Mark Bridge writes:

Sadly we’re ending the week with yet another natural disaster. Barely two weeks after New Zealand’s earthquake comes news of Japan’s biggest quake in living memory.

Still, I’m here to talk about mobile phones, so – after a quick mention of the great work being done by the Red Cross – I’ll get on with it.

Microsoft says it's delayed its forthcoming Windows Phone 7 update, which is due to add copy-and-paste functionality and other updated features to the company's mobile platform.

The first WP7 update, designed to improve the update process itself, caused problems with some devices when it was released last month.

Mark Bridge writes:

In recent weeks there’s been a lot of talk about the partnership between Nokia and Microsoft. But taking a look at today’s Form 20-F - the annual report that Nokia is filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission - provides a valuable reminder that nothing’s set in stone.

Rovio, the Finnish company that created the Angry Birds series of games, has acquired a $42 million investment. The funding round was led by venture capital firms Accel Partners and Atomico Ventures with participation from the Felicis Ventures fund as well.

As part of the deal, Niklas Zennström of Atomico Ventures - the man who co-founded Skype, Kazaa and Rdio - will be joining the board of Rovio.

A new research report from Berg Insight has calculated that worldwide shipments of smartphones increased 74% last year to 295 million units. The number of smartphone users increased by 38% year-on-year to an estimated 470 million people.

Shipment volumes are expected to continue increasing at a compound annual growth rate of 32.4%, reaching 1.2 billion units in 2015.