As of May, the iPhone still had a surprisingly small market share: just 4.6% of the handset market across the EU5 region (the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain), and around 18% of the smartphone market. In spite of this, the Apple device has had a significant influence on mobile user behaviour and the whole industry.

IPhone owners are the most voracious consumers of mobile media: 94% do so, some 12% of mobile media users in the EU5. But the iPhone isn’t the only vehicle for mobile content. Nor is Apple the only recipient of the increasing mobile marketing spend.

The benchmark for mobile social networking was raised to new levels with Facebook 3.0 for iPhone. With a customizable home interface, multimedia upload and management capabilities, and dozens of new improvements and features, it got a lot of attention.

Apps success opens up mobile revenues for Sky

The sale of premium content aims to capitalise on the 1.8m downloads of Sky apps as well as to boost the £60,000 Sky is understood to be generating a month in ad revenue by selling display and pre-roll inventory within its mobile apps.

The PR blurb that surrounded the launch of More Th>n’s ‘Car Claim’ app for iPhones suggested it was created to help the 38% of drivers who fail to record sufficient third party details following an accident. But is such an app really going to solve this perennial problem for insurers?

More than laucnh Car Claim, a free iPhone app. Step by step guide to ensure drivers collect the info essential to process a claim. Safety advice, fields to input witness and accident info, take photos and a GPS facility.

The RBS-owned bank’s free app, developed by mobile payments provider Monitise, taps into growing demand for more sophisticated banking services.

It lets customers perform balance enquiries, view a mini-statement, manage SMS alerts and top up prepaid mobile phones.

NatWest has also launched an SMS service which provides mini-statements to mobiles, along with the existing weekly balance alerts it currently offers.

According to FT they have had 140,000 downloads of iPhone app since August

The publisher will also introduce a pay wall to its mobile site for the first time, to bring it into line with its wider digital strategy. New products including markets data and portfolio information will be added to the site.

Orange sell 30,000 iPhones on the first day

It has developed an app, called FastAid, which acts as a virtual first-aid kit. It features a range of information about GSK products such as Beechams Cold & Flu and NiQuitin, alongside a Google Map showing pharmacies where they can be bought. It also shows the locations of hospitals for emergencies.