Preliminary figures from the International Data Corporation estimate that worldwide tablet shipments for the second quarter of 2012 reached 25 million units, up 33.6% from the first quarter of 2012 and up 66.2% year-on-year.

Once again, Apple was the largest tablet producer, shipping 17 million iPad devices during the quarter. In fact, all the top four tablet vendors saw year-on-year growth.

There are plenty of quarterly results to report in this week's edition of The Fonecast, including Samsung, Apple, Telefonica and Facebook. In addition, we have new research that shows how smartphone sales are racing ahead as feature phone sales slow down.

There's also news about mobile coverage in the Channel Tunnel, mobile application downloads and m-commerce.

Last night Apple published financial results for the third quarter of its 2012 fiscal year.

Quarterly revenue hit $35.0 billion and net profit was $8.8 billion, up from $28.6 billion revenue and $7.3 billion profit in the same quarter last year.

Mark Bridge writes:

BlackBerry and bad news seem inextricably linked at the moment. RIM’s CEO admits he’s “not satisfied” with recent company performance and warns of challenging times ahead... and then the company is hit by a $147 million dollar damages order for patent infringement.

Mind you, Research In Motion wasn’t the only mobile company bringing disappointment into the mainstream news last week.

Mobile payment provider iZettle has completed a €25 million (£20.2 million) round of new funding led by Greylock Partners and Northzone, with MasterCard and SEB Private Equity investing as well. Previous investors Index Ventures and Creandum have also participated.

iZettle turns an iPhone or iPad into a credit card terminal using a mini chip-card reader and app.