Will retail sales clerks be roving the aisles this holiday season, ready to ring up your purchase with an iPad? Don't count on it, but a new study suggests retailers are interested in the Apple tablet's potential as a handheld register.

With the first Windows Phone 7 devices actually hitting stores today after being unveiled last month, one question that strikes me is, "Where are the ads?" where's the ad carpet-bombing we've come to expect after the marketing push Microsoft put behind Bing? I would've expected page takeovers at least on NYTimes.com, Yahoo and AOL on the Windows Phone 7 launch day.

This week brought a flurry of research reports on smartphone-related data for the third quarter. One thing that sticks out is how Apple has gained, in effect, just by holding steady. Technology research firm IDC, for instance, reported Thursday that Apple for the first time had pushed ahead of Research in Motion (RIM) to become the No. 2 smartphone maker worldwide, behind Nokia.

Microsoft hasn't had much to celebrate in the mobile arena in quite some time. And one of its biggest disadvantages in arriving late to the smartphone race is that it trails far behind Apple and Google in apps. "While Microsoft submits that it will have a strong stable of games and apps and that nobody needs 250,000 apps anyway, Apple has a huge lead in quality niche apps that make iOS such an appealing platform," noted Avi Greengart, research director for consumer devices at Current Analysis, in a recent report on Windows Phone 7. A new survey of app developers, …

ComScore is the latest research firm this week to chime in on the Great Smartphone Race, adding more evidence to underscore Android's continued proliferation. For the three months' average ending in September, the Google platform increased its share 6.5 percentage points to capture 21.4% of U.S. smartphone subscribers. That gain came in part at the expense of BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM), which remains the leading smartphone operating system but saw its share slip from 40.1% to 37.3% in the third quarter.

It's been pretty clear Apple owns the tablet computer market so far, selling 4 million iPads since its launch in April. Research firm Strategy Analytics confirmed that perception today, releasing new data showing Apple had 95.5% of the tablet market worldwide as of the third quarter. Yep, that qualifies as owning the category.

Android's explosive growth showed no sign of slowing in the third quarter, as the Google platform grabbed 44% share of the U.S. smartphone market, according to market research firm NPD Group. That's a gain of 11 percentage points from the prior quarter and well ahead of Apple, which edged ahead of BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion into the No. 2 slot.

Earlier this month, comScore released data essentially confirming the perception that Japan is well ahead of the U.S. and Europe when it comes to using more advanced mobile technologies. Wireless subscribers in Japan were the most connected, with three-quarters of them Web browsing, using apps and downloading content on cell phones. (The U.S was more active in certain areas, including mobile social networking.)

Moms are increasingly active mobile consumers, according to new findings in the latest monthly metrics report from Millennial Media. Using data from InsightExpress' Q2 Digital Consumer Portrait, the report noted 32% of moms owned a smartphone in 2010, up from 20% last year.

Apple's announcement Tuesday that the eagerly awaited white iPhone would be delayed again until spring means it could be trumped by that other mythic Apple device -- the Verizon iPhone -- expected to appear as early as January. Apple said in July that the white iPhone hardware had proved "more challenging to manufacture" than originally expected. But the company has never explained exactly why. Um, hasn't Apple already made millions of white MacBooks, iPods and earlier generation iPhones?