You must also be based in Singapore.

Here are the steps to own your Windows Phone:

1. Follow Spiffy on Twitter and ‘like’ the Spiffy Facebook Page to receive information on this program.
2. Submit your three app ideas to yanmf@microsoft.com with subject “#WhereIsMyLumia”. Include the name and description of your app. The application needs to be implemented using PhoneGap HTML5 mobile framework.
3. If your app is approved, you will be informed through email, along with instructions to pick up your loaner device in our Microsoft Singapore office.
4. You are required to submit one approved application to Marketplace every month, for 3 months – to keep the device. Until then, it’s a loaner device.

Developers are encouraged to utilize native phone functions like the camera and geolocation for their apps. The devices are being given out on a first-come-first-served basis.

For resources on how to get started creating your own Windows Phone app, check out these webpages:

Starting Windows Phone developer with PhoneGap
Windows Phone Developer page
Microsoft Singapore Developer Page

Microsoft Singapore will also be holding free training sessions on 8th to 9th February to get developers familiarized with using the Windows Phone SDK.

It looks like Microsoft and Nokia are pulling all stops to make its Windows Phone ecosystem competitive with Apple and Android. In the US, there are plans to give retail workers cash incentives for selling Windows Phone. The marketing budget in the country alone is about US$200M.

We don’t know if all these carrots will work, but we sure hope the Windows Phone develops into a formidable alternative to the iPhone and Android. It’ll only benefit the consumers.

However, Nokia and Symbian still combine for 47 percent of the market, followed by Android at 17 percent, iPhone at 6 percent, and RIM at 1 percent.

For Asia Pacific, InMobi has included Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan.

In Singapore, where smartphones are dominant, iPhones have the majority market share at 44 percent, while Android is second at 31 percent. RIM, Nokia, and Symbian take up only 20 percent combined.

But the iPhone’s lead is slipping. From Q2 to Q3, its market share in Singapore has dropped by 8.1 percent, while Android has gained 4.9 percent.

Overall, mobile ad impressions on the inMobi network have grown by 25 percent to over 69.5B impressions, while impression coming from apps have more than doubled — which is good news for app developers (more statistics on mobile apps in Asia here).

Looking at long-term trends in Asia-Pacific from January 2011, it appears that the iPhone’s market share has been dropping drastically from 16 percent (5M impressions) to 6.3 percent (4.3M impressions).

Android, meanwhile, has grown from 13.5 percent (4.3M impressions) to 16 percent (11.5M impressions), getting into third place behind Nokia and Symbian, who has grown even more dominant.

In Singapore, the iPhone also appears to have taken a beating over the same time frame, falling from 70 percent in January to 44 percent in Q3. Android has grown from 14 to 31 percent.

It should be interesting to see how the release of the iPhone 4S as well as the availability of different price point for different iPhone models will impact market share. We could see some sort of a reversal in Q4.

Nonetheless, while this report is one of the most exhaustive out there, it is unclear how reflective it is of true market share for mobile ad impressions and ownership of handsets.

While it claims to be well positioned to provide an “objective, comprehensive, and representative view of the mobile advertising market”, the impressions are only collected from one source only — inMobi.

That’s despite the fact that numerous mobile ad platforms exist out there, including Google-owned Admob, which is dominant in Android, and Millennial Media.

If you’re interested in a more detailed look at InMobi’s reports, you can sign up for free here.

This Saturday, Nokia will organize X-Calibre Hackathon. It is a one day Windows Phone application building contest where developers compete to create the best WP app using Mango features such as Metro UI, Live Tiles, Fast App Switching etc. The judging will be done by representatives from Nokia, Microsoft, and the WP Champs. More information can be found here.

Event Details

When: Saturday, 19th November 2011
Time: 9am-6pm
You can register yourself (or in group of 3) by sending the following details to ext-soo-kuang.ang@nokia.com by 17th Nov: Group members names, Group members’ email addresses, contact number + name, Company/School + designation, Relevant links (Twitter, blog, etc).

