Lenovo to put Android on Skylight, U1 Hybrid, both delayed

Lenovo has reportedly delayed its Skylight smartbook and IdeaPad U1 Hybrid, which were originally due in April. This marks the second setback and the company hasn't revealed when either product will ship, but they're definitely still coming. Last month, the PC maker delayed its smartbook to improve its working performance, supposedly in the interest of competing against Apple's iPad.

In a recent comment to Laptop Mag, the company said that after "careful consideration of market conditions and user feedback," it has decided to focus on building a family mobile Internet devices based on Android. Because of that "strategic shift towards open standards," Lenovo has scrapped plans to launch the Skylight and U1 with a proprietary Linux OS.

The Skylight features a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, 20GB of removable flash storage along with 2GB of cloud storage, Wi-Fi and 3G, a "full size" keyboard, and a 10-hour battery life. Meanwhile, the 11.6-inch U1 Hybrid has a detachable Snapdragon-based slate that can run independent of its Intel-powered clamshell, which has a hardware keyboard and the usual notebook connectivity.

Opera Mini downloaded 2.6 million times from App Store

Opera's mobile Web browser was cleared for the iPod and iPhone early last month and it has already become a top platform for Opera Mini. The Norwegian software company said in its State of the Mobile Web Report that a million App Store customers downloaded the alternative browser in the first day alone, and soared to more than 2.6 million by the end of April.

Opera Mini's user base reached 58.9 million, up 6.6% from the month prior and over 152% year-over-year. Page views climbed to 26.3 billion, up 1.6% sequentially and 203% on-year. That response made the iPhone the most popular Opera device in the US, passing BlackBerry phones, and fifth in the UK.

It also pushed the United States to sixth (from eighth) in the top 10 countries by usage, and the iPhone became the third most popular handset in the world to use Opera Mini, behind the Nokia 5130 XpressMusic and Nokia 6300. The remaining devices on the list (fourth through tenth) are all Nokias.

MS to sell 30 million Windows Phone 7 handsets by 2011?

Say what you will about Microsoft's previous mobile efforts, but there's no denying the company is firing on all thrusters with Windows Phone 7. During a presentation at ReMIX in France, Redmond cited IDC data suggesting it will ship 30 million WP7 handsets by the end of 2011. For comparison, the company only shipped 3.7 million Windows Mobile phones last winter, according to Gartner.

Microsoft plans to meet that ambitious goal by riding the mounting wave of people adopting smartphones. It's expected that 40% of the handsets sold next year will be smartphones, which compares to an estimated 14% this year. Of course, Microsoft's competitors undoubtedly have the same intentions.

Android phones are gaining serious traction and Apple has managed to carve out a healthy chunk of the mobile arena since the launch of its iPhone in 2007, shipping upwards of 50 million units. With a new model due next month and the potential arrival of CDMA iterations, the iPhone isn't going anywhere anytime soon.