The clash of tablets appears to be on the rage these recently. But, if new figures are any indication, it probably means they are still warming up.

Apple Inc, the undisputed company leader in the industry, has sold more than 14 million iPads as of December. But, market shares dropped in the third quarter of 2010 from 95 percent to 75 percent the succeeding quarter, according to the research firm Strategy Analytics.

During the same period, shipments of Android-powered tablets increased from 2.3 percent to 21.6 percent. However, those figures on market-shares represent shipments from manufacturers to vendors, and not the sales to end-users.

To sum it all, more than 17 million tablets were shipped in the entire world in 2010. More than half of them or 9.7 million were included in the holiday shopping season in the fourth quarter.

Durring the fourth quarter, there were 2.1 millions shipments for Android tablet while only 300,000 devices equipped with other operating systems were shipped.

But, sales for the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which is now the most popular tablet that runs Android operating system, were not as high as the company had hoped for, the Wall Street Journal noted.

Samsung’s Lee Young-hee said in an earnings call on Friday that there were two million Tabs shipped by the manufacturer in South Korea, but only “a small number” were bought by consumers.

Still, Apple’s financial reports showed a decrease on iPad’s success in the last quarter of 2010, CNN noted. There were still 525,000 iPads left unsold than in the preceding quarter.

A sharp drop in bond trading revenue forced Citigroup Inc. to move their fourth-quarter profit far below their expected figures. This placed doubts over the claim of Chief Executive Vikram Pandit that the bank had turned the corner.

The bank’s first full-year profit since 2007 showed poor fixed income results that left Pandit and other top executives faced with numerous questions about what had probably gone wrong at the bank.

The results showed 4 cents a share or 50 percent less than the amount expected by analysts. This stirred worries that the bank has yet to resolve the operational weaknesses that have plagued it for several years.

The fixed-income revenue of the bank fell 58 percent from the third quarter as compared to a 7.9 percent decrease at major rival JPMorgan Chase & Co. The banks’ contradicting trading results made several investors unsure of what to expect while other financial firms report their profits this week.

Trading is an unstable area throughout the banking industry, said Lee Kyriacou, a former banker and a partner at the consulting firm Novantas.

Trading revenues were hit in some parts by an adjustment in accounting rooting from a market perception that Citi debt was less risky. However, the results stressed fundamental weaknesses as well.

According to Chief Financial Officer John Gerspach in a report during a conference call, this was one of the weaker quarters for trading. He acknowledged Citi’s investment back has also experienced difficulty in other areas and that it fell to eighth place from fourth in Thomson Reuter’s rankings.

Citigroup reported a net profit of $1.3 billion or 4 cents per share for the fourth quarter. The EPS was 50 percent below the expectations of  analysts, Thomson Reuters said.

Banks repossessed a record of 2.87 million homes in US throughout the year 2010 as the two year-old mortgage crisis continued to be a burden in the economy, according to foreclosure specialist RealtyTrac.

Foreclosures reached 2.23 percent of all housing in the country, which is equivalent to one out of 45 homes. This increased from 2.21 percent in 2009, the RealtyTrac stated in its report for 2010.

However, the rate of foreclosures smoothened in the fourth quarter when banks received rising legal challenges form the owners who got mad because banks took their homes under a haphazard process.

The report showed that December’s 257,747 foreclosure filing were 26 percent lower than the number of foreclosures during the earlier period of the year, and were two percent low from month to month.

RealtyTrac chief executive James Saccacio said in a statement that the total properties receiving foreclosure filings would have simply surpassed three million in 2010 if it was not for a fourth quarter drop in foreclosure activity.

However, Saccacio predicted that the estimated 250,000 foreclosures halted during the fourth quarter would be reopened in early 2011.

Foreclosure rates have increased in three states namely, Arizona, Florida, and Nevada. These were the three Sunbelts states that had wide real estate overbuilding and speculative investment during the property boom in 2002-2007.

In Arizona, foreclosures reached 5.7 percent of all homes while Florida reached 5.5 percent. In Nevada, one in 11 homes or 9 percent of  all homes was hit with a foreclosure filing last year.

Arizona and Nevada filed lawsuits against Bank of America denouncing it of deceiving cash-strapped homeowners in the middle of the global economic downturn.

NFL’s New Orleans won against the Dallas Cowboys when they scored a late touchdown and held onto a 30-27 score until the last minute of the game Thursday.

The Saints originally headed the first half of the game with two 17-point leads. However, they needed a touchdown pass from quarterback Drew Brees to wide receiver Lance Moore with only two minutes remaining to achieve their fourth straight win.

During the last three minutes of play, Dallas led the game with a 27-23 score and they looked certain of their victory until free safety Malcolm Jenkins forced the ball out from Dallas receiver Roy Williams as he hustled down the end zone.

The Cowboys head coach Jason Garret said that Roy Williams did a good job protecting the ball in the open field. However, he said that it is just one of the things that one does not want for a great play to turn into a disaster.

The turnover win proved valuable for the New Orleans Saints, with an 8-3 record, they marched 89 yards in about 68 seconds and five plays. This includes the 55-yard pass to wide receiver Robert Meachem that had set up their winning touchdown.

Saints head coach Sean Payton is proud with his team as they hang on all the way to get their victory.

In the second half, the Cowboys had their first lead of the game for the fourth quarter when they scored three rushing touchdowns. They looked poised to add more lead just when Williams lost the ball for the Orleans Saints at 11-yard line.

The Cowboys had the chance to tie the score but David Buehler’s attempt to score a field-goal from 59 yards failed during the final seconds.