New Ofcom research reveals the extent to which the UK has become addicted to smartphones, with people confessing to using them everywhere from the dining table to the bathroom and bedroom.

Over a quarter of adults (27 per cent) and almost half of teenagers (47 per cent) now own a smartphone, according to Ofcom’s latest Communications Market Report.

Most (59 per cent) have acquired their smartphone, which includes devices such as iPhones, Blackberrys and Android phones, over the past year.

Users make significantly more calls and send more texts than regular mobile users (81 per cent of smartphone users make calls every day compared with 53 per cent of ‘regular’ users).

Teenagers especially are ditching more traditional activities in favour of their smartphone, with 23 per cent claiming to watch less TV and 15 per cent admitting they read fewer books.

And when asked about the use of these devices, 37 per cent of adults and 60 per cent of teens admit they are ‘highly addicted’.

Read more about the report from Ofcom

UK mobile carrier Orange seems to be working with Apple to provide “free” iTunes movie rentals each Thursday in an ongoing promotion called Orange Film To Go

Orange Film To Go offers Orange customers a specific film to download from iTunes every Thursday. The specific movies are pre-selected by Orange and early choices include The Wrestler, The Ghost and Che: Part One. This week’s selection is My Blueberry Nights

Coupon codes for each weekly film are retrieved by texting texting ‘FILMTOGO’ to 85060. A 35p text message cost does apply, so they are not quite free. Movies can then be redeemed (only) on Thursday and then the usual iTunes movie rental rules kick in. Customers have 30 days to start watching the movie and then 48 hours to finish watching it.

This is a guest post from Daniela Baker. Today’s entrepreneurs need the flexibility to work from any location – whether it is the office, at home, on the road or in a café.

This goal can easily be accomplished thanks to the constant evolution of technology. However, as technology continues to improve and evolve, it can be difficult for the busy professional to keep on top of advancements. And with many mobile tech tools marketed toward consumers, sometimes it can be difficult to see how they can be used in the business place.

Luckily, Daniela Baker from CreditDonkey shares five mobile tech tools that busy entrepreneurs can start using to keep up with their business at home and from the road. Included with each category are examples of specific tools that are available in the marketplace today.

1. Credit Card Processing

As reported by PCWorld, mobile payment tools are enabling small businesses to accept credit cards on a variety of smartphones. With the aid of credit card reader hardware, entrepreneurs can easily start collecting credit card payments the moment they close a deal with a new client.

Square and Intuit GoPayment are just two of the many mobile credit card transaction options that are available today. Both of which have been recommended by PCWorld and WSJ.com.

2. File synchronization

With so many computer gadgets these days, it can be difficult to find important files and access them from the road. File synchronization apps eliminate this problem.

As reviewed by iPadCTO.com, DropBox is one of the apps helping small business owners synchronize the files they have scattered among their office computer, tablet and smartphone. DropBox also integrates with popular mobile apps making it a complete solution.

3. Electronic personal assistant

Because most entrepreneurs don’t have a personal assistant to nudge them when a message needs their attention, it can be easy to overlook an important email. This is where electronic personal assistant applications step in.

As mentioned by Forbes.com, AwayFind is one of these personal assistant apps. With AwayFind, business owners are notified of important emails by an automated phone call, SMS, IM, or Twitter.

4. Comparison Shopping

Comparison shopping is a smart move for start-ups to ensure they stay to their budgets. But it’s an activity that can be a real time drain. Thankfully, there are comparison shopping apps that help professionals save money and time.

Forbes.com recommends My Shopping Genie to entrepreneurs looking to find the best deals on their supplies. The app finds the best deals and lowest prices on millions of products available through more than 200,000 stores.

5. Financial account management

Websites like Mint.com and Yodlee.com have been popular among consumers for the past several years.

Now there is a similar solution available to small businesses. As reported by TechCrunch.com, Indinero offers a real-time financial dashboard that is perfect for entrepreneurs. Bank and credit card account information is housed on the site so small businesses can see their complete financial health picture.

Image coutsety of the-gadgeteer.com

emarketer.com reports that Like for many newer devices, young, affluent college graduates are the overall heaviest users of tablets and ereaders. But when device ownership is broken down by race and ethnicity, the results go beyond the typical early adopter profile. Hispanics skew higher than black or white consumers in ownership of both types of device.

Read the full article here.

No surprises here. Google’s Android operating system continues to lead its rivals in the race for US smartphone market dominance, pulling further ahead of Apple, Research In Motion and pretty much everyone else.

