Telecom service provider Deutsche Telekom is reportedly looking out for partners for its U.S. Subsidiary, T-Mobile USA, and might consider teaming up with AT&T, Clearwire or MetroPCS, recent reports suggest. Moreover, it seems that there might also be the perspective of unnamed financial investors from outside the wireless industry, at leas this is what the German newspaper Handelsblatt states, cited by fiercewireless.

“The report, citing unnamed sources from the German telecom giant, said that the company is looking for a partner to help finance T-Mobile's network expansion. If Deutsche Telekom were to partner with a financial firm, the paper reported, that company might take a minority stake in T-Mobile. The carrier, the nation's fourth largest, is in the midst of building out its 3G network, and plans to upgrade its network to HSPA+ beginning next year to capitalize on the growing demand for mobile data,” the news site notes.

Deutsche Telekom has been said a few times before to plan including its US subsidiary in a joint-venture, and a Bloomberg report from September suggested that Clearwire and MetroPCS were possible partners for T-Mobile. According to the report, the aim was gaining access to the spectrum holdings of the partner companies.

Some other rumors that emerged earlier into the wild suggested that Deutsche Telekom would be interested in the purchase of Sprint Nextel, yet it seems that the deal is off now. The talks with the aforementioned partners appears to be only in their early stages, yet AT&T, Clearwire and Deutsche Telekom declined to comment on the deal.

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After a painfully long wait, Apple has finally released the much-hyped iPhone 3.0 Software Update, delivering improved functionality and tons of new features to iPhone and iPod touch users worldwide. Two days from now, the iPhone 3G S will also be available to the public. The device will “unlock” the complete set of new features available with iPhone OS 3.0.

“The new iPhone OS 3.0 is a major software release packed with incredible new features and innovations for iPhone customers and developers alike. It will keep us years ahead of the competition,” said Philip Schiller (Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing) back in March, when the company previewed the first developer beta of iPhone OS 3.0.

The OS 3.0 software update contains more than 100 new features for both iPhone and iPod touch users, including Cut, Copy and Paste, MMS (available later this summer, only for the 3G model), Spotlight Search, landscape keyboard for Mail, Messages, Notes and Safari, expanded parental controls for TV shows, movies and apps from the App Store, video-recording and editing capabilities, the ability to capture and send audio recordings on the go with the new Voice Memo app, the ability to wirelessly download movies, TV and audio programs, Stereo Bluetooth and P2P support, as well as an enhanced version of iTunes. Students will be able to download learning materials on the go, using iTunes U.

iPhone users can download the new iPhone OS 3.0 software for free, while iPod touch customers must purchase the software update for $9.95 (US). The appropriate method to download and install the new OS version is by connecting your device to iTunes on your computer. Wait for the application to recognize it and choose “Check for Update.” iTunes should automatically find the new software and download it for you, after which the installation process begins. Users can also download the iPhone1,1_3.0_7A341_Restore.ipsw and the iPhone1,2_3.0_7A341_Restore.ipsw files for future use.

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For those of you considering to spend your savings on the iPhone 3G S, IF you are even eligible for the $199 upgrade, think again. If you are happy with the offerings of your current iPhone, it may be useful to know that iPhone 3G S doesn’t pack all that many “new” features, as Apple has you thinking. Nope, iPhone OS 3.0 does.

First off, note that if you do not qualify for the $199 iPhone 3G S (requires a new, two-year AT&T rate plan, sold separately), the 16GB device actually costs a pocket-burning $599 ($699 for the 32GB model). Customers also pay a fee of around 20 bucks for setting up the device in-store. Now, if you don’t need 3 megapixels instead of 2, or don’t care much for that digital compass, which many don’t even know what is used for (or whether they actually need it), consider this.

During the WWDC '09 keynote address delivered by the company’s SVP of Product Marketing, Apple revealed that iPhone 3G S would ship with iPhone OS 3.0 pre-installed, offering users a wide range of new features. While the allegation is correct, readers should note that iPhone OS 3.0 alone brings most of that new functionality, and it does so for both iPhone 3G users, as well as for iPhone 2G handset owners. In other words, you needn’t an iPhone 3G S for, say, MMS, Cut/Copy/Paste, Spotlight search, Voice Memos, Landscape Keyboard, Parental Controls and Tethering. All these are OS 3.0-specific additions, and they can be handled just as well on first-generation iPhone hardware.

