On Tuesday, Apple – the operator of the world’s most lucrative mobile application storefront – directed a communication at its entire developer community. The message? Apple has no patience or tolerance for the manipulation of app rankings in the App Store.

“When you promote your app, you should avoid using services that advertise or guarantee top placement in App Store charts. Even if you are not personally engaged in manipulating App Store chart rankings or user reviews, employing services that do so on your behalf may result in the loss of your Apple Developer Program membership,” the warning from Apple reads.

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According to the published findings this week by prominent research firm IDC, the smartphone market hit all-time quarterly highs due to seasonal strength and a wider variety of offerings.

After a comprehensive review of fourth quarter 2011 earnings, IDC found that it is Apple – not Samsung – that claimed the top spot as the globe’s biggest smartphone maker.

Apple’s 37 million iPhone sales during the last quarter of 2011 was enough to secure top honors for the venerable Cupertino, California-based tech giant.

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On Monday, The NPD Group reported its latest findings, which show that Apple leaped past Samsung and LG to become the best-selling U.S. handset brand in the fourth quarter of 2011.

“Attracted by a faster processor, improved camera and the Siri speech-driven agent, most iPhone buyers paid a premium for the iPhone 4S, making it the top-selling handset in Q4,” said Ross Rubin, executive director, Connected Intelligence for The NPD Group. “The iPhone 4S outsold the iPhone 4 by 75 percent, and outsold the iPhone 3GS, available for free on AT&T, five to one.”

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According to an eye-opening projection today from Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty, Apple’s Chinese investment will begin paying enormous dividends next year.

Just two weeks ago, massive crowds outside of Beijing’s Apple Store caused Chinese police to deploy crowd-control measures to ease the iPhone 4S frenzy caused by the device’s long-anticipated arrival.

So unruly were Apple fans that the company was forced to strip the Aple Stores of their iPhone 4S unventory and revert back to selling the smartphones online only in China for the time being.

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On Monday it became clear that the rumor mill got it right last week. We can now confirm that former Apple executive and the architect of the iPod is departing from HP.

“What we accomplished in four and a half years has been amazing,” Rubinstein said in a statement, “And I don’t think people understand that …. It was an enormous amount of work for a large group of people for many, many years… Of course. I put blood, sweat, and tears into this thing. And look, I think it had tremendous potential, if people put some real effort into it, I think you will see a resurgence of devices at some point.”

Rubinstein ended up at HP through the company’s acquisition of Palm in 2010.

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The U.S. mobile advertising market is on fire, growing faster than even the most optimistic of industry analysts had projected in recent months.

Fueled in large part by Google’s mobile search advertising business, the industry reached new heights in 2011 and 2012 is already shaping up to put 2011 to shame.

Aided greatly by the surge in smartphone ownership and the ubiquitous dominance of mobile ad networks – with Google’s AdMob, Apple’s iAd, and Millennial Media chief among them – new estimates from eMarketer place mobile advertising’s growth off the charts.

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Apple may be the dominant headline stealer in the realm of tablet computers, but today Android is taking center stage.

Based on the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global tablet shipments reached 27 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011. As a result, Android claimed a record 39 percent global share.

Still, Apple held on to a 58 percent market share, although that once sizable lead continue to diminish.

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