Google introduced a revamped version of its free search application for Apple’s iPhone highlighted by a redesigned user interface and more efficient access to other Google apps.

Google Search 2.0 features faster auto-completion of search queries, suggesting subjects with each character the user types. Pages also load more quickly, and users can check out multiple pages via the app’s slide-in panel, swiping back and forth between pages and search results as well as search modes like Images and Places. Users can also look for text within a page by tapping the magnifying glass on the bottom menu option.

Google Search 2.0 revamps the Images mode to offer high-resolution results presented as a full-screen grid. Users can browse photos and graphics by scrolling down the grid or tapping specific images for more details. Consumers may also tap and hold an image to save it to their camera roll, set it as their iPhone wallpaper or share it with friends.

The revamped Search app additionally collects all Google mobile web services and iOS apps on one screen, enabling users to sign in once to connect to Gmail, Google+, YouTube and other signature properties.

Google Search is among the top five most regularly accessed applications across all U.S. smartphones, Nielsen reports. Services like search and advertising generate the vast majority of Google’s mobile revenues: Mobile devices are on pace to account for 25 percent of all paid search ad clicks across the Google network by the end of 2012, according to a report issued in March by Marin Software. Mobile devices represented 12 percent of all Google ad clicks in 2011, up from 5.3 percent the previous year.

Earlier this week, Google closed its closed its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility installing Dennis Woodside as CEO to replace the outgoing Sanjay Jha. Woodside is a former mergers and acquisition lawyer who led multibillion-dollar revenue growth in Google’s advertising business, and analysts believe he was named to lead the Motorola unit to boost Google’s mobile ad prospects.

“The majority of the money Google makes right now on the mobile side is from online search and a good chunk of that still comes from the iPhone,” John Jackson, vice president of research at analyst firm CCS Insight, told Wired. “Android has not been a significant money maker for Google, either directly or indirectly. While Android is a platform, for Google, AdWords is still the platform because Google has not been able to monetize Android in a way that is satisfactory.”

The emerging device category of “phablets,” or devices that are larger in size than smartphones but smaller than tablets (generally with a 5-inch screen), will hit its stride over the next few years, reaching 208 million units in 2015, according to a forecast from ABI Research.

Currently, the most high-profile phablet is Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note, which sports a 5-3-inch screen. Samsung, which markets the device as having the best features of both a smartphone and a tablet, said in late March it had sold 5 million units of the device. The Galaxy Note went on sale last fall and is currently available in the United States via AT&T Mobility which sells the LTE-capable device for $250 with a two-year contract.

Likely because of Samsung’s success, other handset makers appear poised to jump into the phablet market later this year, including HTC, Huawei and LG Electronics. ABI defines phablets as devices with a touchscreen size between 4.6 and 5.5 inches. The research firm predicts that global shipments of phablets will increase by a factor of 10 in 2012 from 2011.

“One of the chief drivers for phablets is the amount of time people use their smartphones for web browsing, reading articles and newspapers on the go, or simply navigating their journeys,” ABI analyst Joshua Flood said in a statement. “The larger screen sizes make a significant difference to the user’s experience when compared to conventional-sized touchscreens between 3.5 to 4 inches.” Additionally, new phablet-styled devices provide an attractive two-in-one device proposition and are beginning to see the competition between these larger smartphone form factors and smaller media tablets (less than 7 inches).”

As LTE networks proliferate, phablets are also likely to find favor with consumers who may want to view HD and other multimedia content on large screens but who might balk at buying a more expensive tablet. The chief drawback to phablets at this point is that they are somewhat ungainly to hold because of their in-between size.

Yahoo is launching Axis, a free app for Apple’s iOS platform that combines mobile search capabilities with browser-based visual results instead of conventional text links.

Axis searches begin with a box enabling users to search online or go directly to any website. As consumers type, Axis generates visual previews of web pages, effectively eliminating text-based search results pages. “We have been conditioned to go “back” if we need access to our search results, but with Axis, your search results are always with you–reveal them at any time by simply pulling down on any page,” writes Scott Fish, Yahoo’s lead product manager for special projects.