Here are some interesting startup news from China, not only in its capital, Beijing, but also other startup hubs such as Shanghai, Hong Kong, Hangzhou, and many more.

(1) UMeng, an Innovation Works affiliate which raised tens of millions in US dollars from venture capital firm Matrix, just released its latest Android usage report which highlighted the accelerating usage of the app. This points to an increased prominence of mobile internet in China in the second quarter of this year.

(2) Reuters reported that Renren, one of China’s dominant social networks, signed an agreement of co-operation with Microsoft’s MSN messenger.The co-operation centers on enhancing the integration between the two services. Both platforms will have a universal login and share photos and status updates.

(3) Currently, the Tencent QQ Penguin is crushing the instant messaging market in China with over 800 million active users. But now, Qihoo 360, better known for its free anti-virus software, is entering the IM arena with a mobile messenger.

(4) Due to the stock market wobbles in the past few weeks, not only has the market lost ground, but damage has been done to some US-listed Chinese companies. Mecox Lane Limited, China’s leading online retailer of apparel and accessories (M18.com), which got listed on NASDAQ for less than a year, has dropped from $17.26 to less than $ 2 now, resulting in Mecox Lane investors Sina and China Dongxiang Group losing more than US$69 million.

(5) According to China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom’s latest release of operating data, 3G users in China now account for 9.5% of all mobile users, with 37.597 million 3G subscribers of China Mobile, 25.819 million of China Unicom and 23.56 million of China Telecom.

(6) IDC, a market research firm has revealed that for the first time, China became the world’s biggest PC market during the second quarter of this year.

(7) According to iResearch, the total revenue generated on mobile application advertising platforms was around rmb70 million (around US$11m) in 2010, but by end of 2011 the figure is expected to reach rmb310 millions (US$48.7m), with around 342.9% market growth.

(8) NOKIA and LBS service Jiepang are leading NFC technology adoption in China. NOKIA launched 3 brand-new NFC smartphones, the NOKIA 600, NOKIA 700, and NOKIA 701 that use the Symbian Belle system last night. At the same time, Jiepang is also releasing new stickers that support NFC check-ins to replace the old ones.

(9) Lenovo, China’s largest PC maker by market share, will open more than 1,200 new stores in tier 1 and 2 cities across China to strengthen its position as the world’s biggest market.

(10) According to people familiar with the matter, Gaopeng, the joint-venture between Groupon and Tencent in China, has fired one-thirds of its Chinese staff (including both execs and rank-and-file employees) while shutting down nearly 50% to 80% of its China branch offices. Gaopeng’s general manager pointed out that the significant downsize was the result of Tencent’s delay in funding the joint-venture.

(11) Sina Weibo wants to be not only a gaming platform, but also an eCommerce platform. 360buy announced its strategic partnership with Sina Weibo, become the first eCommerce partner who can sell products directly on its official Weibo account page.

(12) Kabam, the leading developer of hardcore social games, announced it is teaming up with Paramount Digital Entertainment to bring the massively popular and critically acclaimed The Godfather movie franchise to social gaming in The Godfather: Five Families.

(13) According to Cloudary’s latest filing with the SEC, the online literary service belonging to gaming powerhouse Shanda lost US$ 2.19 million on revenue of US$48.18 million in the first half of this year. For Q2 of this year, Cloudary lost US$ 1.64 million on revenue of US$27 million.

(14) Pan Haidong, CEO of Hudong.com, announced on Weibo that the company has recently raised RMB100 million (US$15.6 million) in its third round of financing. The company intends to use the funding to accelerate monetization and to enhance its presence in the mobile Internet sector.

(15) China Daily reported that China’s Ministry of Culture has ordered domestic online websites to stop allowing users to play and download over a 100 songs that have failed to go through “official approval procedures.”

