Apple

• Apple is now the #2 smartphone manufacturer. Nokia remains #1, RIM is now#3, and Motorola is #4. More here.
• The iPhone surpassed the Motorola Razr as the top selling consumer phone.

Facebook

• TechCrunch reports that Facebook violated its own privacy policy to give Microsoft access to user emails: “Microsoft’s Invite2Messenger appears to violate that policy. Messenger users are asked to log in to Facebook, and then the names and email addresses of all that user’s Facebook friends are then sent to Microsoft and displayed in clear text on a page they control (Facebook itself only shows friend’s emails as images to prevent scraping). You check off which friends you want to invite to use Messenger, and then Microsoft sends each of them an email to install the client and become friends with you. Screenshots of the process (with emails removed) are below.“
  
• Facebook launched an app that allows users to vote for their favorite FBFund apps.  There are 25 finalists, five of which will receive $225,000 FBfund grants. Add the app here.

Google

• YouTube launched a “new advertising program that enables all video creators — from the everyday user to a Fortune 500 advertiser — to reach people who are interested in their content, products, or services, with relevant videos.”

Motorola

• Interesting article on the perception of Motorola’s recent announcements regarding changes to the org: “Motorola’s Turnaround Plans Meet with Skepticism”

Nokia

• Nokia cut its 4th quarter outlook on handset sales from the 1.26 billion it forecast in October to 1.24 billion handsets. It also forecast a decrease in the global market for fixed and mobile network infrastructure. More here.
  

Sony Ericsson

• Sony Ericsson ranks highest among customer satisfaction for the 3rd time in a row.
  
• Mobility Today is calling the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 the “ultimate Windows Mobile phone anyone can ask for”:

Twitter

• Twitter surpassed its 1 Billionth tweet this week.
  

Misc:

• Recent Layoffs:
  • TechCrunch reports 58,709 tech layoffs over the past two and a half months. Check out the TechCrunch Layoff Tracker to see the latest Layoff news.
    
• Technology announcements:
  • Loopt:
    • Loopt has become more popular than the MySpace and Facebook mobile apps on iPhone.
    • Loopt has reportedly hired Allen&Co to represent them in a financing transaction or sale
    • To cut costs, Loopt is partnering with a Qualcomm subsidiary, SnapTrack, which provides GPS data for a monthly fee.
  • OpenSocial celebrates its one-year anniversary. You can see the presentation from the press and developer event here.
  • Soocial launched its public beta.  They say that they “aim to link all currently disconnected address books to each other. A change in one of these address books will result in a change in all your connected devices.”  It’s getting good reviews. Check it out.
  • European events search engine Happener just launched after a year in development. Check it out.
  • You can now make your own customized guide book at Offbeatguides.com, which was founded by Technorati founder Dave Sifry.