Admittedly, the iPhone 3G S is said to deliver an improved battery performance, a better processor, a better camera, video recording, voice control, that digital compass mentioned a bit earlier, and (perhaps) a better screen. But the differences aren’t overwhelming. Again, if you’re happy with your current device, why let something like this “ruin” your experience? It’s totally up to you to decide whether you need these new features, or whether you can do without them. Best of all, as an iPhone owner, you get OS 3.0 for free. iPod touch users must cough out almost ten bucks to have the new features. The update is scheduled to become available later this week (June 17).

Readers are encouraged to share their impressions with us on this sensitive topic.

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After reviewing the first clamshell manufactured by RIM, BlackBerry 8220 Pearl Flip, Pure Mobile has offered us the opportunity to test the first BlackBerry smartphone to feature a touch screen, BlackBerry Storm 9500. The device itself has been especially developed to be a direct competitor to Apple's iPhone 3G, T-Mobile's G1 by HTC, and to the lastest HTC Touch family device. Whether it either succeeds or not, we will discover in the following review. Bear in mind that while the device is only sold branded, there are still unlocked versions of the smartphone, which allows owners to use it with any GSM service provider.

Announced in September 2008, the Blackberry Storm 9500 smartphone was made available on the market two months later, in November 2008. At the moment, the handset can be acquired for the amount of $520USD, unlocked with no plan.

Design

Blackberry Storm 9500 is not only the first Blackberry device with a touch screen, but also the first to lack a physical keyboard. For businessmen, who are the main target of the smartphone, this might sound pretty awkward at first glance. To substitute this lack of keypad, RIM has introduced a new, innovative technology called SurePress. RIM's SurePress patented technology makes the touch screen physically react like a button when pressed. It also provides haptic feedback, which means that you won't feel the difference between a physical keyboard and this one. Nevertheless, the feeling that you get when clicking a flimsy touch screen that seems not to have been solidly attached has scared me. First time I kept it in my hand, I thought the device had a big flaw, as the display was 2mm shorter than the frame and you could easily see through these spaces left up and below the screen. The screen is protected by a thin foil, so it won't get too many fingerprints.

Except for it, the device seems to have been constructed solidly. It feels good in your hand, but might be a little heavier than expected (155g, including battery). The metallic back cover seems to be taking its toll on the weight of the device. Still, Storm 9500 is not such a big handset as compared with the HTC Touch HD or even the iPhone 3G, measuring only 112.5 x 62.2 x 14mm.

Display and Camera

As I have also mentioned above, Storm 9500 is the first Blackberry device to feature a capacitive touch screen. It measures 3.25 inches and supports 65k colors and a 360x480-pixel resolution. The capacitive touch screen eliminates the need to employ a stylus, and is also scratch-resistant. It embeds the innovative SurePress technology, a Research-In-Motion patented technology that provides haptic feedback. This screen allows the user to navigate through the phone using their fingertips, similar to a computer's mouse, and "click" the screen by pushing down select, which provides the user with a haptic feedback. They have the ability to adjust the screen's settings so that double tapping can be employed as an alternate method to select and navigate the phone, but the sensitivity of scrolling can also be set.

The 3.2-Megapixel camera of the Blackberry Storm 9500 features the autofocus and the LED flash. Unfortunately, the camera interface misses entirely. The only way to adjust the few settings that the camera has is to click on the Menu key after the camera function has been opened. Instead of this annoying thing, you get some nice features: geotagging and image stabilization. The maximum resolution for pictures is of 2048x1536 pixels, but that can be lowered for storage purposes. The only other settings of the camera are White balance and Colors effect, as well as Picture quality. Taking pictures with Storm's 3.2-Megapixel camera seems pretty difficult, as the preview screen is covered at the base with a bar that features some settings.



Menu and Software

Blackberry Storm 9500 runs the Blackberry 4.7.0 operating system, platform 4.0.0.98. It seems to be the 4.6.0 OS, which has been converted for the touch screen. As of now, this is the latest OS from Blackberry available for touch screen devices.