According to Nielsen’s latest survey of the US smartphone market, Android now holds a 39 percent share of the U.S. consumer smartphone–up 3 percent from the research outfit’s last report which tracked market share between February and April. Apple’s iOS holds the second largest with 28 percent, up from 26 percent. And RIM’s Blackberry holds third with a 20 percent share, down 3 percent from that Feb. – Apr. 2011 time period.

So, the same basic breakdown we’ve been seeing for a while now. That said, viewed through the manufacturer share lens, the market looks quite different. There, Apple is the undisputed leader, RIM and HTC rank second with 20 percent shares, and Motorola, with an 11 percent share ranks third.

Bringing up the rear: Hewlett-Packard and the long suffering Nokia, with a meager 2 percent.

Via allthingsdigital

There is a lot of talk about the mobile apps and the mobile web. What people forget to realise or rather ask is whether their business’s actually needs such a technology.

Below is an interesting presentation from from google that talks about the 4 main ways of making money from your mobile app. It’s a bit long [37:04 minutes] and the presenter is not exactly Steve Jobs, however it’s well worth a watch.

Want to know what the mobile landscape is like in Africa?  Then check out this video overview compiled by Praekelt Foundation of the mobile technology landscape in Africa.

The future is bright and the future may be orange, however one thing for sure is that the future is also about mobile phone payment systems. We found this interesting infographic that shows In the next 2 years, 20% of all mobile phones sold will have the ability to make payments through NFC (Near Field Communications).

Interesting presentation from Ian Carrington Googles UK sales director who spoke at the Google THINK Mobile event in early July. The presentation is quite long [Nearly 30 mins] however there are some interesting insights and findings.  What the presentation again. See below.

eBay announced today that it has purchased Zong, a company that lets you easily pay for purchases with your mobile phone number, for $240 million in cash.

The acquisition is clearly meant to make PayPal (which eBay owns) an even greater force in the world of mobile payments. Zong’s carrier billing capabilities — the company has relationships with over 250 carriers in 21 languages and 45 countries around the world — will open up even more ways for PayPal’s 100 million or so users to make purchases.

PayPal said it expects to handle over $3 billion in mobile payments this year. Over 8 million customers are making purchases with PayPal on their phones, the company said, approaching up to $10 million in payments every day.

via venturebeat.com

The way in which we learn is changing. An interesting report  [Back in 2009] by Project Tomorrow and Blackboard K-12.identifies key findings from interviews with innovative educators who are leveraging mobile devices for learning. Their stories illustrate emerging trends, implementation considerations and strategies for implementing mobile learning initiatives.  View the report below.

National Geographic mashed together income-level and population distribution to make this beautiful map.

Nokia today announced the Nokia N9 smartphone, an innovative new design where the home key is replaced by a swipe, resulting in the first “all-screen” phone.

The three home views of the user interface are designed to give fast access to the most important things people do with a phone: using apps, staying up to date with notifications and social networks, and switching between activities.

There’s also a ton of other great features. To learn more about the N9 visit: swipe.nokia.com Original Post via highsnobiety.com

A new system lets you transfer open applications between a computer and a cellphone simply by pointing the phone’s camera at the computer’s screen. Check out the video below

Designed by Tsung-Hsiang Chang, a graduate student in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and Google’s Yang Li makes it much easier to transfer computing tasks between devices Find out more here

Emarketer reports that Social networking via mobile phones has been growing quickly in the US for over a year, and it still has the momentum of one of the fastest-growing content categories on mobile.

March 2011 research from comScore found that growth in unique users of mobile social networking over the previous three months was nearly 46%, compared to 43.3% for maps and 40.2% for weather. Social networking was not only the largest growth area during the period, but it was also the only one of the top three that is used for entertainment rather than utilitarian purposes.

See the rest of the research here

DropTunes provides the interface that you need to play your music. Simply log into your Dropox account using the DropTunes interface, and navigate to the folder where your music is stored.

If you’re using mobile Safari on your iPad or iPhone, be sure to switch to the HTML 5 version for the service to work. Using a browser means you can literally access your music no matter where you are. Via The Next Web

Your laptop isn’t irrelevant yet, but it might be soon suggests  zendesk.com. Sales of web-enabled smartphones, tablets, and e-readers have surpassed web-enabled laptops, notebooks, and desktop computers.

By 2016, the number of mobile apps downloads are estimated to reach 44 billion and the worldwide online app market is expected to grow from approximately $6.8 billion in 2010 to $25 billion by 2015. Mobile apps in the business sphere is the future.

Decision makers now see that these tools increase productivity, reduce paperwork, and increase revenue in ways other devices simply cannot.

Below is an interesting infographic that illustrates this trend.