On Thursday, Juniper Research published new data indicating that there will be 64.1 billion games downloaded onto smartphones and tablet devices by 2017, more than 3 times that of 2012.

The new Juniper report – Mobile & Tablet Games: Discovery, In-App Purchases & Advertising – was designed to explore why this growth in the number of games downloaded would be so “staggering.”

Juniper says this high rate of growth is being driven by the increasing number of “free-to-play releases, more sophisticated devices, and the global uptake of smartphones.”

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As our friends at Nielsen put it succinctly this week, mobile phones have reached a critical mass around the world.

In the latest head-to-head comparisons of PC vs. mobile engagement, mobile now captures close to 40 percent of all time spent online. What’s more, mobile is already well ahead of PCs when it comes to engagement with maps, music, weather and, not surprisingly, social networks.

What’s truly significant about this reality, however, is that these developments may represent only the tip of the iceberg for mobile’s future.
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With the goal of simplifying the development of ad units across the industry, the Mobile Marketing Association and the Interactive Advertising Bureau have released “Mobile Phone Creative Guidelines” for public comment.

“With mobile in constant state of evolution and iteration, it is imperative that we provide clarity on how to effectively and strategically integrate mobile into the marketing mix,” says Michael Becker, Managing Director at MMA North America.

With the rapid evolution of the mobile marketplace, there is a demand for standards and guidelines to unify the advertising industry, the partners announced in a public statement today.

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In recent months, MMW has reported the many ways in which Research in Motion is embarking on a serious comeback.

But with the new BlackBerry 10 product line scheduled to be unveiled in just a matter of days on January 30, speculation is mounting that RIM may simply use the momentum of a hot new smartphone line to make a bigger, bolder move than just a new product launch.

Thorsten Heins, chief executive of Research In Motion, said on Monday that the embattled BlackBerry maker must ensure that its forthcoming BlackBerry 10 models are successful before the company can consider strategic alliances, such as licensing its software or even selling off its hardware production.

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Mobile app developers long past their childhood days may once again be singing: “can you tell me how to get… how to get to Sesame Street?”

As part of an ongoing industry-wide effort to foster more kid-friendly apps for the iPad, the nonprofit group that also happens to produce the beloved children’s series “Sesame Street” has come forward and released a new set of developer guidelines to aid mobile app developers in this effort.

“Educators at Sesame Workshop noticed that kids tend to hold their tablet in landscape mode, for example, and rest their palms on the bottom,” All Things D reports. “That means that if app makers put icons at the bottom of the screen, kids are far more likely to click on something accidentally.”

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New information is surfacing about eBay’s mobile shopping successes this holiday shopping season. As it turns out, 2012 has already delivered eBay’s biggest mobile shopping day in company history.

This week, news came to light that December 9th was eBay’s “biggest mobile shopping day” ever.

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There’s no fantasy behind augmented reality after all, at least not in terms of the revenue generated by AR apps.

A new report from Juniper Research shows that augmented reality capabilities within a brand’s apps and marketing materials are increasingly popular and profitable.

All told, AR applications will generate close to $300 million in revenues globally next year.

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