(16) Punchbox, the game vendor behind hit iOS game Fishing Joy, has just raised over US$14 million in Series B from Sequoia China and Steamboat Ventures with a total funding of over US$15.6 million to date, according to its founder and CEO Chen Haozi.

(17) Tencent is reportedly spending hundreds of millions of RMB to strengthen and expand its online video node infrastructure network.

(18) China’s telecom giants are building up a war-chest of patents to help give them an edge in the legal battles raging between the world’s smartphone makers, aided by Beijing’s push to transform the country from workshop to innovator.

We thank nordicfactory for the flag image.

Here are some interesting startup news from China, not only in its capital, Beijing, but also other startup hubs such as Shanghai, Hong Kong, Hangzhou, and many more.

(1) Chinese online-video site Tudou Holdings scored a victory by completing its initial public offering on NASDAQ last week, but the stock declined on its first day of trading. Shanghai-based Tudou, which has some similarities with YouTube, is the first Chinese company to list in the U.S. since Taomee Holdings went public in June.

(2) NeuroSky declared that Haier Group will adopt its brainwave technology in the latest Cloud smart TV. Cloud Smart TV is a new product which merges smart TV technology with a cloud service, which is a milestone in lifestyle change. This new product is scheduled to be available in October.

(3) 17startup was launched in China earlier last week, following the model of TechCrunch’s CrunchBase, a comprehensive database covering tech companies and the people behind them, from startups to giants.

(4) Crows Coming is a new game for iOS that uses the frontal camera to detect your motions. The game, released 20th August for US$0.99 on iTunes, is the first developed by Beijing-based developer Vision Hacker.

(5) San Jose-based Special Deals is opening its operation in China soon, but with some innovations to differentiate itself from Lashou, Meituan and Nuomi, all aggressive and fierce local competitors, and also to avoid all the pitfalls that Gaopeng have fallen into.

(6) Ohbaba is a simple location-based service which helps locate the public toilets around you. The idea is simple: Like other LBS apps, it detects your location and finds the closest public toilets for you. Ohbaba also allows users to submit new entries for toilets. And when you submit a new entry, there is a tick box to indicate if toilet tissue is available.

(7) Beijing-based SmarTots is a start-up that aims to help connect parents and their children through learning. They attracted a lot of attention after winning the GMIC Early Stage Start-up Competition back in April.

(8) Hong Kong based Stepcase was founded by Leon Ho in 2007. Its iPhone photo community, Steply, has over 7.5 million users. In comparison, one of the most popular Android photo app, Camera 360, has about 6 million users.

(9) Research firm IDC recently reported that Apple now has 19.1% of the smart-phone market share compared to the incumbent, Nokia with 15.7% market share.

(10) Xiu.com, a Chinese ecommerce site focusing on luxury and fashion goods, raised US$100 million in series B funding. The round was led by American private equity firm Warburg Pincus, with previous backers Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers participating. KPCB invested over US$20 million in its series A funding earlier this year.

(11) GSR Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm in China, announced that Li Yinan, the former head of China Mobile subsidiary UMessage, joined GSR Ventures as a venture partner.

(12) A new start-up called Wokaishi, currently in closed beta, is aiming to make fitness available to everyone, anywhere and anytime. The goal is to teach people how to take care of their bodies until they are comfortable enough to go to a gym or a professional health practitioner to gain maximum benefits.

(13) Youku.com, listed on the NASDAQ as YOKU, got a nice 13% spike in their share price to $27.01, after speculation that they are in talks with Tencent to buy a piece of them. Tencent, the 3rd largest internet company by market cap in the world, is believed to be looking to invest in Youku to manage their online video business.

(14) Tuita, another rich-blogging service in China by online gaming and entertaining powerhouse Shanda, disclosed that the service is about to raise US$ tens of millions in Series A funding. According to Tuita, all its executives and rank and file employees will receive stock options.

We thank nordicfactory for the flag image.

