Worldwide shipments of tablet devices grew by 142.4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2013, according to a new report from the International Data Corporation.

49.2 million devices were shipped during the first three months of the year; more than total tablet sales in the first half of 2012.

Samsung Electronics and BlackBerry have both announced that some of their products have been approved for use in U.S. Department of Defense networks following testing by the Defense Information Systems Agency.

Android-powered Samsung Knox-enabled tablets and smartphones have been given approval, as have devices running BlackBerry 10. This currently covers the Samsung Galaxy S4, BlackBerry Z10, BlackBerry Q10 and BlackBerry PlayBook.

This week's news report begins with quarterly figures from Samsung and Apple - and a discussion about what the future may hold for iOS.

We also talk about instant messaging versus SMS, the end of Best Buy's European joint venture with Carphone Warehouse, patent wars, white spaces and connected cars.

Mark Bridge writes:

This week there was only one set of financial results that attracted the mainstream tech media. Apple reported the first drop in quarterly profit for several years as figures fell by 18% to around £6.1 billion. On the positive side, it made around £6.1 billion profit. It also announced dates for its developer conference in June and promised a new version of iOS.

A new report from the International Data Corporation says more smartphones were shipped in Q1 2013 than feature phones, which is the first time smartphone shipments have dominated.

Overall, it reckons the worldwide mobile phone market grew 4% year-on-year in the first three months of this year. IDC says manufacturers shipped 418.6 million mobile phones in the quarter, of which 51.6% were smartphones.