Mobile phone comparison website rightmobilephone has published research that suggests which electronic devices the mobile phone is gradually replacing.

After contacting over a thousand mobile phone owners they discovered that 68% owned an MP3 player as well – but over half those people with two devices said they spent more time using their mobile phone for audio.

91% of people didn’t own a traditional calculator, with 8 out of 10 saying it was because they used the calculator on their phone instead.

A new report from Berg Insight says global shipments of GPS-enabled GSM/WCDMA mobile phones increased 92% last year to 150 million units. Shipments are forecast to reach 770 million units in 2014; a compound annual growth rate of 38.7%. When other technologies, such as CDMA and TD-SCDMA are included, GPS-enabled handset sales are estimated to reach about 960 million, or 60% of total mobile phone shipments, in 2014.

The company also says GPS technology will become more common in mid-range 'feature phone' models during 2010, with improvements in location performance expected from next year.

Independent mobile app store GetJar says the number of mobile applications downloaded every year is expected to increase from last year's figure of 7 billion to almost 50 billion by 2012. That's a compound annual growth rate of 92%. Revenue is expected to increase almost as dramatically; paid app downloads, advertising and virtual goods are expected to generate $17.5 billion (£11.5 billion) by 2012 – up from $4.1 billion in 2009. That'll put apps ahead of CD sales, which are predicted to generate $13.83 billion in 2012.

Last night's Mobile News Awards saw HTC win 'best manufacturer', bringing an end to the battle in previous years between LG and Samsung. The 'best large retailer' award for 2010 was based on mystery shopping results, which resulted in Orange picking up the award for the first time.