Anyway, in case you already have or have had a Blackberry device, the 9500's interface won't surprise you at all, as RIM hasn't come up with anything new in terms of productivity tools. Instead, the unchanged BlackBerry interface is now looking much better than the older ones. The colors of the icons you'll find in the main menu are softly lighted in contrast with the dark background, and make a very good overall impression. The usual Office package, called Documents To Go, developed by DataViz, is also included in 9500's operating system.

Unfortunately, as you can see from the screenshots, you can only read or edit Word docs, Excel docs, and PowerPoint presentations, but need to pay if you want to make new documents. Instead of getting more new features that might not come in handy at all, RIM has preferred to keep all the old stuff and give everything a shiny look. Not too bad, as all Blackberry's productivity tools are pretty solid. The problem comes when you dig deeper and see that menus are pretty boring, looking like a white-board.

The phonebook can store an unlimited number of contacts, as long as your available memory allows it to. Each contact can be filled with multiple numbers, e-mail addresses, birthday and anniversary information, a picture and a slot for both work and home addresses.

There are also two games that you can play when you're bored: BrickBreaker and Word Mole. Of course, there's always the possibility to add more software, Blackberry- or Java- compatible.


Communications

One of the main drawbacks of the touch screen smartphone is the fact that it lacks Wi-Fi connectivity. Still, this is balanced by the fact that it features an HSDPA one.

The Blackberry that I received has been branded by Vodafone, and it features the Opera Mini browser, which is working great. Web surfing is good and pages are loading pretty fast, especially when using the HSDPA connection.

You can choose to see the page in Mobile view, or simply the whole of it. Anyway, the main reason people are buying RIM devices is messaging. Blackberry Storm 9500 is no stranger to that, and features the whole Blackberry package. Should you either want multiple emails or instant messaging, this smartphone has them all. You can use any of the following instant messaging applications: Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live, AIM, ICQ, or Google Talk. All are easy to access and work within the parameters. Unfortunately, you will be limited to BlackBerry Internet Service email accounts on the Storm.

Blackberry Storm 9500 is a quad band GSM (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) smartphone, which features GPRS, EDGE, and HSDPA. Other connectivity tools include the Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP and the microUSB for PC synchronization (including charging). The call quality is exceptionally good, almost impressive. You'll thus be able to talk on the phone even in more crowded areas. The GSM signal is also very good, on the EDGE network, as well as on WCDMA.



Processor and Memory

The Blackberry Storm 9500 is powered by a Qualcomm processor running at speeds of up to 624 MHz. This seems to be a powerful CPU, still I have experienced annoying lags and lock-downs, occasional hiccups, and I'm not really sure what's really causing them. This is definitely a major drawback, and I believe the fault stands in the software part and is not hardware-related.

The smartphone embeds a 1GB user-free, internal storage memory and a 128 MB Flash memory. The storage space can be expanded up to 16GB through the hot-swappable microSD slot card. The sales package also contains an 8GB microSD card.



Multimedia

As a business device, I wasn't expecting too many high-quality multimedia features. Even if these are only basic, I have been surprised to find out that the quality of the sound is pretty high. The music player looks very appealing and features options like Shuffle, Repeat, Playlists, and Equalizers. Users can listen to songs stored in MP3, AAC, and WMA files. The music player can also display the album cover art when a song is playing.

The phone features a 3.5mm headphone jack, so you'll be able to change the earphones that are coming with the smartphone, or you can choose to listen to the music through the stereo Bluetooth feature. The music player can be run in the background, however, be careful how many applications you are using at a time. The external speaker is very loud and pretty clear.



Battery

The 1400 mAh Li-Ion battery has an officially stated life expectancy of 360 hours in standby, and of about 5 hours and 30 minutes in talk time mode. Our test unit has made it for about 4 days at a medium use. Heavy users will need to charge the smartphone twice every week. The autonomy is pretty acceptable for a Blackberry owner that only employs the specific Blackberry services, namely the messaging capabilities.


Impressions

At first glance, the Blackberry Storm 9500 looks very appealing. Even more when you start using it, but there are some functionality flaws that make the device not as good as expected. Being the first in a line could prove to be fatal for some devices, but the Storm 9500 makes a good overall impression, even if it has some drawbacks.



The Good

As a business tool, the Blackberry Storm 9500 should be considered an exceptionally good smartphone. The wide range of messaging capabilities, as well as the HSDPA connectivity, make the device very appealing. I would also like to mention the surprisingly good multimedia features, the 3.2-Megapixel camera, but also the good battery of the handset.



