AppTech was the buzz of the mobile tech world Thursday as the company rolled out “ReconAge,” a mobile age recognition app for Android-powered devices.

The application, which is free and available now for download from the Android Market, recognizes the approximate age of a person by making use of real time face recognition biometric systems online.

Pretty nifty, indeed – especially with regard to the mobile marketing implications the app and its underlying technology deliver.

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It’s been announced by mobile analytics firm Flurry that more than one billion mobile applications were downloaded during the week between Christmas day and New Years day, shattering the one-week record for mobile app downloads by a long shot.

According to the data, over 1.2B apps were downloaded across iOS and Android devices alone, representing a full 60 percent increase when compared to early December.  Though a huge rise in downloads was expected as millions of consumers unwrapped their new iPads, iPhones and other mobile devices on Christmas Day, this year was by far the highest jump ever recorded by Flurry.

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On Friday, Google rolled out the red carpet to introduce the beta launch of Android Training, which is being hailed as a straightforward online program designed and optimized to aid developers in building better and more effective mobile applications for Android devices.

“Today I’m thrilled to announce the beta launch of Android Training — a collection of classes that we hope will help you to build better Android apps,” writes Reto Meier, Android Developer Relations Tech Lead, on the Android Developer’s Blog.

From designing effective navigation, to managing audio playback, to optimizing battery life, these classes are designed to demonstrate best practices for solving common Android development problems.

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According to the latest data made available by Nielsen, Facebook and apps from Google like Gmail and the Android Market are the most popular smartphone apps among Android owners 18 years and older in the U.S.

To rank mobile apps by active reach, that is, by the percentage of Android owners who used the app within the past 30 days, Nielsen analyzed usage data from its proprietary device meters on the smartphones of the thousands of consumer panelists who agreed to be part of Nielsen’s ongoing Smartphone Analytics research.

Nielsen found that Facebook’s popular app is the most active among Android owners in the age range of 18-24 and 25-34, “who both hover at around an 80 percent active reach.”

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It’s a great weekend to be an app lover.

Black Friday is not only one of the biggest shopping days of the year for brick-and-mortar retailers, but also for digital storefronts on the World Wide Web.

Perhaps nowhere is this reality more apparent than on Amazon, which will discount several high-profile apps in its Amazon App Store.

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In its latest report, mobile analytics firm Distimo details the localization of mobile apps and mobile app stores to try and find the percentage of apps that are only popular in one specific country or region, as well as those that are popular on a global level.

The report shows that 27% of the most popular apps in Apple’s App Store for iPhone are only popular in one specific country.  Meanwhile, Nokia’s Ovi Store has the highest proportion of apps published in just one country (29.4%) while the App Store for iPad has the lowest (3.4%).

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The folks over at Mobile17.com have published a comprehensive infographic on the Android OS ecosystem, including general usage patterns and demographics on the people that use it.

Covering everything from Android market share to the spread of devices that run Android, to the areas in the world where Android is most popular, the graphic contains just about everything you’d want to know about how Android is taking over the mobile world.  What’s most interesting is the data on the Android users themselves, such as the fact that Android users 10% more likely to be male and that Android users are 35% more likely to have just one email address compared to other OS users.

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