.

“The last 18 months have produced a non-stop barrage of newsworthy threat events, and while most had been aimed at traditional desktop computers, hackers are now setting their sights on mobile devices. Operating system consolidation and the massive and growing installed base of powerful mobile devices is tempting profit-motivated hackers to target these devices,” Jeff Wilson, principle analyst, Security at Infonetics Research. “In a recent survey of large businesses, we found that nearly 40 percent considered smartphones the device type posing the largest security threat now. Businesses need security tools that provide comprehensive protection: from the core of the network to the diverse range of endpoints that all IT shops are now forced to manage and secure.”

From mocoNews- “HBO’s best production this year may not be a program. I had a few doubts at times with the browser version but HBO Go as an app is everything Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) CEO Jeff Bewkes promised with TV Everywhere and then some. Premium programming that might start to look like it costs too much when it’s locked in a TV looks like a much better deal when it’s available anywhere you are in a way that’s worth watching.

Trying to break some of my usual clicker patterns, the other night I downloaded the iPad version. In a matter of minutes I went from download to authentication through my DirectTV log in and into the first episode of Treme’s second season. I stopped a couple of times, opened the app again and was right back in. It’s not magic (sorry, Steve) but it is the kind of elegant solution users expect, especially for premium programs. Because it is SVOD, not linear, it also offers library programming on demand.”

Nokia, despite announcing its intentions to move from Symbian to Windows Phone as its primary smartphone operating system, maintained its leadership position in the smartphone market. Demand for Symbian-powered smartphones remained strong within its traditionally strongest markets of EMEA and Asia/Pacific, and the company continues to announce more devices running on Symbian, including the E6 and the X7. Still, as Nokia transitions from Symbian to Windows Phone, it may find itself in danger of ceding market share as the competition ramps up smartphone production.

Apple reached a new record shipment volume in a single quarter, and inched closer to market leader Nokia with fewer than six million units separating the two companies. The company posted market-beating year-over-year growth and recorded triple-digit growth in two key markets: the United States, with the release of its CDMA-enabled iPhone, and Greater China. Additionally, the company enlisted South Korean Telecom and Saudi Telecom as carrier providers of the iPhone.

Research In Motion remained solidly in third place from the previous quarter, as the company grew its presence outside of its home territory of North America. RIM has launched several 3G devices to the market, and recently announced two new BlackBerry smartphones running on its new BlackBerry 7 OS. Still, the majority of RIM’s shipment volumes have been comprised of older, lower-cost devices. The company expects this trend to continue into the following quarter.

Samsung posted the largest year-over-year gain of any other vendor on the list. With a multiple operating system strategy in place, Samsung has been able to grow its smartphone portfolio to meet the needs of a diverse market. Accounting for the majority of its smartphones and driving shipment volumes higher was the continued success of its Android-based smartphones, including the high-end Galaxy S devices and mass-market Galaxy Ace and Galaxy mini devices. Meanwhile, its bada-powered Wave devices and Windows Phone 7 devices continued to gain traction.

HTC posted yet another record shipment volume, nearly surpassing the ten million unit mark for the first time. Like other vendors, HTC announced multiple new devices, including the Facebook-optimized Salsa and ChaCha. In addition, the company launched several new devices, including its Inspire 4G, WiMAX-enabled EVO Shift 4G, and LTE-enabled Thunderbolt. These, along with its investment and developments on hardware, displays, and its HTC Sense layer have helped HTC differentiate itself further in an increasingly crowded market.

From The Guardian- “You can navigate with it and do your shopping with it. But now you can add paying for a cab to the things you can do with your phone. Vodafone is introducing a scheme that allows customers of London black cabs who find themselves short of cash for the ride home to send a text with the vehicle’s licence number to a central code and the amount owed is charged to their phone account.”

The Google Android Market eclipsed the Apple App Store for iPhone in terms of free applications and now has 134,342 free applications, while the Apple App Store iPhone has 121,845 free applications.

If all application stores maintain their current growth pace, approximately five months from now Google Android Market will be the largest store in terms of number of applications followed by the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad, Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, BlackBerry App World and Nokia Ovi Store. The Windows Phone 7 Marketplace will also be larger than the Nokia Ovi Store and BlackBerry App World prior to the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace being available for even a full year.

One year after launching the iPad, Apple will be confronted with its first serious competition as both BlackBerry and Google enter the emerging tablet market. Apple has already seized momentum and grown the App Store for iPad in the first year to 75,755 applications developed by 21,975 publishers. Daily downloads in the Top 100 Overall paid and free applications for iPad combined exceed 500,000, while the daily revenue in the Top 100 paid is approximately $400,000 excluding in-app purchases.

Many of the top publishers on the iPad already publish cross-platform. Fifty-eight percent of the 50 most popular publishers have already developed applications for non-Apple platforms.