The Bad

The thing I have found unbearable with the product regards the lags that I have experienced when browsing or operating with various functions of the smartphone. Furthermore, the lack of a Wi-Fi connectivity might hurt those who want to stay connected even in areas that don't have a GSM network coverage. Some small improvements to the user interface would've been more than welcome.


Sales package:

1 BlackBerry Storm 9500 Smartphone;
1 Standard Battery;
1 USB Data Cable;
1 Wired Headset / Ear Piece;
1 Standard Carrying Case;
1 Cleaning Cloth;
1 Software Suite;
1 User Manual.

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Despite Intel's efforts in trying to draw a distinguishable line between the notebook and notebook market segments, as well as between the netbook and MID segments, you cannot but observe how these areas are converging into a single product. On that note, a recent statement on the part of Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, chief executive of the world's leading mobile phone maker, Nokia, further strengthens the belief that the line between smartphones, MIDs, netbooks and fully-fledged notebooks is getting thinner by the day.

In a recent interview with Finnish national broadcaster YLE, cited by Reuters, Kallasvuo says that the company, which is currently at the top of the mobile phone market, is seriously taking into consideration the possibility of an upcoming Nokia-branded laptop computer. “We are looking very actively also at this opportunity,” Kallasvuo said. “We don't have to look even for five years from now to see that what we know as a cellphone and what we know as a PC are in many ways converging,” Kallasvuo added.


The statement officially confirms initial beliefs according to which Nokia is planning to enter the laptop market with the release of an upcoming device. In addition, according to a recent article on mobile-review.com, Nokia is already hard at work, developing a new device that would combine the computing power of ARM's recently released multi-core Sparrow chip with the features of a Linux-based operating system. A prototype of the device already exists, but the product, which could probably be targeted at the growing market for MIDs, isn't slated for release before 2011.

Nokia is the most recent company to confirm its plans to venture into some other market segments, as it sees the opportunity for some more businesses under its portfolio. Just recently, Acer, the world's number 3 player in the market for personal computer systems has launched no less than 4 cellphone models. This confirms an ongoing trend for major companies to expand their product portfolio with the addition of some different products.

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The Korean mobile phone maker Samsung has unveiled a new handset, namely the OZ Double Folder (SPH-W6450) dual flip phone. It adds to the series of recently presented devices the company plans to release to the market during this year, among which we could see the Samsung OMNIA HD, or the SPH-W7100, which comes with an alarm siren.

The new Samsung OZ Double Folder is reported to have already been launched to the South Korean market, and it has been developed to fulfill the needs of any texting addict, as well as the gadget enthusiasts out there.




The Samsung OZ Double Folder dual flip phone can provide users with different functionalities depending on the way they flip the handset. In case they would like to use it for calling or for texting, the device should be used as a normal clamshell phone. Those that would rather enjoy live TV or images and videos, as well as users that want to surf around the Internet, should flip it horizontally.

It seems that Samsung has worked a lot on delivering an enhanced portable entertainment experience to its users, along with all the calling and messaging facilities the device sports. When flipped horizontally, the new double-jointed Samsung OZ Double Folder will shows up Internet, music player or DMB icons to allow for a fast access to these functionalities.

The new Samsung dual flip mobile phone also features a 2.8-inch LCD screen, plus touchpad functionality (which could be a D-Pad), and a 3-megapixel camera. It also sports Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity, and an electronic dictionary function, file viewer and many more. The Samsung OZ Double Folder (SPH-W6450) is expected to become available with LG Telecom at the price of $397 (KRW600,000).

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Vodacom South Africa and Research In Motion announced the introduction of the BlackBerry Storm on the South African market. The smartphone is available for both Vodacom’s Prepaid and Contract customers across the country starting January 28, and comes with support for the BlackBerry Internet Service and BlackBerry Enterprise Service.

“The BlackBerry Storm is a next-generation smartphone designed to meet the communication and multimedia needs of the most demanding customers. With its renowned communications capabilities, rich multimedia features and stylish design, the BlackBerry Storm allows customers to make the most of their time on the go with a fashionable and lifestyle-friendly smartphone,” says Shameel Joosub, Managing Director, Vodacom South Africa.

