Summary: One religious group snubs another (Apple) and developers -- like users -- flock to Linux

● Vatican Bans iOS Confessional App

Despite all the hype yesterday that a lowly priest had approved the new confessional app hitting the app store, the truth has now found a way of revealing itself. According to today’s Daily Mail, a spokesman for the Vacitan, Federico Lombardi said: ‘It is essential to understand that the rites of penance require a personal dialogue between penitents and their confessor.’It cannot be replaced by a computer application’. ‘I must stress to avoid all ambiguity, under no circumstance is it possible to "confess by iPhone".’

● Anger with Apple pushes firms to Android

War looms as Sony hints that it will abandon iTunes

The hardline approach taken by Apple towards media companies selling apps through its iTunes Store could push crucial content partners into the hands of competitors such as Google's Android.

Android has been gaining rapidly on iPhone and a slew of new Android phones and tablets are due out in Australia this year from vendors including Motorola, Samsung, HTC and LG.

IDC telecommunications analyst Mark Novosel predicts Android will overtake Apple's iOS to become the No.1 smartphone platform in Australia by the middle of this year. From preliminary IDC findings, by the end of last year Android accounted for about a quarter of all new smart phones shipped.