The Axis approach slashes the time between entering the initial search query and identifying the desired result by about a third, according to Ethan Batraski, Yahoo’s director of product management for special projects. Batraski told IDG News Service that while most searches require a three-step process–query, results page and selected result–Axis dumps the second step. “Nobody really likes the middleman,” he said.

In addition to search features, Axis automatically synchronizes the user’s browser activity across their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and/or desktop computer, allowing multi-device access to recently viewed site sites, bookmarks and articles marked to read later. Axis connects to all major HTML5-based browsers, including Apple’s Safari, Google’s  Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox.

Yahoo adds that Axis is a hybrid app combining elements of native Objective-C programming and HTML5. The HTML5 code is powered by a Yahoo open-source platform dubbed Cocktails, which mixes HTML5, Node.JS, CSS3, JavaScript and Yahoo software. “One of the really big benefits that Cocktails brings to the table is the fact that server-side and client-side code is written in the same programming language,” Fish explains. “This not only bridges the gap of resources and technical skills, but the same code can be used for both the client and server side.”

Axis represents Yahoo’s latest attempt to re-establish its brand for the mobile era. Earlier this year, the digital services firm announced plans to follow a “mobile first” mindset moving forward, vowing to introduce a series of new mobile applications during 2012. Earlier this month, Yahoo announced a deal with ABC to develop second-screen experiences around TV check-in app IntoNow, which it acquired in April 2011. The company also is moving into original scripted programming, teaming with Tom Hanks’ Playtone to produce the interactive animated series Electric City.

The Axis launch follows less than two weeks after Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson resigned his post following controversy over misstatements on his academic record. Thompson was appointed to lead Yahoo in January 2012 after serving as president of eBay-owned digital payments platform PayPal, where he spearheaded the company’s fast-growing mobile commerce efforts. Last month, it was revealed that Thompson’s résumé erroneously stated he had obtained a bachelor’s degree in computer science and accounting from Stonehill College in Easton, Mass. The college subsequently confirmed that he had earned only the accounting degree. Thompson blamed the “inadvertent error” on the headhunting firm that led Yahoo’s CEO search, but the explanation did not satisfy investors.

Ross Levinsohn, who previously served as Yahoo’s head of global media, has assumed interim CEO duties following Thompson’s exit. Before running Yahoo’s digital media efforts, Levinsohn served as president of News Corp.’s Fox Interactive Media unit. He also held management jobs with search firm AltaVista and CBS Sportsline.

Facebook’s forthcoming App Center hub will introduce Send to Mobile, a new tool designed to simplify the process of installing iOS, Android and mobile web applications via the desktop.

App Center, unveiled earlier this month, is a centralized hub designed to spotlight the most compelling social applications. According to Facebook, all apps available for download from App Center will feature the Send to Mobile button on their app detail page–consumers browsing App Center on their computer can click the button to automatically transmit a Facebook notification to their mobile device. Clicking the notification will redirect their phone’s browser to the mobile web app or the respective install page in Apple’s App Store or the Google Play marketplace.

Mobile users can also access App Center directly from Facebook’s iOS and Android apps as well as the m.facebook.com site. “After someone clicks the install button on your mobile app detail page, they’ll be logged in and redirected to your app,” explains Facebook software engineer Brent Goldman. “If someone already installed your native app, we automatically open your app, passing in an access token for the authenticated user. If they haven’t, we immediately show the user the install page in the Apple App Store or Google Play.” Goldman adds that all mobile web apps need to call ‘FB.getLoginStatus’ and show a personalized experience to secure an App Center listing.

