According to a new report published Thursday by Ovum, smartphones will outperform the overall market for mobile phones, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 24.9% between 2011-17.

If that projection manifests, it will mean that smartphone shipments will reach 1.7 billion units by 2017.

Predictions show Android as the dominant operating system over the next five years as handset vendors rush to make it their primary smartphone platform.

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As it turns out, Facebook wasn’t finished making headlines with Microsoft yesterday when the social networking giant agreed to purchase some $550 million worth of patents and other intellectual properties from Microsoft.

Today, we’re learning that Facebook’s deal with Microsoft has only just begun.

Facebook says it will soon unveil version 2.5 of its hugely popular mobile social networking application for Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform.

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Microsoft may be one of the biggest names in the history of technology, but the company’s efforts in the smartphone space have largely been overshadowed by the runaway growth of Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS platforms.

Still, the Windows Phone has made strides against aggressive competition. And Microsoft is continuing to forge ahead in hopes of leveling the playing field further.

To that end, Verizon Wireless is giving substantial backing to Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system. The reason? Customers want diversity in their mobile phone selections.

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Research associate Lim Shiyang of ABI said Tuesday that mobile users will download nearly 36 billion apps in 2012 and Android and iOS will make up for 83% of the app downloads.

As far as the Windows phone is concerned, it will barely register as a wave maker.

A scant 2% of app downloads will be attributed to Windows Phone by the close of 2012. But that’s not reason to lose hope for the future, the report says.

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With education at the heart of mobile app development, Microsoft is hoping the developers of tomorrow will educate themselves today on how to build superior applications for the Windows Phone operating system.

To that end, the software giant is teaming with Nokia for AppCampus, a $24 million program that the partners hope will kickstart app development for the platform.

According to the details surfacing Monday, Microsoft and Nokia will both invest approximately $12 million in the AppCampus program, which is expected to launch in May.

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A new world of opportunities has opened up to Windows Phone developers… literally.

Before the end of March, App Hub will start accepting submissions for the new Windows Phone Marketplaces.

Todd Brix, Senior Director for Windows Marketplace at Microsoft, calls the development a “great opportunity for you to establish an early toehold on top download charts and get your app in front of eager new phone customers.”

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Windows phone apps have a long way to go in order to catch up to iOS and Android apps in terms of their numbers and general popularity.

Despite trailing its competitors, the Windows Phone platform is still growing. In December of 2011, for example, the platform grew by a daily average of 265 apps. By January 2012 this number grew to an average of 400 apps per day.

As of this writing, the Marketplace has more than 55,000 apps.

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