Pew reports covering the Internet and mobile are typically comprehensive in detailing how Americans across a variety of demographic segments are using these technologies in everyday life. But one missing aspect of the Pew studies is that they don't distinguish between smartphone and feature phone users. That's become an important consideration for marketers focusing on mobile because the former group, while smaller, tends to be more active in using apps, Web browsing and other mobile data activities.

There's no question Google's on a roll with Android these days. In the second quarter, sales of Android-based smartphones surpassed those of the iPhone for the first time, and forecasts released by Gartner and IDC last week predict the Google platform will become the second largest operating system worldwide behind Symbian by 2014. On top of that, a new study on mobile apps from Nielsen today shows that Android users are more likely to click on in-app ads than people using other operating systems, including the iPhone and BlackBerry.

On the same day Nokia named Microsoft executive Stephen Elop as its new CEO, Gartner released a report predicting that in four years Android will nearly match the leading market share of Symbian -- the mobile operating system that runs on most Nokia phones. The Gartner forecast roughly parallels a forecast from IDC earlier this week highlighting Android's rise at Symbian's expense, underscoring the challenge Elop faces in reviving Nokia's role as a major player in the smartphone market.

Apple has traded in its ban of Flash apps for a ban on fart apps. In announcing today that it's loosening restrictions on third-party developer tools and issuing guidelines for the App Store, the tech giant should ease some of the long-standing criticism it's drawn for heavy-handed control of apps.

With the unveiling of its latest search innovation Wednesday --Google Instant -- Google promises to cut the length of each search by two to five seconds by predicting the topic and showing results before someone finishes typing. Think of it as a turbo-charged version of Google's predictive "suggested search" feature.

Android may be gaining share on Apple's iOS, but that doesn't mean the iPhone itself isn't still going strong as an individual smartphone. Apple's signature device accounted for a 37% share of mobile Web use in August, up a percentage point from the prior month, presumably on the strength of iPhone 4 sales, according to data released Tuesday by Web measurement firm Quantcast.

By partnering with manufacturers and wireless carriers to spread its Android operating system across smartphones, Google showed it didn't have to come up with a single so-called iPhone killer to challenge Apple's signature device. Android phones for the first time outsold the iPhone in the U.S. in the second quarter and that trend is likely to continue as multiple manufacturers roll out more Android-powered devices. With the unveiling of Samsung's Android-based Galaxy Tab Thursday, the question now becomes whether the tablet will be an iPad killer.

The Mobile Marketing Association Thursday announced a "repositioning" to shift focus from creating awareness of mobile as an ad medium to getting brands and agencies to increase spending in the category. "We aim to make mobile an indispensable part of the marketing mix," said Federico Pisani Massamormile, the MMA's global chairman and interim CEO, in a statement.

Is it just me or do a lot of the apps in the iTunes App Store, at least utility-oriented apps, end up with ratings of two and a half out five stars? It's almost as if that were the default rating for many. You might argue it's not that surprising ratings for a given title tend to average out somewhere in the middle. But why should they? Ratings for other media categories within iTunes like movies and music seem to drive more of a consensus around a given film, song or album. You're more likely to see average ratings of …

What comes to mind when you think of Brazil? Soccer? beautiful beaches? Bossa nova? Coffee? Probably not smartphones. As one of the so-called BRIC nations, Brazil is often characterized as an emerging economy poised for big growth. If the widening use of smartphones is any indication, it's on its way to rising prosperity.