Having established themselves as market leaders with the invention of the year in 2007, Apple have invested much time and energy since in establishing their application store, where smartphone users can personalise their devices with free or paid apps.

With the latest devices from Nokia, particularly the N97 and its smaller N97 Mini version, the company have started to make inroads into the market that has been dominated by the iPhone.

The online Nokia app store is known as the Ovi store and offers free and paid apps to Nokia smart and feature phone users. The site has recently had a facelift making it more accessible and user friendly than its previous incarnation.

For users familiar with the Apple stores, the Nokia Ovi version currently looks a bit lean on content, but it is growing on a daily basis as more handset users choose the Nokia devices over Apple.

It is unfair to make a real comparison of the two app stores as Apple have long since held the advantage of operating their stores from back in the days of the iPod with iTunes, as well as having led the smartphone market with the introduction of the iPhone.

Content for the Ovi store continues to grow daily, but there are some massive opportunities for developers to make a name for themselves and Nokia welcome anyone wishing to distribute their product through Ovi to contact the publishers.

Some of the Ovi Store top apps include many free sports offering’s like football news and results service to the inevitable World Cup information provider, but one I missed last week was the T20 Cricket World Cup app which would have provided many happy moments with England winning the trophy!

Just browsing the site today, here are a couple of interesting new items, the WTF Net Slang Dictionary might be worth looking at, but particularly like the NATS Ash Cloud – Airspace updater, very relevant.

We will be looking at the Ovi store and its offerings in future posts, so please let us know your personal favourite apps games or audio/videos in the store.

three generations of iPhone

Supermarket giant Tesco are the latest in a line of companies that have announced they will be offering Apple’s iPhone for sale in the UK, the superstore says that it is hoping to offer the phone “in time for Christmas.”

In September it was announced that O2 would no longer be the exclusive sales agent in the UK for the iPhone, despite having sole rights since the introduction of the smartphone in 2007.

Other service providers Orange and Vodafone quickly signed deals to allow them to sell the mobiles through their own networks, although Vodafone will not be offering the product until early 2010. Orange, who have  already started selling the touchscreen, said it sold more than 30,000 handsets on the first day of offering the phone.

Tesco Mobile is a joint venture with O2 and offers both pay as you go and contract phones via its retail outlets and online, they have around 2 million existing customers. Tesco has yet to announce tariff details for the phone, but said that its prices would be competitive.

three generations of iPhone

French owned Orange will become the official partner for Apple’s iPhone later this year when the current exclusive contract between Apple and Spain’s Telefonica owned O2 expires.

O2 will continue to sell the iPhone in the UK but without the exclusivity currently attached to it’s contract with Apple. O2 have benefited from being the first UK company to sell the world leading smartphone and have a market of over one million subscribers across Britain.

In a statement Orange said of the new deal:

“Orange, which has the largest 3G network covering more people in the UK than any other operator, will sell iPhone in all Orange direct channels including Orange shops, the Orange webshop and Orange telesales channels, as well as selected high street partners.”

After having ridiculous problems downloading and installing previous versions of to my iPhone 3G mobile phone, it was with a heaped spoon of trepidation that I reluctantly to download ate latest version of iTunes.  So why download the iTunes update if you have had a history of problems, you may ask.  The answer is my business pays for four iPhones on a 24 month contract.  If there is an updated version to the mobile phone software then I think it’s entirely reasonable to expect to be able to download it.  But downloading software updates from Blackberry and Nokia has never been a problem in the past.

As before, the downloaded started and appeared to be 90% complete before I am greeted by, one has become the most annoying popup window of the most frustrating software I have used in the past 12 years as an I.T. professional.  It reads:

“iTunes has detected an iPhone in recovery mode.  You must restore this iPhone before it can be used with iTunes.”

For those yet to be enticed by the superb iPhone marketing machine, your time will come; and for those already owning an iPhone, I am sure you have encountered this ridiculous problem.

The problem being that if your iPhone fails to download the software update successfully, instead of simply failing to update, your mobile phone becomes locked in a state of uselessness, and the only option is to ‘restore’ your mobile phone to the original factory settings.  Great!  So I lose all my contacts, calendar dates, notes, photos, music, apps and other personal data.  This is very irritating and time-consuming for personal use, but totally unreasonable and useless if, like me, you are running a small business and your mobile phone is the centre of all your business communications.

I have found the best way to tackle this problem, which unfortunately is only a solution to saving your data but can do nothing for the amount of time you will spend installing the latest version of iTunes on each iPhone mobile device.

Firstly, always make sure you save a backup from your iPhone before you consider updating the iTunes software. At this stage, make a list of the Apps on your iPhone as these will not automatically be reloaded.  Then disconnect your iPhone from your computer and download and install the latest version of iTunes on your computer.

Restart your computer before connecting your iPhone again.  This confirms that the latest version of iTunes software has been successfully installed.  Only then should you attempt to update your iPhone.  Once your iPhone updates successfully (and this still may take several hours or more) iTunes will ask if you want to create a new iPhone account or add the latest backup of whatever you have named your iPhone.  Choosing the latest backup will restore your contacts, email account settings and mail, texts and music. For some reason it doesn’t restore any downloaded Apps or a passcode.  These will have to be downloaded and installed manually.

