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The PocketGamer.biz week that was: 3DS nears 1 million in UK, Nokia going nowhere, and the battle for China heats up

The past 7 days in bite-sized portions

The PocketGamer.biz week that was: 3DS nears 1 million in UK, Nokia going nowhere, and the battle for China heats up
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At the start of this week, Microsoft's COO for China, Michel van der Bel, told the world that Windows Phone had edged ahead of Apple in the Chinese smartphone market - despite having only entered the region two months ago.

"We've only just begun," van der Bel said.

Two days later, figures from Woori Investment and Securities Co. torpedoed his boast, suggesting that Apple's share of the market was almost three times the size of Windows Phone's.

Market share is difficult to determine, particularly in China, and research firms and ad networks throw up contrasting assessments every week. But while individually such assessments can be misleading, taken together they can provide insight into overall industry trends, or of a gathering consensus.

To the end, we present you with our condensed overview of the industry happenings of the last seven days.

Funding and acquisitions
Platform Wars
Legal wrangles
  • Samsung claimed that a cross-licensing deal could resolve patent dispute with Apple prior to court-ordered settlement talks...
  • but that didn't happen, and the two companies were unable to reach any agreement during two days of CEO-level talks. The dispute will now be settled in court.
  • The developer of a scam Angry Birds app which charged users with premium rate SMS messages has been fined £50,000 by regulator PhonePayPlus.
Industry voices
  • The 10 lessons Acceleroto's Bryan Duke learned by making a game in 30 hours.
  • iQU's Fraser MacInnes on targeting users and the importance of calibrating your aim with every miss.
  • Newly appointed CEO Oli Christie argues that TIGA membership pays for itself 'within months'.
  • Toy Studio's Evan Gilbert reveals the benefits, as well as the disadvantages, of writing your game in HTML5.
  • 2D Boy's Ron Carmel talks to us about Because We May - the promotion that celebrates flexible game pricing.
GREE pushing west
  • Floor plan shows that GREE is setting up for a big showing at E3.
  • GREE has unveiled a partnership with UK dev Mind Candy to bring Moshi Monsters to mobile.
  • GREE has launched the open beta of its global games platform, and invited devs to download its latest SDK.
James Nouch
James Nouch
PocketGamer.biz's news editor 2012-2013