App Center directly connects an app’s availability to its overall quality. Writing on the Facebook Developers Blog, engineer Aaron Brady said the social network will leverage a series of signals like user ratings and engagement to determine if an app is listed. “Well-designed apps that people enjoy will be prominently displayed,” Brady states. “Apps that receive poor user ratings or don’t meet the quality guidelines won’t be listed.” Facebook also is introducing a new app ratings system metric to help developers understand how users rate their app over time.

App Center will support both in-app purchases as well as premium installs. Facebook awards developers 70 percent of all Facebook Credits spent on their apps.

App Center arrives amidst growing developer discontent with Facebook’s mobile platform. The Wall Street Journal reports social gaming firm CrowdStar, which once boasted 50 million daily active users on Facebook, halted development of new Facebook titles last month, shifting its focus to iOS and Android because so many apps and games can’t be accessed via the Facebook mobile site.

“We don’t see Facebook…as attractive a platform as we see the mobile platform, so we believe all our efforts in the future will be focused on the growth available in mobile,” CrowdStar CEO Peter Relan said.

Insiders say Facebook opted against creating cutting-edge native mobile applications in order to drive people to the site using their phone’s browser. Sources explain that Facebook didn’t want to be beholden to operating systems like iOS and Android, favoring a cross-platform, HTML5-based approach to offer a uniform user experience across multiple devices.

Earlier this month, Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said improving the social network’s mobile app experience is his “first priority” for 2012. Zuckerberg added that engineers are putting the final touches on new products designed to drive revenue from Facebook’s 488 million mobile users, but he did not divulge specifics on the company’s plans.

HTC said it will upgrade more than a dozen Android devices to run Google’s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, with the process slated to wrap up in August 2012.

HTC expects to upgrade the majority of devices, including the Amaze 4G, Evo 3D, Sensation 4G, Rezound and Rhyme, during the months of June and July. A handful of devices like the Droid Incredible 2, Desire HD and Thunderbolt will not transition to Ice Cream Sandwich until August. “Due to localization, testing and partner approvals, updates do not roll out to all devices at the same time,” HTC cautions. “For devices on a wide variety of carriers and in many countries, rollouts can take up to 45 days from the initial update to reach everyone.”

HTC said it does not plan to migrate all of its Android devices to Ice Cream Sandwich, stating that phones with 512MB of ROM or less will not make the switch. Devices that will not upgrade include the HTC ChaCha, Salsa, Wildfire S and Explorer. In addition, tablets like the HTC Flyer, Evo View 4G and Jetstream will continue to run Android 3.0, a.k.a. Honeycomb.

“Upgrades are not the same thing as ongoing support,” HTC said. “Devices not being upgraded to Android 4.0 will still get software improvements, security fixes and technical support as needed.”

HTC added that devices that upgrade to Android 4.0 will include version 3.6 of its Sense graphical user interface, an extra layer of software built on top of Android that the manufacturer uses to differentiate its products from other Android devices. HTC explained Android Ice Cream Sandwich will not include the latest Sense 4 UI because some aspects of the UI require dedicated hardware, which is not available on all devices.

Android 4.0 delivers the tablet-optimized innovations introduced in Honeycomb update to all devices in an effort to reduce platform fragmentation. Google first announced Ice Cream Sandwich in May 2011, and promised that moving forward, the same version of Android will run across all devices, regardless of screen size.

Reveals that only 4.9 percent of all Android devices are currently running a version of Ice Cream Sandwich. Android devices make up 51 percent of the U.S. smartphone market according to comScore data issued earlier this month.

Everything Everywhere (EE) said it is ready to launch LTE this year but is being hampered by Vodafone and O2 not working to build the necessary ecosystem.

The operator, which has been lobbying the UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom,  to allow to allow it to refarm is 1800 MHz spectrum for LTE use, said it’s made the necessary investment to gain a head-start on it UK rivals, while they have instead focused on improving their 3G networks.

If Vodafone and O2 were to start deploying LTE now, they could do it in nine to 12 months, Tom Bennett, director of network services and device development at EE, told ComputerWorld UK. He said the operators need to work on creating the proper LTE “ecosystem,” including device manufacturers, to support LTE.

