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After just 18 months, the Android Market has hit its latest milestone, 50,000 apps available in the marketplace.

The company reported in December 2009 that it the store had reached 16,000 apps.

By mid-March 2010, the store had doubled its apps available to 30,000.

The stats site AndroLib says the breakdown of the 50,000 apps, in terms of free vs. paid, is 59 percent to 41 percent, the closest number is recent memory.

In comparison, the Apple App Store hit 50,000 in 12 months, and now sits at around 190,000.

Adds Asad Rafi of Android Spin: "With this rapid increase in the number of applications with in such a short time period, it will only a matter of time before the Android market will cross 100,000 application mark."

Although Google promised the Nexus One smartphone for Verizon when it launched the device, the search giant has changed its stance today, instead telling Verizon subscribers to instead purchase the HTC Incredible, if they want a high-end Android device.

As posted earlier today in the official Google phones portal, instead of saying to buy the Nexus One for Verizon in the spring, it now reads: "For Verizon's network, you can buy the Droid Incredible by HTC."

When asked for an elaboration on the word change, Google added the following: "We won't be selling a Nexus One with Verizon, and this is a reflection of the amazing innovation happening across the open Android ecosystem. Verizon Wireless customers who want an Android phone with the power of the Nexus One can get the Droid Incredible by HTC."

The Google Nexus One will go on sale in the UK via Vodafone starting on April 30th, reads a press release from the companies, with the "superphone" available for as cheap as free depending on the contract.

Vodafone is the first carrier in the EU to offer the phone, and they will offer the device for free if you sign up for a two-year contract at £35 a month.

Unlike in the U.S., where the phone is only available online, Vodafone will make the smartphone available in stores and online, with direct support for both types of purchase.

Owners get up to 1GB of data with their plans, as well as a free 1GB of data at "premium BT Openzone hotspots" around the nations. Wi-Fi is unlimited.

The Nexus One has a 3.7″ AMOLED 480x800 WVGA display, a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 5MP camera with autofocus and flash, 512MB RAM and ROM, a microSD slot and noise suppression.

Sony has announced this weekend that they will be discontinuing all sales of the 3.5-inch floppy disc in Japan starting in 2011, effectively killing off the three decade old disk type.

The company helped pioneer the disk in 1981, introducing the technology that year and then starting to sell the discs in 1983.

At its height in the year 2000, Sony shipped 47 million disks, but that number has progressively fallen, reaching just 8.5 million in 2009. However, that also begs the question, why were so many floppies shipped even in 2009 and who is still using them?

Sony holds 70 percent of the Japanese market share for the disks, compared to around 40 percent globally.

The company cited lack of demand as the main reasoning behind the decision, given the cheap prices of much smaller and higher capacity devices, like USB flash drives.

Sprint has dropped the price of the Palm Pixi to free with a two-year contract, the final price drop on a phone that Sprint has struggled to sell.

So far, the deal is only online, so if you are looking to test the phone before buying you will have to hit a retail store, then go home and buy it online to get the discount.

The story behind the price drop is much larger.

Palm has put itself up for sale in a last-ditch effort to avoid possible imminent bankruptcy, and potential suitors keep dwindling.

Just last week, Michael Abbott, their software and services chief, resigned, and the company had to pay large bonuses to keep some other key employees on.

Two prototypes of upcoming iPod Touch models hit eBay this weekend, each sporting cameras and development team tags.

The first prototype was marked with DVT-1 and the second, predictably with DVT-2, with one holding an 'Apple Development Team' label.

The prototypes were running an OS that only the hardware team gets to test when the phones are in development. The apps pictured are special diagnostic and testing apps.

The auctions were quickly taken down, but the pics were saved.

The latest "leak" follows the highly publicized revealing of the upcoming "iPhone 4G/HD," after developer Gray Powell left the device in a bar.

Last week, iPhone Dev Team member "planetbeing" released a video today showing off a huge accomplishment, the Android OS running on a first-gen iPhone.

The hack has been in development for months, and is still in alpha stages. So far the phone only works on the 2G model, with 3G happening likely in the near future. The 3GS, is a whole different ball game, however.

After being hacked, the iPhone can run both Android and the iPhone OS, in a "Bootcamp"-esque way, allowing for the boot of multiple OS on one Apple device.

Today, Androidalot has released instructions and a video on how to run the hack yourself, if you have a iPhone 2G just laying around.

The instructions are here: HOW TO: Install Android On An iPhone 2G

The video is here:

Guide to Installing Android on iPhone 2G from AndroidALot on Vimeo.

MobilityDigest has posted a few videos today relating to Microsoft Office playback on upcoming Windows Phone 7 smartphones, and the productivity suite looks great.

The clips are short, but they show off how email and calendar support will work, how PowerPoint and Word will act, and how the overall "Office hub" will look and feel.

First announced in February, the smartphone OS tries to differentiate itself from the iPhone and Android phones, which use home screens of widgets and icons, by blending applications together for a more "integrated experience," allowing the OS and applications to "share information with the user in a natural and seamless fashion."