Today I spent over two-and-a-half hours attempting to retrieve my iPhone from cyber limbo, and in the process missed three important business calls and in the process of restoring my data, lost one voicemail and 2 text messages.  And just in case you think this is something to do with me, my computer or a poor internet connect, I have spoken to many iPhone users over the past two months and all of them have experienced the same problem.  Furthermore, I have encountered the iTunes problems on several computers on several good quality home broadband services, none of which have problems with any other software.

So, in conclusion, after three months of using an iPhone I can confidently say it is a good phone and the Apps make it great fun for personal use.  But the iTunes issue means I will be returning to a Blackberry for business use, unless Apple can offer a more reliable solution to the iTunes download problem.

LG WatchPhone

The LG Watchphone has been described as the must-have gadget of the year, not only a watch but a fully functioning mobile phone to boot.

The handmade GD910, has a scratch resistant touchscreen interface, VGA Camera, media player, built-in speaker and video calling.

A mere 13.9mm thick, the 3G Touch Watch phone is available exclusively on Orange and is likely to set you back in the region of £500, sim-free.  A limited number of the gadget will be available on a first-come-first-served basis at the Orange Store on Bond Street, London.

Samsung are also launching a mobile phone watch later in the year but this will initially only be available in France at a cost of around £400.

Sony Ericsson Jalou

The Sony Ericsson Jalou mobile phone is the ideal gadget for ladies that lunch, weighing only 84 grams and a minuscule 73mm in height, it fits perfectly into the smallest of handbags.

The 2 inch screen also features a mirror and the touch of a button and more importantly a 3.2 mega-pixel camera, video recorder, music player, a built-in FM radio, 3G, Bluetooth and Internet service.

The range comes in various gem colours and there is also to be a limited Dolce and Gabanna branded edition, featuring extras such as; 24 carat gold plating, a special gallery of the fashion show for the Autumn/Winter 2010, plus special themes and wallpapers.

The advertising campaign is due to begin in October with both editions of the Jalou expected to be in selected stores towards the end of the year and as yet no price has been given.

For your next break why not enjoy a skiing holiday?

Nokia E52

Nokia’s new E52, went on sale in the UK yesterday and is available to buy online from Mobile Fun at the price of £229.95, without a contract.

The smartphone is SIM free and features 3G, HSDPA/HSUPA and WLAN connection, A-GPS, 3.2 megapixel camera, noise cancellation and Ovi services.

Following on from the E51, the updated version has a longer battery life and a smoother interface as well as a built-in compass, ideal for clients on the move.

iPhone 3G

According to reports, Orange along with T-Mobile, will be selling the iPhone 3G handset from September in a bid to boost sales.  However, it is believed that only the older models will be available to other networks, with O2 exclusively holding the newer faster versions.

Coincidentally, this is happening around the same time that Apple’s two-year partnership with 02 ends.  This of course, is still unconfirmed.

Up until now, customers have been forced to go with the over-subscribed network of 02 for their handset preference, but maybe now their is a light at the end of the tunnel, or maybe not!  For those of you who signed up for the 18-month contract, you’re likely to find yourselves stuck with it until the end before you can upgrade.

Blackberry Storm 3G Touch Screen Mobile Phone

The Blackberry Storm will be launched in the UK on 11th November

The latest Blackberry mobile phone is about to be launched in the UK.  Latest reports suggest the Blackberry Storm will be available on 11th November.  The newest touch screen 3G mobile phone will be available exclusively from Vodafone.

Reviews have been very favourable and suggest it is the first “serious” competition to the Apple’s iPhone, which was launched in 2007.

The new Blackberry Storm has been given the thumbs up in positive reviews from The Guardian, The Times , Wired and PC Magazine to name a few.

Vodafone Blackberry Storm tariffs may stop it being the #1 mobile to be seen with this Christmas. The Blackberry Storm is FREE with a 24 month, £35 per month contract, which includes 600 minutes of calls and unlimited text messages.

I’m still waiting to get my hands on a Blackberry Storm, but the reviews have certainly whetted my appetite.

Nick Read, the chief executive of Vodafone UK, told The Telegraph:

“Our customers tell us that they want a single phone that can also give them the most secure, reliable email and messaging experience possible combined with all the desirable smartphone features, and they want it at a price that’s affordable” [and] “The BlackBerry Storm delivers all of this and more.”

The Blackberry Storm is the first touch-screen BlackBerry, and as with all previous Blackberry mobile phones it offers a full Qwerty keyboard.

It also has a 3.2 megapixel camera, 3G internet access and satellite navigation.

The mobile phone also has up to 16GB of storage for music or video files.

Since the successful launch of the Apple iPhone, there has been several mobile phone touch screen contenders including the Nokia 5800, Google’s G1 and Samsung’s good looking Tocco.  But none have quite matched the cool ‘must-have’ and exceptional functionality of the iPhone…until now!

The new iPhone 3G is to be launched in the UK on the 11th July. It comes with fast 3G technology, built-in GPS and support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync.

Watch the Apple iPhone Guided Tour.