There’s loads happening in the world of Mobile this week: A new NFC-enabled phone from Nokia, Samsung trying to get a taste of the mobile ad market via their partnership with OpenX and Google’s release of an improved Android emulator for developers...and there’s of course the acquisition that everybody’s talking about, with Facebook making an offer Instagram couldn’t refuse.

Why Mobile Ads in Emerging Markets are the Future [INFOGRAPHIC]

Date 11th April, 2012

There are 5.3 billion mobile subscribers around the world, meaning 77% of the world’s population uses a phone. The majority of those users — 3.8 billion or 73% of the group — live in emerging economies. Yet mobile advertising dollars spent around the world do not begin to compete with traditional platforms or Internet ads.

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Nokia adds NFC to Lumia 610; Lumia 900 hit by glitches

Date 11th April, 2012

Nokia announced a NFC version of its Lumia 610 smartphone (pictured), its entry-level Windows Phone unveiled at the GSMA Mobile World Congress earlier this year. Orange is set to be the first operator to support the device. The announcement came as it was reported that the launch of its flagship Lumia 900 smartphone in the US had seen some teething troubles, with AllThingsD reporting that some customers had been unable to connect to the internet.

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Samsung is getting into the mobile-ad market

Date 03rd April, 2012

Samsung wants to make it easier and more lucrative for app developers to offer advertising to Samsung mobile phone subscribers. The company announced Tuesday that it has formed a partnership with OpenX Technologies, a leading provider of digital advertising technologies.

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Instagram: From Zero to $1 Billion in 17 Months [INFOGRAPHIC]

Date 10th April, 2012

When Instagram launched its first app in October 2010, it did not strike most people as the kind of startup that would be acquired for $1 billion. “We were all like, ‘what’s the big deal? It’s just photos and filters,” Brian Blau, a Research Director with the Consumer Technology and Markets Group at Gartner, tells Mashable. But in retrospect, he adds, “There’s something to be said around that simplicity.”

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Android topped Apple, all others in Chinese market share last year

Date 10th April, 2012

Google’s Android platform was the most popular mobile operating system in the world’s largest market for mobile phones last year. The platform’s market share grew nearly 35%, capturing 68.4% of the mobile market in China, Reuters reported on Tuesday citing research from Analysys International. Chinese Android manufacturers ZTE and Huawei helped propel the platform to new heights by offering low-cost devices via local wireless carriers.

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Sephora says shopping via mobile grew 300% last year

Date 10th April, 2012

Yesterday US retailer Sephora completed a ‘digital makeover’, which has over the past few months included the launch of a new website, mobile site, an iPhone app, plus the introduction of iPads (to look up products) and the iPod Touch (to help customers check out) to many of its stores.

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Google releases better Android emulator

Date 10th April, 2012

Ask mobile developers who work with both iOS and Android, and you'll probably hear from more than a few of them that the Android emulator is lacking. From poor performance to inconsistencies, there have been no shortage of complaints about the tool developers are provided with to test their Android apps prior to testing them on a real device.

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BBC Bets On HTML5 Games; Invests Millions In Mobile Game Creation Platform Spaceport.io

Date 11th April, 2012

Spaceport.io, an HTML5, mobile game creation platform, has raised a strategic round of funding from a number of investors including BBC Worldwide and YouWeb, a previous investor. While financial terms of the funding were not not disclosed, we hear the round was in the millions.

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