Figures from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech show that Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform is gaining market share in the UK, although Android and Apple still dominate.

The first quarter of 2013 saw Windows-based devices accounting for 7% of smartphone sales in the first quarter of 2013, up from 2.9% a year ago.

Mark Bridge writes:

This week there was only one set of financial results that attracted the mainstream tech media. Apple reported the first drop in quarterly profit for several years as figures fell by 18% to around £6.1 billion. On the positive side, it made around £6.1 billion profit. It also announced dates for its developer conference in June and promised a new version of iOS.

Apple is holding this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference from 10th until 14th June at the Moscone West centre in San Francisco.

As well as being able to attend technical sessions and hands-on labs, developers are also being promised an opportunity to “learn about the future of iOS and OS X”.

Micro-blogging service Twitter has launched a new service called Twitter #music. It uses activity on Twitter to find the most popular tracks and new artists as well as making it easier for users to enjoy music from their favourite musicians.

The service uses iTunes, Spotify and Rdio to provide its music.

Figures from ABI Research predict tablet sales this year will increase 38% year-on-year to approximately 150 million tablets worldwide, with the total retail value of shipments up 28% to an estimated $64 billion (£42 billion).

Around 60% of tablet shipments in 2012 were Apple iPads using the iOS operating system software while 37% ran Android or derivative platforms.