Mark Bridge writes:

They were a proud race. Proud of their individuality. Proud of the simple yet high-tech environment they inhabited.

But their population wasn’t growing as quickly as it had. They weren’t dying out – far from it, because they were committed to the cause – but there weren’t as many bright new faces as there’d been before. And now the Others were moving closer.

Yes, they’d done their best to resist the Others. They’d tried moving into new areas; not running away but expanding. It seemed to work. A new generation – a new race, some said – had been born. Different, yet the same. So why did they still feel as though the Others were getting dangerously close?

That’s not the opening of the worst science-fiction novel of all time. It’s the place where some people think Apple finds itself at the moment.

Last year, around 2.6 billion applications were downloaded from 'app stores' to consumer mobile phones. In 2015, that figure is expected to be 25 billion.

It's the latest calculation from Juniper Research, which also notes that 'freemium' – free to download but with chargeable options later - is becoming the most popular business model for apps.

The independent non-profit Symbian Developer Cooperative has launched today and immediately became a member of the Symbian Foundation. The new organisation is open to all individuals; participation is free of charge.

Anyone who joins Symbian DevCo as an 'associate' has the opportunity to stand for election to the Symbian Councils; this type of opportunity was previously only available to employees of member companies.

Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system is now being released as a 'technical preview' to thousands of mobile developers. Until now, the software has only been tested within Microsoft.

Prototype phones from Asus, LG and Samsung are being sent to Microsoft developer partners, following the beta release of Windows Phone developer tools a week ago.

Apple held a press conference yesterday evening in an attempt to draw a line under recent 'antennagate' complaints. The new iPhone 4 has been criticised for a dramatic drop in signal strength when it's held in a certain way; a problem the company says is a combination of software fault – signal strength wasn't being displayed accurately – and a hardware design issue that affects all mobile phones.