A recent survey by LG – published as part of the launch campaign for the LG Optimus - says people using the Android operating system are particularly keen on applications that save them money. 25% of people surveyed said they most wanted a money-saving app (e.g. one that offers discount codes), followed by apps that saved time (9%) and apps to help them stay fit (9%). In fourth place were 'apps that help you shop for dinner' (8%) followed by apps for gaming (6%).

1GOAL: Education for All, the football and FIFA-backed project that's accompanying the 2010 World Cup, has launched what is says is the world’s biggest ever mobile phone campaign.

People can sign up for the 1GOAL mobile campaign – which wants additional funding to offer education to every child – by visiting 1goal.mobi on their handsets, by sending an email to info@join1goal.org or by responding to a text message sent by participating mobile networks. Nokia and Samsung will also be making a 1GOAL mobile app for their customers.

New research from Gartner says world revenue from mobile gaming is expected to exceed $5.6 billion this year. That's a 19% increase from last year's total of $4.7 billion. Growth is expected to continue for the next few years; in 2014 the market is projected to have reached $11.4 billion.

Gartner estimates 70% – 80% of all mobile consumer applications downloaded are mobile games, although 60% to 70% of these downloaded games are free.

Mark Bridge writes:

Welcome to the Carnival of the Mobilists #224. If you’re a regular visitor to The Fonecast and have no idea what the Carnival is, this is a summary of the week’s best blogging about all things mobile. It travels the internet, alighting at a different mobile-related website every week.

ABI Research says the number of smartphone applications downloaded from 'app stores' will keep growing until 2013… but those figures will then start to drop.

Last year, consumers downloaded 2.4 billion applications from application stores – a figure that'll almost treble by 2013, when almost 7 billion apps will be downloaded. Apple's App Store will remain the market leader until 2013 according to ABI's report, despite pressure from Android and Symbian. However, ABI Research says the evolution of the mobile internet will then lead to consumers starting to head away from dedicated stores for their software applications. Total app downloads will probably continue to grow, although downloads via app stores are expected to fall.