New research from the Ericsson ConsumerLab team has found that found that an increasing number of consumers are using their smartphones to go online before getting out of bed.

35% of Android and iPhone users in the USA said they interacted with non-voice apps before getting up, with almost a fifth of social networking users connecting with Facebook friends while in bed.

Facebook has acquired cross-platform mobile messaging service Beluga. The service works with most mobile devices and desktop web browsers, enabling users to send individual or group instant messages.

In a statement on their website, the Beluga management team said “Beluga and Facebook are committed to create new and better ways to communicate and share group experiences. For now, Beluga will continue to function as it does today. We'll be providing more details on future plans for Beluga in the coming weeks.”

A new report from Juniper Research says the worldwide Mobile Entertainment market was worth $33 billion last year, with this figure expected to reach $54 billion in 2015. It says the rise will be driven by smartphone adoption and an increase consumer-oriented application downloads.

The combination of app stores and smartphones are described as having created 'an unprecedented level of awareness and usage of services' including social media, games, video and streamed music.

New figures from PopCap Games have shown large increases in the usage and frequency of mobile game playing among US and UK adults.

33.6% of all adults in the USA and the United Kingdom say they've played a game on their mobile phone handset in the past month, with almost a quarter (24.6%) having played in the past week. The figure was much higher for smartphone users; 83% of them had played in the past week.

A new report from telecoms analyst Ovum says mobile operators are in danger of underestimating the threat that Facebook poses.

Mobile Social Networking: change driver & key players states that operators tend to view Facebook as a non-competitive presence to partner with. However, it suggests that Facebook’s ambitions spread much wider than simply being a social network.