GetJar, an independent cross-platform app store, has announced that its surpassed 2B total app downloads, with more than 100 million of which being Facebook installs.

In total, GetJar now offers roughly 150,000 apps that work across Android, BlackBerry, Java and Symbian platforms, with support for over 2,500 total devices spanning both smartphones and feature phones – the latter of which supporting most of its growth.  In addition, GetJar has gained close to 350,000 developer registrations.  The service places heavy emphasis on social integration and sharing, and announced that it has more than one million Facebook Connect users.  User interest and downloads continue to be highest among games, social & messaging, entertainment, and productivity applications, according to the company.

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Millennial Media has published its latest Mobile Mix Report for June, indicating that Windows Phone 7 and RIM are showing impressive growth in terms of mobile ad impressions – growing 31% and 29% respectively.

While Microsoft and RIM are showing improvement, Apple and Android remain the clear winners according to the report.  Apple continued to be the leading device manufacturer on Millennial’s network, representing 30% of the “Top 15 Manufacturers” impression share.  Likewise, the iPhone maintained the number one position on the “Top 20 Mobile Phones” list, with 16% of total impressions on Millennial’s network.

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In Gartner’s latest mobile market report, the research firm indicated that over 428 million mobile devices were sold in Q1 of this year, representing a solid 19% year-over-year increase.

As usual, the growth is attributed to the continued spike in smartphone sales– which Gartner pegs at 100.7 million for Q1, up 85% year-over-year.  Android remained the top dog, which soared past Symbian to capture 36% of the market.  Nokia’s Symbian is in second place with 27.4%, followed by Apple’s iOS with 16.8%, RIM’s BlackBerry with 12.9% and Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 with 3.6%.

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Leading mobile phone maker Nokia is drawing widespread criticism from its new strategic partnership with Microsoft. Announced Friday ahead of the start of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Nokia will be compensated “billions of dollars” from Microsoft in return for Nokia pushing the adoption of the Windows Phone platform.

Although the ethics of the deal are being heavily ridiculed, Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop defended the deal on Friday, arguing that there’s nothing improper about Microsoft spending good money to promote its upstart mobile phone platform.

“This is something I don’t think was completely explained,” said Elop, the Nokia chief who was still president of Microsoft’s Business division just six months ago.

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In an interview with FierceMobileContent, CEO of the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC), Peter Suh, discusses the progress made in the 10 months since its formation at Mobile World Congress.

When it entered the scene, many speculated the long-term viability of its plan and how consumers would react to an operator-branded, so-called “independent” app store.  Over the past year, we’ve heard little from the WAC and what it’s long-term goals are.  We do know the community has grown to 57 members, it joined forces with the Joint Innovation Lab and recently announced a business model based around carrier-billing of mobile apps.

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Millennial Media today published its monthly “Mobile Mix” report for November, in which — for the first time ever — Android and iOS are tied in terms of mobile advertising impressions on the company’s network.

The platform wars continue, as both iOS and Android each attracted 38 percent of all impressions during November, while RIM took third place with 19% and Windows Phone 7 tied with Symbian for fourth — each with just 2% of network impressions.  Smartphones continue to dominate, as Millennial reports they accounted for 58% of all impressions in November.

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Mobile advertising network Mojiva today released data from its monthly report on carrier, operating system and device activity, indicating that while Android users are the most active, Blackberry users show the highest engagement with mobile advertising.

Focusing on Thanksgiving weekend in November, Mojiva found that Android users held the greatest share of activity on both the mobile Web and apps with 37% of total network share, while RIM users showed the highest engagement overall with a CTR of 0.75%.  The report, aptly named “The Mullet,” also shows devices running Symbian still have a strong presence internationally due to Nokia’s longstanding stronghold, however iPhone devices still lead — especially in highly-dense mobile communities like the US, UK and Canada.

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