An assortment of figures from Strategy Analytics, IDC and ABI Research last week showed how Samsung had dominated the smartphone market in the previous quarter.

Now IDC (International Data Corporation) has published new research that shows even greater dominance for the Android operating system.

New figures from the International Data Corporation (IDC) have revealed that 85% of all smartphones shipped in the second quarter of 2012 ran either Android or Apple’s iOS.

It’s a new combined high for the two mobile operating systems, contrasting with BlackBerry and Symbian which both saw their market shares fall below 5%.

It’s reported that Samsung is working on merging its own bada mobile operating system with the Tizen OS.

Samsung announced bada just over two years ago, while Tizen is a newer Linux-based open source project with development led by a technical steering group composed of Intel and Samsung.

The Linux Foundation has announced a new open source project called Tizen.

Tizen will be designed to support a range of devices, including smartphones, tablets, netbooks and in-vehicle equipment. The project will be hosted by The Linux Foundation with development led by a technical steering group composed of Intel and Samsung.

Mark Bridge writes:

As sure as eggs, there’ll be an iPhone 5. It’ll be announced on 6th June 2011 if you want my guess. And the latest rumours are suggesting it’ll have ‘radial menus’.

Mark Windle, head of marketing at OpenCloud, predicts that this year’s reduction in the number of traditional telecoms operators in some countries will provide an opportunity for other operators to innovate and capture market share in 2016.

He says next year will be a year of rapid change for telecoms… whether it’s MVNO disruption, competitive tariff pricing or simply defence from the ‘dark art’ of hacking.

Mark Bridge writes:

The most memorable moments in life often go unrecorded. You don't have your camera in your hands. Your finger is still hovering over the 'pause' button on your audio recorder. Or you were simply too busy experiencing whatever was happening. It's all about the one that got away.

That's where Kapture can help.

Mark Bridge writes:

James Rosewell shows me a colourful roll of paper that's the width of an iPhone but well over three metres long. When I look closer, I can see it's a printed copy of the Wall Street Journal's mobile website. That's a lot of scrolling to do... and a pretty unfriendly user experience for anyone reading the news online. Why does it work so badly?

James Rosewell and Mark Bridge return from their summer break with a podcast full of smartphones and smart watches.

As well as products from Samsung, Sony, Microsoft, Motorola, HTC and Kazam, there's talk of Opera's new browser deal, a potential change on the UK high street... and a mobile app that connects to a Bluetooth toothbrush for improved toothpaste coverage.

Mark Bridge takes an in-depth look at the CAT B100 rugged phone from Bullitt Mobile.

The CAT B100 is designed to withstand rather more than everyday bumps and knocks - which is why Mark drops his mobile phone on the pavement, submerges it in his washing-up bowl and shuts it in the freezer.

We start this week's podcast with news that thousands of Microsoft's ex-Nokia employees are losing their jobs.

Other topics for discussion include the new Apple and IBM partnership, Yahoo's acquisition of Flurry, regulating mobile games, improving rural mobile coverage, BT's new phone service and some management movements.

In this podcast Mark Bridge talks to Florent Stroppa from mobile value-added service specialist OnMobile about the state of the mobile industry in 2014.

They discuss the dominance of Apple and Samsung, network consolidation, the new Amazon Fire smartphone, smart wearables and much more.

This week's mobile industry podcast begins with a quick look at the UK government's emergency legislation affecting fixed-line, mobile phone and broadband traffic.

We then talk about Microsoft's plans, a new virtual network from the Post Office, Samsung's renamed app store, budget 4G smartphones, a wearable phone for children and some misleading advertising.