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Microsoft is known to pay a developer ecosystem to stay loyal to its platforms and products. That has become no different with Windows Phone. On the other end, Nokia has a worldwide base of developers that are very loyal to the device maker, especially in emerging markets. The question remains though, can Nokia and Microsoft capture the hearts and minds of regular developers that would normally focus on iOS and Android? That is the question for this week's ReadWriteMobile poll.

Analytics firm comScore released new data today showing that U.S. mobile social media audiences increased 37%, and more than half of social mobile audiences read a post from an organization, brand or event on their mobile device.

While the mobile browser accounted for more visits, research shows that the social networking app audience has grown five times faster in the past year. While the mobile browsing social networking audience has grown 24% to 42.3 million users, the mobile social networking app audience shot up 126% to 42.3 million users in the past year.

In our continuing tradition of rounding up new mobile application releases we found interesting and/or exciting over the past month, we present you with this new list of apps for September 2011. There are some great game, new browser releases and innovative uses of augmented reality this month. There is also a new section for prominent updates you may have missed during the month. Check it out below.

The list, as always, is a bit subjective so please let us know in the comments if we missed an app or you have found one that you cannot live without.

One of the great beauties of Web technology is that the barrier for entry into innovation has been significantly lowered. In the mobile world, all you really need to know to build an application are the rudiments of coding and how to work within various native frameworks, like iOS or Android. Yet, independent developers face steep challenges in not only creating dynamic applications but trying to get anybody to use them.

Going it alone is ingrained in to the spirit of American innovation. In the modern technology world, the precursors to today's independent application developers were the hackers and machinists like Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak creating the first personal computers in a garage in Cupertino. Indie developers working creating apps as a profession of passion today carry the torch.

Apple slipped in a quieter announcement today amidst the iPhone 4S chaos: The launch of a new app called Cards, which lets you create a real, physical card from your iPhone by taking a photo on your camera and choosing from a simple selection of 21 different designs. Then Apple mails for $2.99 (U.S.) or $4.99 (elsewhere). You receive a push notification directly to your iPhone as soon as the card arrives at its destination.

Feedly just launched version 6.0 of its free RSS reader for desktop Web browsers, Android and iOS. The app can now act as a client for your Tumblr account. You can read and reblog posts from within the colorful reader. It also sports some new curated topics, called "essentials," ranging from "Apple" and "Data Visualization" to "Do It Yourself" and "Gardening." Visually, the minimal app has teamed up with Vladstudio to provide some cute and colorful themes.

Feedly has also gotten more social. Previous versions had buggy sharing features, but those have been fixed, and today's release also adds Google Plus integration. Finally, the new features all sync across platforms, between the plug-ins for Chrome, Firefox and Safari and the mobile apps for phones and tablets.

Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield has launched Glitch, a massively multi-player online game that he created with his company TinySpeck.

The game is an imaginative journey through the minds of 11 giants that is somewhat fun to play, but will probably require a little explanation. We spoke with Butterfield about Glitch.

In a sign that healthcare is moving to the mobile, a company called HealthTap is launching an app that offers a Quora-like experience from the cloud.

HealthTap Express allows the 89% of patients who turn to search engines instead of their local doctors for health information to do so in an objective and relatively "clinical" environment on mobile devices.

The iTunes app store will contain just over 13,000 healthcare-related apps by 2012, a sign that the caring and treatment for the sick - or even those fearing they are sick - is moving to the mobile device.

Analysts also say that these apps are increasing in price during a period of rising healthcare costs and a significant rise in the number of professional-aged people without health insurance.

Mobile marketing company Tapjoy has been busy of late. One product the Tapjoy team has been looking forward to is the rollout of their mobile video advertising platform which has been in the works for most of the summer. Today, the announced Tapjoy Videos designed to provide mobile advertisers with the brand building power found on the Web and TV.

The future of mobile advertisements is going to be video. It is a tricky problem to institute but the value of video within apps and the mobile Web far outweighs mobile banner ads. Tapjoy thinks it can be the leader in this growing industry segment but does the new video product have the chops?