“Compared to 3G [where the UK was ahead of the rest of the world], we are easily two years behind [with LTE],” said Bennett.

Adding to the criticism, David Salem, head of network strategy and architecture at EE, said: “Vodafone and O2 have had their opportunity to do the same [roll out LTE] and they have chosen not to champion LTE at this stage,” he told CNET UK. “It’s a choice.”

“The 900MHz they have [they could have used for LTE],” Salem sadded. “They have chosen to reuse that spectrum for 3G [instead]. It is part of an efficiency drive.” Salam maintains that EE is not looking at low cost strategies, but is intent on moving forward with LTE, and gaining an early lead in the UK, according to Computer World.

However, O2 has responded by claiming that the ecosystem EE was referring to didn’t exist, and was unlikely to develop.

“There is so little 900MHz spectrum in Europe that it doesn’t make commercial sense for the manufacturers to build the handsets to support it. And that is not going to change,” O2 spokesperson told CNET.

Unwilling to accept this viewpoint, EE’s Bennett told CNET: “The chipsets have supported 900MHz for a good year. As an operator you have a relationship with a vendor–you go to Samsung or HTC and you say, ‘Are you going to assemble devices? I’ll make it worth your while.’ You create the market.”

Mobile commerce uptake in the UK has quadrupled in the last two years, with 64 per cent of smartphone owners now using their mobile devices to shop online, according to a new study released by market research firm eDigitalResearch.

Commenting on the results, Derek Eccleston, head of research at eDigitalResearch, said the data confirms that m-commerce has revolutionised the way in which we shop and browse. “The growth of mobile is completely unprecedented and the rate of change that we’ve tracked over the past two years is alarming.”

Two years ago the market research firm forecast that smartphones were likely to play an increasingly significant part in consumer’s busy lifestyles. While 2011 saw great strides being made towards this, “these latest set of results demonstrate that this trend is now irreversible,” said Eccleston. “It is therefore essential that all retailers and brands make their mobile channels as accessible as possible to maximise the potential that m-commerce has to offer”.

Of note, eDigitalResearch said the results indicated that the growth of mobile shopping shows no signs of slowing down. Almost half (44 per cent) of the 1,000 smartphone owners surveyed said they would use their devices to browse more often in the coming months, with one third (31 per cent) claiming that they would then go on to make a purchase.

The study also found that security, clear navigational links and quick browsing remained key features for mobile shoppers, who also rated functionality and usability higher than branding and design.

Comcast’s new “Voice 2go” service for its Xfinity Voice home phone customers, which enables subscribers to make calls and send texts via Wi-Fi networks, has the potential to undercut revenues from wireless carriers as well as services like Google Voice and Skype.

The service enables customers to make calls and send texts for free within a Wi-Fi network using their home phone number and Comcast’s Xfinity Connect Mobile app for iOS and Android. The MSO said also said that calls can be made using a 4G or 3G wireless data plan and won’t use wireless minutes. Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas said the company has 9.5 million Xfinity Voice customers. 

Comcast also announced recently that customers can send and receive text messages domestically and internationally to more than 40 countries, including Canada, Brazil, China and, soon, Mexico. The company also announced “person Phone Numbers,” which is essentially a virtual number not tied to a customer’s primary Xfinity Voice number and can be assigned to up to four family members. Personal Phone Numbers work within the Xfinity Connect Mobile app, allowing users to make calls and texts for free when on a Wi-Fi network.

The Wi-Fi calling feature come shortly after Comcast, along with Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Cox Communications and Bright House Networks, announced they will allow subscribers to freely roam across their respective public Wi-Fi networks. The companies said they will create a new network name, “CableWiFi,” for subscribers to use when accessing the Wi-Fi hotspots. The network will give subscribers free access to 50,000 hotspots that the companies collectively own.

