Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos says $1 billion of worldwide sales in the last 12 months have been made via mobile phones, Kindle eBook readers and tablet computers. He revealed the figures when announcing the company's quarterly results, which showed a 41% sales increase to $6.57 billion.

Earlier this month ABI Research predicted there'd be 5 billion mobile phones worldwide by the end of the year… yet a few days later Ericsson estimated there were already 5 million mobiles.

Now the GSMA – one of the mobile industry's global trade associations – has confirmed the 5 billion figure, putting its weight behind recent figures from Wireless Intelligence.

Mobile telecom author and commentator Tomi Ahonen has published a lengthy blog post covering smartphone segmentation: which people use smartphones - and why they use them.

In it, he anticipates around 35% growth in smartphone shipments this year (excluding Japan), with most growth coming from lower-priced handsets. Headline figures include...

Paul Antoniadis, CEO of Best Buy Branded Operations – seen as the man running the organisation's UK business - has left the company just three months after the first UK store opened.

Meanwhile Andrew Harrison, CEO of The Carphone Warehouse, has been appointed Best Buy Europe Chief Operating Officer in addition to his current retail role. He'll report to Best Buy Europe CEO Scott Wheway.

Online electronics retailer eXpansys plc, which has Peter Jones CBE as its major shareholder and Deputy Chairman, says it plans to acquire two other Jones-controlled businesses to "build a global online technology superstore".

Data Select Network Solutions distributes SIM cards for mobile networks and MVNOs, while PJ Media is a web design and online marketing company. The total deal is worth £49 million and is subject to the approval of shareholders at an EGM on 23rd July.