The iPad won another vote of confidence today from the developer community, with Handmark announcing it plans to support the Apple tablet device, set to launch April 3.

Has the world gone app happy? Yes, according to an updated forecast from Yankee Group, in which the research firm has nearly tripled its projection for total U.S. app revenue in 2010 from $537 million to $1.6 billion.

Hearst Corp. last week unveiled its "let a thousand flowers bloom" approach to creating digital content for the iPhone. The magazine publisher plans to churn out thousands of iPhone applications focused on niche topics within categories such as celebrities, food, hobbies, and sports. Hearst's LMK ("let me know") applications unit has already released some 70 titles in the App Store priced mostly at $1.99 and including apps tailored to fans of Angelina Jolie, the Boston Red Sox and Green Day.

With Goldman Sachs recently cutting its sales forecast for Google's Nexus One from 3.5 million to 1 million units in 2010, some are already calling the company's online-only model for the phone a bust. With the breathless hype surrounding the phone's launch, you might've thought it would sell 50 million units the first week. But maybe Goldman's target of 3.5 million sold was too high to begin with considering the unorthodox approach Google took with the Nexus One, directly selling its own phone (or anything, for that matter) for the first time, unlocked and online-only.

The picture isn't brightening for Goggle's proposed $750 million acquisition of mobile ad network AdMob. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that the Federal Trade Commission is seeking affidavits from Google advertisers and competitors as part of its investigation of the deal. Legal experts cited in the story said the move indicates the FTC may be preparing to challenge the AdMob acquisition.

Target last month said it was the first major retailer to let shoppers nationwide access gift card accounts from smartphones, and have the barcode scanned at checkout. On Wednesday the company said it had another first among retail chains: offering scannable mobile coupons directly to customers that they can redeem via barcode at checkout. Other companies from The Wall Street Journal to Sprint have included promotional barcodes in ads. But marketers shouldn't get caught up in the recent hype surrounding mobile coupons or 2D barcodes. They don't have to follow on the heels of the mobile "firsts" announced by the …

With Apple debuting its first TV commercial for the iPad during the Oscars telecast, has the fevered anticipation surrounding the device expanded beyond gadget geeks to the wider public? The marketing technology firm Alterian yesterday released findings showing Apple was among the awards show advertisers generating the most positive buzz online based on monitoring of social networking sites, blogs, video-sharing sites and the like. So maybe social media mavens are excited about the iPad, but they probably were already anyway.

The shifting alliances among mobile players make "Survivor" look like a picnic. T-Mobile USA's switch from Yahoo to Google as the default search provider underscores the broader battle between Google and Apple to dominate the mobile landscape. Given T-Mobile's enthusiastic embrace of the Android platform from the G1 to the myTouch 3G to Google's own Nexus One smartphone, the carrier dumping Yahoo for Google for search isn't so surprising.

The Washington Post this week rolled out its first paid app, offering an annual subscription for $1.99 that lets users save an unlimited number of articles for offline reading and customize their own news. It's about time. As newspapers and other traditional media companies desperately search for new ways to monetize digital content, launching a premium app should be a no-brainer. If high-profile news brands like the Washington Post can't get iPhone owners to cough up $1.99 for an app version of the paper then they should pack it anyway.

Looks like there's more to T-Mobile than just a pretty face. Beyond the allure of celebrity pitchwoman Catherine Zeta-Jones, T-Mobile is relying on good in-store service to pull in new customers. The smallest of the four U.S. major carriers was rated tops in wireless retail customer satisfaction by J.D. Power and Associates for the second time in the last 12 months.