A UK College is set to become the first in the country to offer an evening study course devoted entirely to photography using an Apple iPhone.

The course in 'iPhoneography' will be held as Kensington and Chelsea College, in London.

Students will use an iPhone to take images, and will then be instructed in the use of various apps to help produce stunning pictures.

According to course instructor Richard Gray, all you need is 'a passion for photography and a creative mind.'

“With the right apps and skills, the iPhone can be a powerful creative tool,” said Mr. Gray. “It is a great levelling force within photography – no longer do you need expensive or complex equipment to produce great images. The traditional photographic world has no idea of the vast range of creative processes that can be explored on the iPhone. And its accessibility means every moment of the day is now an opportunity for a photo.”

During the course, students will be given instruction on using a wide array of photography apps, and techniques to get the very best from them. There will also be an introduction to the online iPhoneography community.

Students on the course will be required to provide their own iPhone. If the course is a success, it may be expanded to include other smartphones that offer quality cameras as well as a range of photography apps.

There will be a taster session of the course on offer at the Apple store in Regent Street in London on the 15th February at 7pm.

Image above captured with an Apple iPhone, using Snapseed and Filterstorm

The iPhone continues to be a dominant player in the smartphone market, with recent figures showing the iPhone accounted for 25 per cent of smartphone sales during the fourth quarter of 2011.

The stats, from Juniper Research, show that although the iPhone 4S has proven to be very popular with smartphone owners since launch, that it is mainly thanks to the aggressive pricing on the iPhone 3G S that has helped the iPhone to achieve such high sales figures.

In total, worldwide last year, over 470 million smartphones were sold, with 149 million devices shipped in Q4. It is a noteworthy feat for the Apple iPhone to be able to claim such a large percentage of sales, given the limited range of iPhone handsets, when compared to the vast number of devices running on rival platforms.

The research also points to the emerging strength of Samsung in the smartphone market, mainly due to the popularity of the Samsung Galaxy S II. Samsung managed to increase their market share from just 4.7 per cent in Q4 2010 to over 21 per cent in Q4 2011.

“The scale of Samsung's product range is saturating the market,” said Daniel Ashdown, from Juniper. “Apple has had to counter Samsung's products like the Galaxy Ace in order to maintain the visibility of its band.” commenting on the importance of the iPhone 3G S in helping Apple to achieve such strong results.

Of the remaining big 5 smartphone manufacturers, only HTC were able to improve on their Q4 2010 figures, with 12 million handsets shipping during the fourth quarter of 2011. RIM lost 0.7 per cent, selling 14.4 million BlackBerry handsets, whilst Nokia were down by 31 per cent.

There are many new handsets expected from the likes of Nokia and Samsung at the forthcoming Mobile World Congress, including the much anticipated Samsung Galaxy S 3, and many are hoping Apple will bring something new to the table with the next iPhone. It sets up 2012 to be the most competitive year in the smartphone market yet.

Apple has released details of trading for the last three months to 31st December, posting record profit of $13.6bn, a rise of 118% from the same period in 2010.

The iPhone continues to be a major driver in sales for the Cupertino based company, with 37 million iPhones being sold during that period, over twice the number of iPhones sold in the last quarter of 2010.

The iPhone 4S has been of particular appeal to many Smartphone users, although a major part of the popularity of the iPhone is due to the changes in the pricing structure of the iPhone 3G S, as well as the introduction of the 8 GB iPhone 4. The lower price range has made the iPhone a more competitive option on lower priced tariffs, which has led to a large increase of younger users.

Also performing well for Apple has been the iPad, selling more than 15 million units in the last quarter alone, showing a 111 percent like for like increase to 2010. The one downside for Apple has been sales of the iPod which were down 21 percent from a year ago, to 15.4 million devices sold.

We are thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs,” said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. “Apple's momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.”

The new iPad 3 is expected to be announced soon, possibly in March, whilst many hope for a new design of the iPhone, which could be introduced in the Summer.

