Welcome to another round-up of the last few weeks in mobile marketing, and what a month it’s been for Apple. At the start of the month, CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone 4 to the world. A couple of weeks later, the device went on sale in several countries, including the US and the UK. Cue the usual scrum among Apple fanatics to get hold of one, and the delirium when they did. But hold on a minute, there’s a fly in the ointment. It seems that if you hold the phone in a certain way, you lose the signal, something to do with the steel band round the edge of the phone that acts as the antenna. Despite this hiccup, Apple still managed to sell 1.7m iPhone 4s in the first three days after its launch.

But it wasn’t all about the iPhone in June, as comScore reported that sales of Android handsets had risen by no less than 2,429 per cent in the past year. And Argos revealed that more than half a million consumers had downloaded its iPhone app in the first three week after its launch.

Meanwhile, mobile ad network InMobi launched a $2m (£1.35m) World Developer Fund. The company is using the fund to give developers who use InMobi’s network to deliver ads within their apps 100 per cent of the revenue. InMobi normally takes 40 per cent of the revenue, but is waiving this until the $2m fund is used up.

And GetJar announced that its app store had achieved its 1 billionth download. The app downloaded was Geodelic, app that discovers local restaurants, retailers and attractions.

There were deals a-plenty too, as Velti bought Media Cannon, IMImobile snapped up WIN plc, Broadcom acquired NFC specialist Innovision for £32m, and Mobile Interactive Group (MIG) bought Manchester-based Piri for its “versatile technology capabilities and platforms”.

Elsewhere, location-based service Flook announced a content partnership with Geocast the UK, location-based ad network that gives users access to local money saving vouchers. The deal will deliver mobile coupons to Flook users.

We also took the opportunity to launch our new Awards programme for the mobile marketing industry, the EMMAs – Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. The Awards recognise the effectiveness of mobile marketing campaigns, applications, sites and other activities in the mobile channel. The deadline for entries is 27 August, and the Awards Ceremony, takes place in London in December.

That’s it for now, but stay tuned for all the news that’s fit to print in July.

David Murphy, Editor