Champage corks were popping in Mountain View on Oct 1st as Google passed Microsoft to become the worlds second most valuable company - largely due to Android. Googles' stock rose 1 per cent finishing in New York with a share worth of $761.78 (£471.34) translating into a total market capitalisation value of nearly $250 billion (around £155bn). On the same day, Microsoft fell 1 per cent, closing out business at $29.49 (£18.25) with a lesser valuation of $247.2 billion (£152.9bn). It hasn't been reported what happened to the stock of any office furniture repair businesses in Redmond.

All eyes in the mobile industry turn to Earls Court, London again this year as Apps World promises to be bigger and better than ever for its 3rd annual outing on 2nd/3rd October. Whilst covering all the major platforms, Android fans are promised a special treat with the launch of the Droid World track. This is a free to attend, 2 day workshop where leading Android developers, authors, technical evangelists, brands, handset manufacturers and operators will be delivering valuable developer advice and ideas around the world’s most popular smartphone OS. Join with them as they examine the latest issues in the Android ecosystem around app monetisation and discoverability in the Android App Market.

Just as Sony announced their new Google TV set top box, the Google TV site itself saw a major overhaul, all suspiciously happening just days before this years Google I/O. Not only that, but now the Google TV service is to launch in the UK - two years after its US debut.

Google TV has had a chequered past, and those following it from the start have seen many UI changes too. The most notorious problem was the Logitech Revue fail, and it's rather telling that there's now no mention of that anywhere on the new site at all. The timing is also interesting to industry watchers following that other tech giant dabbling with TV - Apple - since rumours are rife they're about to make a big move too.

Well - how about that! We've been working on something a little special for some time now, and today's the day we're proud to announce our new baby - the AACD programme. In collaboration with SteelyEye Digital Media, we're announcing the Android industry's first Accreditation scheme - the Android Academy Certified Developer programme. This is in the form of an online exam which has been developed and calibrated by a team of Android experts for over a year. The software driving the exam is the same the SteelyEye guys used when they were running the Symbian Academy, so it has a pedigree second to none. This is no cut and paste script kiddie affair - well over £2.5m has been spent perfecting it such that it adapts to the knowledge level of the subject as it progresses. This means no two exams are the same.

Tres bien! Renault just sent us the press release for the R-Link, an Android based in-dash control, communications, entertainment and kitchen sink system which can download apps from their private App store. Appearing first in the new Clio 4 and Zoe, and eventually being rolled out to every car in their range, there will initially be 50 apps available to kick things off. They are also embracing totally the open philosophy of Android, clearly a major feature when deciding which platform to run their entire future portfolio on, by announcing a campaign to attract developers to the R-Link system.  Whilst it's almost a cert they'll already have enough gas consumption display apps etc, this does open the door for developers to start their engines by fuelling a whole new class of App innovation :-)