Microsoft and Windows developers continue to add to the Windows Phone Store and they report record downloads from consumers.

There are now more than 130,000 apps available for Windows Phone 8 platform. Microsoft claims a 75% increase in app downloads and a 91% increase in paid app revenue.

Microsoft also says its data shows that people install an average of 55 apps on their devices. These are all good trends to see for Windows Phone 8.More than 40,000 developers signed up since the launch of WP8 with 15,000 new apps optimized for WP8 released just since the launch.

Nothing benchmarks the importance of the platform as much as the gold rush of developers and the take-up of their apps. 

Samsung addresses the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2013 with Knox-- a container solution separating work and personal smartphone use.  

Part of the Samsung for Enterprise (SAFE) program, Knox incorporates Security Enhanced (SE) Android from the NSA and integrity management implemented in both hardware and Android framework.

The idea is not new (VMware offers a similar product, Horizon Mobile), but Knox appears to be the easier implementation. Users access the Knox environment via home screen icon, which comes complete with enterprise apps (including email, browser, contacts, calendars, CRM and BI) and MDM, VPN and directory service compatibility. 

IT departments have full control of the Knox environment, while exisiting Android apps automatically get enterprise integration and validation without need for source code changes. 

Knox is already available on SAFE-certified phones, so far being the Samsung Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II.

Go Samsung Unveils Samsung Knox

The Samsung Venture Investment Corporation (aka Samsung Ventures) makes a "strategic investment" in database-as-a-service (DBaaS) provider Cloudant. 

Samsung does not reveal the actual amount of the investment, but says Cloudant technology is “especially critical for large enterprise businesses… [in managing] the proliferation of data to be created by, mobile devices, machine-to-machine technologies, and the ‘Internet of things’ in the future.”

The Cloudant DBaaS loads, stores, analyses and distributes application data for developers of large or fast-growing web and mobile apps, and the company comments it will use the cash to "further improve global data distribution technologies and mobile application data management." 

In other words, the technology sounds ideal should Samsung it want an own enterprise iCloud-style data syncing solution for its legion of smartphones. And with Apple quietly pushing the iPhone as a BlackBerry replacement, it is probable Samsung also wants a slice of the enterprise mobility market. 

Go Samsung Ventures Adds Cloudant to its Portfolio

Following the BlackBerry 10 launch the company formerly known as RIM teams up with Trend Micro to provide customers with security against malware and privacy issues relating to 3rd party apps. 

Therefore as part of a "multi-level and phased approach for addressing privacy implications and security concerns" BlackBerry now uses Trend Micro's Mobile Application Reputation service to scan both current and future apps submitted to the BlackBerry World storefront. 

The Mobile Application Reputation service is a cloud-based tool for mobile platforms designed to analyse app code and behavior in order to identify threats and data risks, as well as detect battery, memory and data resource abuse.

Mobile malware is on the rise-- even if the vast majority of said malware targets the vast, wild Android landscape rather than the BlackBerry platform. Then again the partnership does help raise both vendors' profile as they push further into the enterprise mobility segment. 

Go BlackBerry Works with Trend Micro