Anton Faulconbridge of RantMedia writes:

2013 promises to be an exciting year for the app industry. With the number of smartphone users almost on par with laptop, desktop and tablet users, this is a crucial time for app developers to bring fresh and innovative material to the table.

Whilst many industries are drying out, the smartphone technology sector continues to flourish and a wave of app developers who sit up and take notice of new trends are likely to do well compared with slapdash competitors. Let’s take a look at some savvy tips and tricks to stay ahead of the game in 2013.

Customers have downloaded more than 50 billion apps from the Apple App Store since the service launched in July 2008, according to a new announcement from the company.

Current download rates have reached 2 billion mobile apps per month… or more than 800 apps every second.

Nokia has introduced a new handset that’s being described as “the first of a new family of Asha smartphones”.

The Nokia Asha 501 runs a new Asha platform that’ll be compatible with other Asha devices in the future. This means application developers will be able to create apps for the new smartphone family, taking advantage of the Nokia application store and Nokia’s forthcoming in-app payments tool.

We start today's programme with the promise of a faster roll-out for the UK's mobile broadband services.

Next on the agenda is tablet sales... followed by mobile security, mobile boarding passes, quarterly results, acquisitions, advertising and management succession.

Yahoo! has acquired mobile to-do list and task manager Astrid.

The long-term future of the acclaimed app now appears to be uncertain, with Astrid saying it will continue to work for the next 90 days. However, chargeable subscriptions are no longer being accepted and refunds for existing users are being prepared.