The BlackBerry Storm is now able to deliver entertainment, information and communications to Vodacom's users. The smartphone has impressive performance, an exceptional display, a wide range of features, including 3G (HSDPA) network support, integrated GPS, desktop-style web pages and advanced multimedia, as well as robust messaging capabilities.

The handset comes with an innovative SurePress touch-screen, able to deliver easiness of typing and navigation to its users. The virtual keyboard on the BlackBerry Storm has physical keyboard-likecapabilities and responsiveness, while offering support for single-touch, multi-touch and gestures for an efficient navigation.

“The “clickable” SurePress touch-screen is a remarkable innovation that dramatically enhances the touch interface and user experience. We are very pleased to introduce the first touch-screen BlackBerry smartphone together with Vodacom in South Africa,” said Mark Guibert, Vice President, Corporate Marketing, RIM.

The smartphone includes a 3.25-inch color display able to offer a 480×360 pixel resolution, a rich multimedia player, built-in speaker and stereo headset, 1GB of onboard memory storage complemented by a microSD/SDHD memory card slot supporting up to 16 GB of external storage, stereo Bluetooth, as well as iTunes synchronization.

The handset will also come preloaded with Facebook, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and Flickr Photo Uploader for BlackBerry Smartphones, along with Vodafone SatNav, powered by Telmap SatNav technology. More information can be found on Vodacom's website.

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Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, the latest touchscreen handset from Nokia, is 'trickier' than I thought. After writing the previous article about tips and tricks that I found while using it, I discovered other amazing features that make the device even more user-friendly than I had previously believed. In the following, I'll be presenting more Nokia 5800 XpressMusic tips and tricks that will help you customize the handset to the max.

There's the possibility of customizing the Shortcuts bar on the Home screen, if you choose to use it. The only drawback is that it can only contain 4 application shortcuts.

If you don't have your Shortcuts bar displayed on the screen then go to Main menu/Settings/Personal/Home Screen/Home Screen Menu Theme and select the Shortcuts bar. You can alter the default setting by going to Main menu/Settings/Personal/Home screen/Shortcuts.

Furthermore, for those who are installing and using a large number of third-party applications and don't have enough space on the Shortcuts bar to add their shortcuts for quick access, there's the possibility of rearranging all the icons that can be found in any folder in the Main menu.

By going to Main menu/Applications/Options/Organise and moving various applications using the drag and drop feature, you can change their places among each other.

Another interesting shortcut is the Green key (Accept calls), which can be used to send a message without the need of pressing any other key on the touchscreen. If you need to send the same message to multiple recipients, you just need to click the 'To' word displayed above your message, so you won't need to go into other menus. Also, when you're in any of the phone's menus, pressing the Green key will bring up the dialer. Bear in mind that doing this while the Home screen is displayed will only bring up the Call log. A long press on the same Green button will activate the Voice command function. If you ask the phone 'What time is it?' it will respond by telling you the time.

A long press on the middle button that opens up the Main menu will make the handset display the Task manager, which will show what applications you have opened. Nokia 5800 XpressMusic also features all the quick access commands available on all Nokia handsets with keypads. Just bring up the dialer and try any code that you know it works with other Nokia devices and you'll be surprised to find that it works with 5800 XpressMusic also.

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Since its market release, back in October 2008, there was much talk about the possibility to synchronize Google's Android-based smartphone with a PC. While the developer of the Android platform doesn't officially support this option, there were some statements that promised a future possible synchronization with Microsoft's Exchange.

Moreover, Cemaphore has released a unique application called MailShadowG, which allows users of the G1 to synchronize their email, contacts and calendars with a Microsoft Exchange server. Unfortunately, the application doesn't make a direct connection between the mobile device and the Exchange Server. MailShadowG provides bi-directional synchronization of email, calendars, and contacts by working through Microsoft Outlook running on a PC.

Basically the email received on the Exchange Server is forwarded to Outlook on the user's desktop. It is then synchronized by MailShadowG with the Google Gmail server, which pushes it out to the G1, and vice versa. Other companies are working to offer a more direct approach, but for now MailShadowG is the only application available for customers who are using Microsoft Exchange for their business. You can find a 15-day trial here.

Until the Microsoft Exchange synching process will be available, let's discuss another aspect of the connectivity options of G1. Just as the title says, this is a short tutorial of how G1 (or any other Android-based smartphone) can be connected to a PC.

