In case you missed it, there's a great video reviewing the year in the mobile industry from MobileFuture, an industry group sponsored by AT&T (NYSE: T) and Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM), among others. Some of the stats are just mind-blowing. For instance, would you have guessed that 5 billion apps were downloaded in 2010? Take a look:


Source: MobileFuture; animation by iStrategyLabs.

So who were the beneficiaries of the explosion in mobile? First is definitely Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), whose iPhone and iPad dominate the market for apps. Don't count others out, though: Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) created a small splash when it launched its Windows Phone 7 to positive reviews. This is a major turnaround from its Kin, which it killed less than two months after it hit the market. Google's Android operating system also did big things, increasing its market share more than seven times over the past year.

In other parts of the mobile market, AT&T continues to benefit from its exclusive iPhone deal, which reportedly is close to ending. This should be a boost for other carriers such as Verizon (NYSE: VZ), which is expected to get the iPhone. InterDigital (Nasdaq: IDCC) and Qualcomm have been minting money from their wireless patents and are working on further enhancements that should lead to more growth for years. Last but not least, Motricity (Nasdaq: MOTR), which provides customized mobile platforms and app stores for wireless carriers, had an IPO and its share price soared.

This year
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