The iPhone 4S has been selling in record numbers since launch, so much so that according to Nielsen, the sales of Apple's latest iPhone have helped Apple close the gap on Android devices.

The figures show that, of those who purchased a smartphone in December, only 2.4 percent more chose Android over the iPhone.

44.5 percent of people chose an iPhone in December, which is nearly twice as many as in October. Sales of Android handsets sunk to 46.9 percent, down from 61.6 percent in October.

In the total of iPhones sold during December, 57 percent were iPhone 4S. As well as performing well against declining Android sales, the iPhone also made inroads into sales of BlackBerry devices, which fell from 7.7 percent in October to 4.5 percent in December.

Further stats from Nielsen shows that of all mobile sales during December, almost half (46 percent) were Smartphones, a number that is set to increase in 2012, as more consumers move towards a smartphone. With the clear battle lines drawn between Android and the iPhone, one has to wonder whether Windows Phone will be able to have any significant impact in the smartphone wars during 2012.

Rumours are abound that Apple and Google may enter into the bidding for Premier League TV rights, when the contract goes out to tender before the end of the season.

The Daily Mail report that Apple could see the Premiership as a key element in establishing the Apple TV service in the UK.

Additionally, Google are also reported to be interested in bidding for Premiership rights, which could be offered via their YouTube platform. The increased competition for the rights to Premier League matches will be welcomed by the sports governing body, coming at a time where many sports are seeing reduced income from TV rights.

It may end up that Google and/or Apple team up with existing majority Premiership provider BSkyB, or possibly ESPN, who are expected to go for more Premier League games. Al Jazeera are also expected to enter into the bidding for the rights, having recently secured the French rights to live Champions League football from next season.

In America, Apple has agreements in place with the NHL, MLB and NBA; adding Premiership football rights in the UK would be a major coup. Currently, viewers can view football matches from Sky on the Apple iPhone and iPad via the Sky Go app, whilst goals and highlights from games can be seen with the ESPN Goals app.

The rights to Premier League games won't be cheap, with Sky having paid £1.6 billion for rights, back in 2009. The package that ESPN has was originally awarded to Setanta Sports, which was picked up by ESPN for around £90m when Setanta Sports went into administration.

Whilst Google are in the middle of a major promotion, celebrating the 10 billionth download from the Android Market, news comes from Apple that app downloads from the Apple App Store have passed the 18bn mark.

Apple has over 500,000 apps published to the App Store, and current download rates are over 1bn per month, so the 20bn milestone isn't far off.

The number of downloads is for the entire number of iOS devices, including the Apple iPod Touch and Apple iPad, as well as the Apple iPhone. The latest version of the iPhone, the iPhone 4S, created a new record for Apple after its launch, with over 4 million devices sold in the first three days.

Additionally, Apple also released details of downloads from the Mac App Store, which has passed the 100 million mark.

Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Philip Schiller, said: “In just three years the App store changed how people get mobile apps, and now the Mac App Store is changing the traditional PC software industry. With more than 100 million downloads in less than a year, the Mac App Store is the largest and fastest growing PC software store in the world.”

Sky has delivered an update to its popular iOS Sky Go app, that lets Sky subscribers now access movies on demand.

The Sky Go service is currently available for iOS devices, and allows users to tune in to Sky Sports and Movie services, as well as Sky News and also view content from ESPN.

With the update, subscribers to Sky Movies 1 & 2 can now also view movies on demand, which was previously only available via a PC.

The service currently needs a WiFi connection to view the On-Demand service, however it is expected to be made available over 3G shortly.

Head of Sky Player and Mobile TV, Holly Knill, said: “The launch of Sky Movies on demand with Sky Go will give customers complete control over how, when and where they access hundreds of movies, including new releases and classic films – all at no extra charge. Sky Go has attracted almost two million unique users since its launch in July, with over 30 million pieces of content viewed in the last month alone.”

Sky Go is available at no additional cost to Sky subscribers, if Sports and Movies are on your Sky list on your TV, you can access them via your mobile or tablet device. Sky are working on a version of the Sky Go app for Android, which they hope will be available in the Android Market early next year.