First of all you need 2 pieces of software installed on your PC, Java and the latest Android SDK. You can find both here and here. After installing Java, download and extract Android SDK to a new folder on your computer. The SDK is compatible with Windows XP and Vista, Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later (x86 only) and Linux (tested on Linux Ubuntu Dapper Drake). After unpacking the SDK you'll have to point out a Path to where the Java has been installed on your computer. Right click on My Computer – Advanced tab, Environment Variables. Where it says PATH you need to click the Edit button and paste the link to the folder where the java.exe file has been installed. In my case, as you can see from the screenshots, it's C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin.

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Kenyan manufacturer Mi-Phone has unveiled a new phone, which is branded with Barack Obama propaganda. The president-elect is known to be a crowd pleaser, and the fact that he now appears on a phone from Kenya does not come as too big a surprise to many. According to the news on the Web, the Kenyan phone comes with the Obama colors and logo, while presenting itself as a rather cheap device.

The handset is reported to be available exclusively at Fone Xpress@, Nakumatt, Tuskys and Phonelink retail stores in Kenya. As Obama is such a popular figure and the phone rather cheap, since it is priced at roughly $30, the sales went pretty well during the first week of product availability, over 1,000 units being already sold in Nairobi alone.


"The coming of the new President of the USA is an auspicious moment for all Kenyans and the people of Africa. It is our pleasure to be able to launch the Mi-Obama phone as a memento that will always stay within the user's hearts and minds" says Alpesh Patel, director of Mi-Fone.


According to some voices over the Web, the device would come with a Nokia-like design, which has inspired its Chinese manufacturer to brand it with Obama propaganda. When it comes to the specification list, there is nothing much to say about the phone, as it comes with none of the high-tech features we would expect to find in any other handset. The only things that would be worth mentioning are an FM radio and a flashlight, features expected to appeal to the targeted market.

The description of the phone shows it as coming in “Black and Obama Color.” Although laughable, the phone and its description point clearly towards the great audience the new President of the USA has around the world. As the company stated, the opportunity of launching such a phone was just too good to miss.

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Can mobile OS leader Symbian keep up with rising competition from the likes of Apple, Microsoft and RIM? Natasha Lomas speaks with company CEO Nigel Clifford.

Nigel Clifford is CEO of mobile OS maker Symbian, the market leader in the smart phone operating system space. The 49-year-old CEO, a Cambridge University graduate who also has an MBA from Strathclyde University, joined Symbian from another telecoms software business - Tertio Telecoms - and has also worked at Cable and Wireless, heading up its UK operations, and at BT where he held a variety of management roles.

Earlier this year - and some three years after Clifford joined Symbian as chief exec - the company announced it would be going open source, shifting from a proprietary business model to one that offers access to its millions of lines of code to developers everywhere via the Symbian Foundation. Or as Clifford puts it: "At the heart of [this decision] is a belief that the power of many is better than the power of the few and that by making ourselves open we then have the opportunity to use millions of brains who perhaps previously were held a little bit distant from us."

silicon.com caught up with Clifford recently in his loft-style office at the company's Southwark HQ in London to discuss the finer points of going open source; the challenges posed by mobile newbies like Apple and Google; how to build 'usability' into an OS; and how a humble mobile app helped him best his two teenage boys in a triathlon.

Rising competition

Symbian's history is a long one, for the tech industry. The company was established a decade ago by Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia and Psion, and by 2006 there were 100 million Symbian phones in the market - a figure that has more than doubled two years later as the smart phone market continues to grow year-on-year.

Today the company remains undisputed market leader in the smart phone space, largely owing to the strength of Nokia - the world's number one handset vendor - which uses the Symbian OS. But Symbian knows the mobile game is changing - as the CEO writes on the company website: "Our market today is very different from the one we've been operating in successfully in the past 10 years. We're clear that powerful competitors are vying for this space."

And while these "powerful competitors" are not name-checked on Symbian's site, they are very familiar brand names indeed - Apple, BlackBerry, Google, Microsoft - all encroaching on its territory.