Wi-Fi calling is, of course, nothing new. T-Mobile USA has been a proponent of the calling feature for years, as have multiple companies and VoIP-based apps. Some operators have embraced the method, and vendors are willing to oblige. In February, for example, Kineto Wireless rolled out a “Smart VoIP” app that allows mobile operators to offer an over-the-top voice service through their existing network infrastructure.

At the same time Comcast is rolling out services that could cut into the voice, SMS and data revenues of wireless carriers, the MSO is also partnering with Verizon Wireless. Under their agreement, the companies are allowed to resell each other’s service. The deal is one aspect of a series of agreements Verizon has made with Comcast, Time warner, Cox and Bright House, the primary thrust of which is Verizon’s proposed $3.9 billion purchase of AWS spectrum from the cable companies.

Sidecar introduced its free social networking app for Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, enabling users to share video, photos and location data while engaged in voice calls.

Founded by former RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser, Senior Vice President Rob Williams and General Manager Jeff McLeman, Sidecar is highlighted by the See What I See video feature, which allows users to stream real-time footage of whatever is happening around them to the contact they are calling. Users also can snap new photos or share saved images from their phone’s library. Sidecar additionally supports text messaging, pinpoints callers’ respective locations on an interactive map to facilitate meet-ups and allows sharing of address book data.

Sidecar users can call anyone in the world for free as long as both parties have downloaded the app. Users can call anyone in the U.S. and Canada for free over Wi-Fi, regardless of whether the person they’re contacting has installed Sidecar; call recipients will receive a text explaining how to download the app to their device.

Glaser, Williams and McLeman founded Sidecar in early 2011 under the name SocialEyes. Williams serves as CEO of the startup, with Glaser installed as chairman and McLeman as vice president of mobile. Sidecar has raised $5 million, led by Ignition Partners.

Glaser launched RealNetworks (originally Progressive Networks) in early 1994. The firm soon emerged as a major force in the evolving digital entertainment segment with products like the RealPlayer media player and the Rhapsody music service, which it acquired in 2003. RealNetworks has struggled to gain traction in the post-iPhone digital media marketplace, however, and Glaser resigned his post in early 2010.

Microsoft is discontinuing its legacy Windows Marketplace for Mobile today, meaning consumers will no longer be able to browse, purchase or download applications optimized for Windows Mobile 6.x smartphones. Apps and games already installed on Windows Mobile 6.x devices will continue to work.

Microsoft first indicated plans to shut down Windows Marketplace for Mobile in March, throwing its weight behind the newer Windows Phone Marketplace storefront, which serves devices running the current Windows Phone mobile operating system. Microsoft initially planned to halt support for Windows Marketplace for Mobile on May 9 but extended the deadline to give consumers more time to review all apps and install any software updates.

Microsoft previously announced that all phone data–including apps acquired via Windows Marketplace for Mobile and user-specific settings–will be deleted from the user’s Windows Mobile 6.x device in the event the phone is wiped or “hard reset.” Any data on a removable storage card, if present, also will be deleted if the phone is wiped or hard reset. Some Windows Mobile 6.x apps may still remain available from their developers or via third-party storefronts.

Microsoft is further streamlining its mobile ecosystem by requiring all consumers wishing to install and update apps from Windows Phone Marketplace to first upgrade their smartphones to run the Windows Phone 7.5 operating system. Users running previous versions of Windows Phone can still browse the storefront, but attempts to download or update an app will result in an error message.

“Why are we doing this? Marketplace is growing fast,” Microsoft Director of Program Management Mazhar Mohammed wrote last month on the Windows Phone Blog. “It now has over 80,000 apps overall and is available in 54 (soon to be 63) countries around the world. Requiring Windows Phone 7.5 is part of a larger effort aimed at improving Marketplace performance and security and paving the way for even faster growth and more new features.”

Windows Phone devices are expected to generate just 2 percent of all app installs in 2012 according to an ABI Research forecast issued last month. ABI anticipates consumers will download close to 36 billion apps this year, with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android combining to drive 83 percent of all downloads.