Sky Go works on the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, and requires iOS 4.3 and above. To download Sky Go, click the Apple Store Button below:

In association with the Press Association, Apple has started to publish weekly charts for paid and free apps for both the iPhone and iPad in the UK.

The charts will be based on sales and download figures, although Apple will not be disclosing the sales figures. The Apple Store already offers charts for the most popular apps based on activity within the last few hours, but this will be the first time data will be pulled together for a weekly chart.

The first charts for week ending November 20th have already been published. For the iPhone, games dominate the popularity stakes, with 6 out of 10 apps in the paid list and 7 out of 10 in the free list being games.

For the iPad TV apps feature prominently in the free apps list, whilst on the paid apps list 4 of the 10 apps are applications developed by Apple. See below for the lists in full:

iPhone Paid Apps:
1 Amazing Breaker
2 WhatsApp Messenger
3 Hardest Game Ever
4 Angry Birds
5 Superman
6 FIFA 12
7 Fruit Ninja
8 Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock
9 Camera+
10 Blueprint 3D

iPhone Free Apps:
1 Hardest Game Ever
2 Facebook Messenger
3 Crime City
4 Amazing Breaker Free
5 Place My Face
6 Solitaire
7 Idiot Test
8 Finger Olympic
9 Glass Tower 3
10 WordSearchUnlimited Free

iPad Paid Apps:
1 Pages
2 Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
3 Minecraft: Pocket Edition
4 Shadowgun
5 Extraction
6 GarageBand
7 The Cube
8 Numbers
9 Keynote
10 Sciblenauts Remix

iPad Free Apps:
1 Sky Movies
2 ITV Player
3 Blood & Glory
4 iBooks
5 4oD Catch Up
6 Demand 5
7 Solitaire
8 Snoopy's Street Fair
9 FilmOn Free TV Live Football Sports News
10 Gmail

Although Apple released an iOS5 software update on Thursday, some users are still having issues with battery life on their iPhones.

A thread on the Apple Support Communities forum has posts from users, frustrated with the lack of resolution to their problems, with some claiming the issue is even worse than before.

Some users have posted claiming that battery standby is running down even faster than previously, and in some instances people who never experienced an issue previously are now reporting issues with their devices.

To confuse the matter even more, others are stating that they have seen a significant improvement in battery life since installing the update.

With such a varied feedback, it would seem that any perceived issues cannot be solely down to the phone software. If you find that your iPhone is not performing to the standard you would expect, there are a few things you can check to try and improve things.

Firstly, don't leave WiFi and Bluetooth constantly active. If those services are not in use, turn them off. Check how many apps are running in the background on your phone. Double click the home button and swipe across the icons at the bottom of the display. If you don't need to the app to remain open, press the minus sign to close it down.

If things remain poor, some users have reported that wiping their iPhone, re-installing the firmware and then setting the device up from scratch helps. Don't restore from a previous back-up. This may mean spending some time synchronising apps, music, contacts, etc, but if it helps battery performance it may be time well spent.

If you have an Apple device running iOS5 or 5.0.1, leave a comment on the thread and let us know how good your battery life is.

iOS 5.0.1 is now available to download for compatible Apple devices, including the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3G S, iPad 1 iPad 2, as well as the third and fourth generation iPod Touch.

The main benefit to users with the new OS update is the fix to the bug that has been causing some users to see severe battery life drain, with some users seeing less than a day usage from a single charge.

Other updates include adding Multitasking Gestures for the original iPad, plus improved voice recognition for Australian users of the new Siri service found on the iPhone 4S.

The update is available to download via iTunes, and should also be available to download Over The Air, a new feature that was included in the recent iOS 5 rollout. To check to download the update OTA, head into the settings menu and select Check for Update. A WiFi connection will be needed.

The issue with poor battery life hasn't been universal, with various reports across social networks and online forums giving a wide range of feedback, some users have even claimed to see an improvement in battery life. However, it is always worth keeping the most up to date firmware version installed on your device, so updating to iOS 5.0.1 is recommended.