Can I have two? I’ve had a week-long obsession with Grand Prix Story, a life-crushingly addictive simulation game from Kairosoft. And Nosy Crow’s Cinderella book-app is beautiful: one of the apps showing how storytelling can evolve on the iPad.

iPhone 4, but I have an Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone on my desk and in regular use to test apps, new OS features etc – the work I’m doing nowadays means I need to keep with all the major platforms.

Have been writing lots about startups making interesting apps for kids, including Mindshapes, Nosy Crow andFingerprint Digital. Also currently (i.e. this week) intrigued by location gaming firm Red Robot Labs, music apps startups 955 Dreams andGroovebug, and people doing social TV stuff like Fanhattan,VideoSurf, Fav.tv, Live Talkback and others. There are two or three more really interesting mobile startups springing up every week at the moment.

As a journalist, trying to refocus my workload to have more time to think and talk, and less time just hammering out stories. Not always easy in the online journalism world. I’ve also just started working on an offshoot project from Music Ally called The Appside – a daily email newsletter covering the apps industry (and specifically what music/film/books/games and brands are up to). That’s very exciting.

Just the growth of the market, in terms of people upgrading to smartphones and/or buying tablets for the first time. Anyone making truly great apps is going to benefit from word of mouth as those people look for recommendations on what to buy/download.

It’s really hard to answer this: I try not to see people as rock stars, it’s not the best preparation for interviewing them after all. If I had to celebrate one industry character over all the others, though, it would be the Android logobot. I will literally never tire of Photoshopping him into different angles and sizes for square-shaped news story image boxes. Possibly. And in terms of *actual* rockstars (sort of), I love what Bjork has done with her Biophilia album and apps this year.

I was features editor on a print mag called CreateOnline at Future Publishing, covering the web design and new media industry. It was very much of its time and place – specifically the Web 1.0 boom in Hoxton – but it was great fun to work on: talking to creative people about their interesting projects.

Mark Higham at Future Publishing taught me a lot about how magazines work, and how to think about things as an editor rather than a writer. Huw Morgan at Mobile Choice was great to work for – bouncing new ideas off one another. And when I was at Informa, I worked for Jessica Sandin and then Nick Lane, and learned a lot about analysis and journalism from both. Since going freelance, I've had gigs working for Chris James (Pocket Gamer), Tim Green (Mobile Entertainment), Flora Graham (CNET) and Steve Mayall / Paul Brindley (Music Ally), and have learned from all of them. That sounds like a weaselly Oscar-speech attempt to name everyone, but I've genuinely been lucky to have lots of good bosses and no bad ones.

Mills at ustwo. Just make sure you know the character code for the trademark symbol before typing it up…