Welcome to the Carnival of the Mobilists . This week mobiThinking hosts the itinerant round up of the best mobile blogs of the week. This week’s eclectic mix covers over-the-top (OTT) services (e.g. VOIP, IM, social media); iconic or irrelevant icons (those little clickable images on your home screen); iPhone wannabes v handset innovation; Pintrest for mobile marketers; device detection and m-commerce; and 70+ app stores. OTT providers v Operators read more

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Carnival of the Mobilists #271 goes OTT with the best mobile blogs on VOIP, IM, handsets, icons, m-retail and app stores galore

Four massive landmarks underscore the importance – as though we didn’t know – of China as the world’s top mobile market. First, China now has more than 1 billion mobile subscribers (India isn’t far behind) – that’s more than three times the US. Second, China now has more than 150 million 3G users. These are the sum of subscriber stats from the three main Chinese operators. Third, China has more than 400 million mobile Internet users (i.e. more than there are mobile subscribers in the US), according to Analysys International. read more

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China passes 1 billion mobile subscribers, passes 400 million mobile Web users and overtakes US as world’s top smartphone market

As part of its “Connecting the next billion” initiative, Nokia is running a competition where developers can enter their Web apps (as many as they like) – yes that’s web-based mobile apps – for a chance to win mobile handsets and get your app published and promoted in the Nokia Store. read more

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Wow a competition promoting Web apps – and from a handset manufacturer – how times are a changing

mobiThinking is working on the 2012 version of the popular Guide to mobile ad networks (in the last year the guide has received 87,636 pageviews). The new version will add new categories including local mobile ad networks and affiliate networks, introducing new networks, update old profiles (and delete those haven’t been updated recently). read more

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Which mobile ad networks should be included in the 2012 version of the Guide to mobile ad networks?

Mary Beth Christie, online product management director, Financial Times, spends 2 hours each week on the phone answering queries from companies and journalists eager to pick their brains on their experiences with bringing the FT Web app to market. That’s on top of the time she and her colleagues spend on conference stages sharing their knowledge. read more

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How interested are companies in mobile Web apps? Very…