With offices in Singapore, Tokyo, Bangalore, San Francisco, London, and Nairobi, InMobi claims a reach of 314 million consumers in over 165 countries, and more than 36.2 million mobile ad impressions monthly.

“Sprout’s technology solves a critical need for the industry by helping bring engaging mobile ad experiences to consumers all around the globe. The acquisition fits perfectly with our vision to enable the mobile ecosystem with best of breed technology and services. The entire industry will benefit from the combination of our technology and operational footprint on five continents and Sprout’s platform,” says Naveen Tewari, CEO of InMobi.

Previously, it has raised US$8 million in Series B funding from existing investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and Sherpalo Ventures (also check out this podcast featuring Emmanuel Allix from InMobi).

A while back, we reported that a tech blogger discovered some NFC functionality on the Google+ mobile app. Google has also been actively implementing the technology for its Google Wallet and Google Places services.

With our favorite search company placing bets on NFC, it’s no surprise Sony Ericsson wants in on the action. According to Steve Walker, global head of marketing at Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, mobile payments will be the “first and most obvious” use for his company’s implementation of NFC. Don’t be surprised to see the technology come to life in gaming and entertainment applications either, since that’s how Sony Ericsson differentiates its phone from others.

He adds: “NFC should be universally adopted across all industries. It requires somebody to take the lead. We saw it happening in Japan where mobile payment and ticketing technology was adopted quickly when the government took the lead. Train companies, banks and retailers followed suit. Mobile phone companies are waiting to make the plunge.”

Looks like Steve found his leading man.

Alongside Google, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications is also a principal member of the NFC forum, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing NFC technology. The forum boasts sponsor members like MasterCard and Microsoft, and principal members like Intel, PayPal, and American Express (more on membership schemes here).

With other major mobile players like HTC, Samsung, Motorola, and Nokia already producing or about to release NFC-enabled phones (see list of phones), Sony Ericsson is late on arrival, although their arrival at the hot tub party will certainly be welcomed by NFC proponents.

The only party-pooper? Apple. GigaOM has a nice article that documents the rumor mill surrounding whether iPhone 5 will be NFC-enabled, although the author also said that it “makes sense” for iPhone 6, set for launch in 2012, to be the first Apple phone with NFC capabilities. That will put it behind the competition though.

To register, you can send an email to rsvp@readingroom.com.

• RIM’s run in with Saudi Arabia, India and Russia for the Blackberry: In the three kingdoms world between iPhone, Android and Blackberry, the secure server for RIM now gets requests from different governments that they need a local server.
• Thoughts on the resignation of Mark Hurd from HP and how it might impact Palm.
• FlutterScape gets $100k in seed funding: They raised 0.5M and is a e-commerce site set up by an Indonesian founder in Japan. We chat about what Flutterscape is about and make a guess who might be the possible investor.
• Google, Verizon and the Net Neutrality issue: With a big wildfire spreading across US tech pundits on the Google-Verizon proposal on net neutrality, the panel discussed the impact that it might have on Asia. Of course, we have also Facebook playing the nice guy for a change.
• Boot.HK: We have a brief discussion about the Hackerspace in Hong Kong.

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• Events: BlinkBl-nk 6, TenCube party & Blackberry Developer Event.

Note that the show ends at 48th minute. :)

Our friends at Tech65 starts off this week with their weekly podcast on the following issues that dominated the tech landscape with their thoughts [1] iPhone 4, [2] Nokia N8 to be final Symbian N Series device, [3] Palm files 8-K with SEC on merger, VP of PR Lynn Fox leaving, [4] Adobe Flash gets its full launch on Android, [5] HTC Hero Eclair 2.1 Release in Singapore. Note that the Tech65 are catching up with editing and publishing new episodes for listeners and do bear with them. Do click and check out their latest podcast here. You can now also listen to the Tech65 podcast here as well by coming to the blog post directly.