Iain, James and Mark take a look back at the mobile industry's high points and low spots from 2011. Apple, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung and RIM all come under the spotlight, along with legal action, mobile payments and tablet sales.

ABI Research estimates that Apple iPad users have downloaded a total of three billion applications since the tablet was launched in April 2010. This is almost a fifth of all downloads by Apple users - and has happened several months faster than the iPhone took to reach the same figure.

There are currently thought to be over 120,000 apps available specifically for the iPad.

New figures from the International Data Corporation show that media tablet shipments haven’t increased as much as expected.

IDC’s Media Tablet and eReader Tracker notes that shipments into sales channels rose by 23.9% from the previous quarter to 18.1 million units in Q3 2011. That’s an increase of 264.5% from the same quarter in 2010... but is 5.8% below IDC’s original forecast of 19.2 million units.

A number of leading contemporary artists - including Mat Collishaw, Michael Craig-Martin, Tracey Emin, Shepard Fairey, Damien Hirst, Isaac Julien, Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Bill Viola and Wim Wenders - are offering limited edition digital art via a new gallery/store called s[edition].

Collectors can browse through digital works, with images available to view on almost any smartphone, tablet or other connected device owned or controlled by the collector.

Mark Bridge writes:

Any security process is only as strong as the weakest link. That’s something of a truism. And for many organisations, the weak link is most likely to occur when information leaves the office. Which means it’s often caused by the user’s mobile phone or the user themselves.