Nielsen has put together data about the latest smartphone market-share results for Q4 of 2011 and it appears that Apple has done significantly well. The study focused on consumers that purchased smartphones within the past three months. The number of iPhone buyers increased from 25% in October to 45% in December. During the same period, the number of Android buyers fell by 14%. The increase in iPhone buyers was mainly due to the release of the Apple iPhone 4S. [Nielsen]

When walking into a meeting, a dinner date, or a student lecture hall, one of the first thing that someone does is turn their phone on silent. Because if you forget to turn it off and you receive a call in the middle, it could be rather embarrassing. Patron X, as referred to by The New York Times, learned this the hard way when watching the New York Philharmonic symphony. While the orchestra was playing the end of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9, Patron X’s cellphone started to ring and he did not know that it was his since it as a new iPhone. Conductor Alan Gilbert stopped asked the orchestra to stop and wait until the phone stopped ringing. Patron X was so upset with himself about the incident that he could not sleep for two days. He apologized to Gilbert personally for it and he was forgiven. [New York Times]

Shazam is preparing to launch a new app called the Shazam Player. The original Shazam music tagging app has been downloaded about 165 million times since 2008. The Shazam Player app will have synced lyrics (LyricPlay), social sharing, bios, smart playlists, etc.

Apple iOS 5 has a feature that you may not know of, which is known as “Speak Selection.” This feature reads the text out loud that is on Safari. I have tested it out on Pulse2.com and it works very well. The Speak Selection feature works on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. To enable the feature, here is how you set it up:

A weak economy and the falling prices of rival smartphones are hurting the sales of the Apple iPhone across Europe according to data from research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. Even though the Apple iPhone 4S boosted their market share in Britain and the United States, the new phone has not gained much attention in Europe. However Google Android is growing in Europe at a rapid pace.

As much as I like Apple products, they also seem to be the preferred products to steal. Remember when the iPad first came out and a man lost his finger when someone tried to snatch his bag? Well apparently there is a mugger walking around Columbia University that is a hardcore Apple fanboy too.

The Facebook for Android mobile application has finally surpassed iOS, which clearly indicates how fast Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is closing on the iPhone’s domination. The Android app launched in September 2009, which is more than a year after the iPhone Facebook app was released.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has announced that SkyDrive is now available for Windows Phone and the iPhone. SkyDrive is Microsoft’s cloud storage service.