Mobile ad firm AdMob has released their October 2009 Mobile Metrics Report, in which they say that Apple devices are responsible for 50% of worldwide ad request hits on their network, which serves ads to several other popular platforms in areas around the world.

Last week, a promotional email for Apple's annual Black Friday sale this year was leaked, revealing discounts on the iPod touch. Today, a second promotional image offering more detailed prices on a variety of products offers some details, and also appears more credible and realistic.

Rogue Amoeba has announced in a post on their blog that Apple has reversed their policy on using pictures of Apple products like Macs, iPods and iPhones in iPhone apps, and has allowed a new version of Airfoil Speakers Touch [App Store, Free] to be released with the original images intact. The policy change comes not long after Rogue Amoeba quit the iPhone app business due to Apple's over-agressive defense of product images that resulted in a minor update being delayed three months.

Apple has decided to step in to the battle between AT&T and Verizon Wireless in the US with two new TV advertisements highlighting one of the few advantages of AT&T's network over Verizon's: the ability to run voice and data connections simultaneously. The first ad, titled "Did You See My Email?", shows the user using an iPhone to open an email from a client while still talking to them on the phone, shown after the break.

The App Store has received quite a lot of criticism recently, first with Facebook developer Joe Hewitt's decision to stop development for the iPhone, and then Rogue Amoeba announcing the same thing a day later. To defend Apple's position, Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice-president for worldwide product marketing, sat down with BusinessWeek for an interview on the matter.

In the interview, Schiller defends the review process by stating that they've created a store that people can trust:

A series of comments expressed by Broadpoint AmTech analyst Brian Marshall on Friday have garnered a fair amount of attention over the weekend. Key among these is Marshall's claim that AT&T's exclusive agreement to distribute the iPhone in the U.S. will expire in June 2010, opening the door for other carriers to begin offering the device. Marshall's comments specifically point to Verizon as a carrier with which Apple would likely look to partner, with rumors of revised iPhone hardware capable of running on Verizon's network suggesting that a late 2010 launch could be possible.

A new iPhone worm has found its way onto jailbroken iPhones with SSH enabled. The worm, which emerged from the Netherlands according to security software company F-Secure, puts up an ING Direct login page that lets the hacker gather login credentials and, presumably, move funds to wherever they please. This version also changes the 'alpine' password to block users from getting to the phone via SSH.

Today iPhone game giant Gameloft announced that they've decided to scale back development for Google's Android OS. What's the reason? According to Gameloft finance director Alexandre de Rochefort, it's because they've been able to sell significantly more games on the iPhone than on Android devices. "We are selling 400 times more games on iPhone than on Android," Rochefort said at an investor conference.

Of course you might think that the number of Android devices out there might be to blame, but Rochefort believes that the Android marketplace is the real issue. "It is not as neatly done as on the iPhone," he explained. "Google has not been very good to entice customers to actually buy products. On Android nobody is making significant revenue."

A new patent from Apple (#20090284476) describes a method in which a device might push it's user interface to a smart remote. The patent doesn't talk much about the device, describing it loosely as a small "accessory" with a touchscreen that changes it's UI to match that of the device it's controlling to control playback of audio or video remotely.