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Instagram crosses 200 million users, welcomes Oculus to the family
In news that Zuckerberg, Luckey & Co. hope bodes well for Facebook's latest acquisition, Instagram just announced it's crossed 200 million users, with over 50 million joining in the last six months and 50 billion photos shared so far. Facebook CEO Zuckerberg mentioned the number during his conference call discussing his company's purchase of Oculus VR, highlighting Instagram's better-than-expected growth as an example of how it continues to operate independently within Facebook. Recent developments have included ads, a revamped app for Android and testing out integration of Facebook Places instead of Foursquare, but so far Instagram doesn't even use Facebook accounts for logins. We'll see if that changes anytime soon, or if the team finds itself redirected to work on filters for the virtual reality experiences its owner is suddenly jumping into.
China goes from zero to 200 million 3G users in only three years
Considering that China 3G network trials only started in anger in 2009, and that the figure stood at 100 million users just last year, a new report from Sina Tech that the number now stands at 202.6 million is fairly mind boggling. The launch was delayed to begin with, as operators used an alphabet soup of different wireless technology and early results were mixed at best. But the popularity of certain devices along with the advent of microblogging sites like Weibo helped the service quickly gain traction after that, and now more people there use cellphones to surf the web than computers. We'll have to wait and see if 4G goes as well -- after some early waffling, the government seems to have some newfound enthusiasm for it. [Image credit: Wikimedia Commons]
TiVo's $200m damages award against DISH is headed back to the appeals court, future
Remember that $200 million contempt of court judgment TiVo won in September, and had affirmed in March against DISH Network & Echostar? We wouldn't blame you if you didn't, as the various steps in this never ending legal saga have become increasingly difficult to separate, but as we predicted, it's been appealed and now the appeals court will rehear the case with all active judges participating. Given the sharp drop in TiVo shares after the decision was announced, this is obviously a big deal for investors but those of us holding the remotes won't notice any difference at all. TiVo's response (Update: and Dish / Echostar's) is after the break.
Nokia's 1100 handset: over 200 million served
Sales records typically don't stand for too long without being overtaken by the next best thing, but somehow, Nokia's el cheapo 1100 handset has reportedly racked up "over 200 million sales" since it launched in 2003. You heard right, this low-end candybar has put the 100 million iPods, 50 million RAZRs, 10 million Chocolates, and 115 million PlayStation 2 consoles to shame in terms of sheer units moved. Interestingly enough, the design team that conjured up this cash cow originally dubbed it "Penny," and the stripped down, dust-proof mobile purportedly entered the market at precisely the right time to catch the booming overseas growth as folks worldwide began snapping up their own cellphone. Of course, such a basic, uninspiring phone isn't for everyone, but considering the 200 million strong that owned one sometime during their life, we'd say Nokia found a winner.[Via Celularis, thanks Mariano]
