Android Smartphone Shipments Just Shy of 800 Million in 2013:

The smartphone market passed an important milestone in 2013 when worldwide shipments surpassed the 1 billion mark for the first time driven by continued momentum from Android and iOS

According to IDC, Android and iOS accounted for 95.7% of all smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter of 2013 (4Q13), and for 93.8% of all smartphone shipments for the year. This marked a 4.5-point increase from the 91.2% share that the two platforms shared in 4Q12, and a 6.1-point increase from the 87.7% share they had in 2012.

"Clearly, there was strong end-user demand for both Android and iOS products during the quarter and the year," says Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC's Mobile Phone team. "What stands out are the different routes Android and Apple took to meet this demand. Android relied on its long list of OEM partners, a broad and deep collection of devices, and price points that appealed to nearly every market segment. Apple's iOS, on the other hand, relied on nearly the opposite approach: a limited selection of Apple-only devices, whose prices trended higher than most. Despite these differences, both platforms found a warm reception to their respective user experiences and selection of mobile applications."

Microsoft-Nokia deal clears European regulatory hurdle:

The European Commission (EC) cleared Microsoft’s €5.4 billion acquisition of Nokia’s Devices and Services business,

The Commission concluded that the transaction did not raise any competition concerns as there are only “modest overlaps” in the activities of the companies following the approval of the deal by US regulators earlier in the week.

In addition, “the links between Microsoft’s mobile operating systems, mobile applications and enterprise mail server software with Nokia’s smart mobile devices are unlikely to lead to competitors being shut out from the market”.

The Commission also found that strong rivals, such as Samsung and Apple, “will continue to compete with the merged entity”.

The US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) both approved the deal at the beginning of the week, with the FTC granting early termination on the deal. Nokia shareholders strongly approved the deal at a company EGM in November.

Nokia told Mobile World Live that “more than half of the regulatory approvals required have already been received”, with Brazil, Canada, India, Israel, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, also passing the deal.

“Only six further countries including China need to approve the transaction before it can close, which we continue to anticipate to be in the first quarter of 2014, subject to these approvals and other closing conditions,” Nokia said in a statement.

The EC judged it unlikely that Microsoft will deny the use of Windows Phone by third party device manufacturers following the acquisition of Nokia. This is partly due to Microsoft’s reliance on third party vendors to increase the limited market share of Windows Phone and attract app developers to the OS.