Read more about the OS here: https://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2010/02/15/video_daily_the_introduction_of_windows_phone_7_series

The nation of Israel has ended its ban on the Apple iPad, with the Israel Communications Ministry saying that after a second technical review, the device will be re-allowed into the country.

The device was banned right after launch earlier this month with the CM saying that the device's wireless strengths violated Israeli law and would overpower other wireless devices in the country.

10 of the devices were seized from citizens and tourists, with tourists only getting their devices back when they left the country.

Starting today, they are once again allowed in the country.

Apple, at the time of the ban, had said: "The iPad complies with international industry standards for Wi-Fi specifications."

Although this story is slightly outside of our niche, it is still particularly interesting. Republicans have come out swinging today, claiming that the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) was too busy watching pornography to properly police the nation's financial system as it collapsed in 2008.

Says California Rep. Darrell Issa, the head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee: "It is disturbing that high-ranking officials within the SEC were spending more time looking at porn than taking action to help stave off the events that put our nation's economy on the brink of collapse."

The SEC internally had talks with 33 employees that were caught looking at "explicit images" over the past five year, all on their government-issued computers. 31 of those problems have come since 2008, when the stock market and the nation's financial system almost came full crashing down thanks to billion dollar losses caused by derivatives.

The SEC Inspector General, in response to a probe by Republicans, added some incredible findings to the already devastating situation.

Reads the Chicago Tribune:

After HTC dropped out of the hunt, it appears that Lenovo is now the front-runner to purchase struggling smartphone maker Palm.

Lenovo is the world's fourth largest PC maker, but has struggled to make any headway into the phone market.

"A most suitable candidate will be a mainland Chinese company," adds Lu Chialin, an analyst at Macquarie Securities in Taipei. "They've got a lot more free cash and don't have the brand presence in the United States, so that will all give them that boost they need."

HTC passed on bidding after reviewing Palm's balance sheet and books, leaving Lenovo as the top "mainland Chinese" company left in the running.

"There just weren't enough synergies to take the deal forward," says an anonymous HTC source, via Reuters.

Officials from all three companies declined to comment.

The German airline Lufthansa has said today it would fly Apple developer Gray Powell (the guy who lost the iPhone HD) to Munich for free beers, on them.

Nicola Lange, the airline's director of marketing and customer relations says she knows "how frustrating it can be to lose personal items, especially when it is such a unique item." Also, because Powell lost the phone in a Beer Garden, Lange says he "can literally pick up where you last left off," after he flies to Germany.

Powell has yet to take up the offer, but he likely should, given how mad CEO Steve Jobs most likely is at Apple's latest product being leaked months before launch.

New to the "iPhone HD," are a front-facing camera for video conferencing, a better standard camera (including larger lens and flash), a Micro-SIM slot (just like the iPad), 960x640 resolution, a second mic, metallic exterior (not plastic) and split side buttons for volume.

According to Bloomberg, Microsoft and ex-News Corp. president Peter Chernin are discussing creating a TV channel dedicated to the Xbox 360 gaming console.

The channel would be available only to Xbox Live Gold subscribers, which may see its monthly price rise by $1 for the added programming.

The "Xbox TV" channel would be owned by Chernin and Microsoft jointly, and the channel would offer original programming as well as reruns.

Chernin's publicist would not comment but to say: "Peter is talking to lots of people about lots of ideas in the digital space." Microsoft declined to comment.

The former president stepped down from News Corp. in June, and took a film and production deal with Twentieth Century Fox.

Wedbush Morgan video game analyst Michael Pachter has said today that he expects video game consoles to add 3 million subscriptions to Netflix in 2010.

Netflix gained about 800,000 subscribers in 2009 after they made the streaming service available on the Xbox 360 and Pachter says he expects at least the same amount of additions from the PS3 and Wii.

After Netflix's recent earnings report, Pachter said (via GI): "Subscriber growth exceeded our expectations in Q1. And the company increased full year subscriber guidance by 1 million, implying that contribution from the consoles may be running closer to 3 million this year."

Overall, 55 percent of those with Netflix subscriptions are now "actively" streaming content, up from 48 percent last year.

Additionally, Pachter says that once the current installed base of consoles has been saturated by Netflix, Netflix will make subscribers of about 5-to-10 percent of all new console purchases for the year, expected to add up to 1 million for all three consoles.

A group of hackers with the group name "SkidRow" have announced today that they have found a way to completely circumvent Ubisoft's "always on" DRM, DRM that forces gamers to remain connected to the Internet at all times or lose the ability to play their legitimately purchased game.

The controversial DRM was implemented first in Assassin's Creed II and Silent Hunter 5 but Ubisoft said recently they would keep the DRM on for all upcoming games.

The new hack (a modified .exe) by SkidRow disables the DRM entirely and allows for users to play their game without worrying about losing their progress if their Internet cuts out for a second.

As an extra poke at Ubisoft, the .NFO file attached to the hack says: "Thank you Ubisoft, this was quite a challenge for us, but nothing stops the leading force from doing what we do. Next time focus on the game and not on the DRM. It was probably horrible for all legit users. We just make their lives easier."