Yes, it’s still a week to go before the Christmas lights are “officially” illuminated along Regent Street, but we want to get a jump on the season anyhow with our first (of many) reviews of the latest social shopping apps to hit the market in recent weeks. Here, we review Starbucks, Amazon, Walmart, and Debenhams, grading each.

No doubt helped by the World Cup and the explosion in smartphone usage, mobile video consumption is booming in much of Europe with the UK and Italy leading the way, new comScore research shows. Roughly two-thirds of all smartphone users use the handset to view video, the data show, either via a mobile TV subscription or by accessing video-sharing sites (or, their apps) such as YouTube.

Two iconic alcoholic beverages, Guinness stout and Jack Daniel’s whiskey, are celebrating their birthdays this month widely across social media channels, inviting all of us in on the festivities. The similarities don’t end there.

Twitter has released the details of its users’ connection habits, and it turns out mobile Twitter is the new driver of user growth. Mobile access of Twitter increased by 60% since April, and the general user base has increased 40% in the same period to 145 million members. Who’s tweeting from their mobiles? Business executives on their Blackberries and tech geeks on their iPhones. Quick question though: Is Android missing the party? Here’s the breakdown of how people are accessing Twitter.

With hundreds of new iPhone applications appearing every day, and with a cut-throat economy of third-party developers all competing for the top spot, how are these apps builders to stay ahead of the pack? The answer may just lie in crowdsourcing.

The mobile apps marketplace will top a staggering 25 billion downloads by 2015, according to new research by Juniper Research. To put that in further perspective: the estimate is that smart phone sales will reach 1 billion annually by the same period. That’s an impressive number of downloads per handset user.

Earlier this year, a survey of corporate social media strategy showed Twitter was undeniably the channel of choice among the world’s largest companies. And, as we’ve been seeing, the corporate Twitter strategy, for the most part, begins and ends with customer service/outreach. Twitter has become the front line customer service hub for companies to calm customers’ nerves, keep them informed and engaged. But, we wonder, can’t that also be achieved on Facebook and YouTube?

Still think Foursquare is just a silly fad for wired extroverts with too much time on their hands? Starbucks is one marketer who sees it differently, eyeing serious sales potential from the location-based social gaming app, announcing this week it will create a U.S.-wide loyalty program for the mayors of Foursquare.

If you’ve ever spent any time in Seoul or Tokyo you’ll have no doubt seen the locals flashing their mobiles to hunt around for last-minute shopping bargains, the details of which were beamed to their screens as they stood feet from the retailer, or using the handset to pay for anything from a carton of milk to cab fare. And this was years before the iPhone and the resulting apps economy explosion. Now, in 2010, is it possible the West is finally catching up?

Google launched in the U.S. earlier this year its own iPhone killer, the Nexus One Android. The launch plan centered on a bold step: selling the handset direct via its online shop.