According to analyst house Gartner, Symbian claimed well over half (57.1 per cent) of the smart phone OS market in Q2 2008, followed a distant second by BlackBerry-maker RIM (17.4 per cent), after which comes Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS with 12 per cent. However the stats also show Symbian's lead is shrinking. Back in Q2 2007 Gartner gave Symbian 65.6 per cent market share - which means the company has seen a not inconsiderable 8.5 percentage point drop in market share in a year. And rival platforms continue to cut bigger slices of the pie - most notably BlackBerry-maker RIM that has seen an 8.5 percentage point increase over the same period.

Beyond the mobile

Freed by the Foundation, the CEO sees no reason why Symbian software might not end up being applied to non-mobile hardware, such as a set-top box, say, or an e-book reader, camera or navigation device.

"That's one of the really exciting things - now there isn't a point of control or a point of 'we will only allow Symbian to be used here'," he says. "We are saying it can be used anywhere that is decent, legal and truthful. It should be available for that experimentation, so you could have someone who's looking at putting together components for a unique product offering or service offering and we just become one of those components.

"You could see developers saying, 'Well I know this [Symbian software] works with cameras because they're on phones so why don't I take this and then I'm going to come up with a whole new camera concept using this mobile OS' or 'I know it works with navigation - because a third of our products had navigation on last year - so I can be confident and take this fragment and go and play with this in a navigation context.' So it's interesting that the output now becomes two ways."

Road to open source

Symbian's road to an open source future began in October/November last year, according to Clifford, after the company's annual strategy round. "There were probably half a dozen of us in the strategy team and the leadership team who were beginning to think a lot about what's the future of competition in this marketplace, what do we need to do to be able to compete effectively, how do we take this to the next stage, how do we engage more actively with more developers across the world, how do we free up that 200 million devices for experimentation - all of that," he says.

"And coincidentally we bumped into other people coming from other companies who were thinking about these same kinds of things. And through a series of conversations that got developed and developed and then ultimately in June we got to the point where the 10 board members were in agreement and we could make the announcement on the 24th. So it wasn't the planning of five years but it wasn't the planning of five days either. It was kind of neatly in between."

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iPhone this, iPod Touch that, BlackBerry and Google Android apps galore, but where is the Windows Mobile love? Well, it is certainly not to be forgotten as the Samsung i770, HTC Touch Pro and Samsung Omnia are all being sold in stores this December, and all of them are powered by Windows Mobile.

With those users in mind, here are over 20 top free apps to get the most out of the Windows Mobile operating system.

Games

Death Drive - Who doesn’t love a little vehicular combat? Death Drive brings Carmageddon like combat to your Windows Mobile powered device.

Kevtris - What is mobile gaming without at least one version of Tetris?

Pocket Heroes - Pocket Heroes is a Heroes of Might and Magic game clone for Pocket PC. It may be a bit simple for some, but still a lot of fun.

Realms - A space based shooting game that might remind you a bit of the old Asteroids arcade game, but only in concept. Multiple ships to choose from and numerous levels to explore.

Internet Tolls

Fring - Fring brings their instant messaging services to more than just the iPhone and iPod Touch with a Windows Mobile version. Allows you to instant message with AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, MSN, SIP, Skype, Twitter and Yahoo.

Opera Mobile - The popular Opera browser comes to the mobile format with a full set of features.

Slick - Allows you to instant message with AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN and Yahoo. Also has text messaging, emoticons, message history and more.

TwitToday - A plugin for your Today screen that allows you to post to your Twitter account.

Web Viewer - Web Viewer is an expansion to the web browsing ability with a tabbed browser that allows you to save open tabs and more.

Media Players

MPlayer for Windows Mobile - Part of the MPlayer suite for Linux, MPlayer for Windows Mobile will let you play Flash videos as well as videos in the RV40, RV30, R20, sipro, cook and atrac codecs.

RealPlayer - An official mobile release for the famous Real One Player.

The Core Pocket Media Player - TCPMP, as it is known, supports a dizzying array of video and audio formats from DivX to Ogg Vorbis.

YouTubePlayer - Just as the name implies, YouTubePlayer lets you to search YouTube for videos and then plays them in their native FLV format.

Phone Applications

Call Firewall - Call Firewall does exactly what you would think it might in that it helps you create blacklists and whitelists for your Windows Mobile powered cell phone. One of the coolest features is that it will send an SMS to a blocked call telling them why they were blocked.

iDialer - iDialer, pictured above, gives you a new dialing interface that feels similar to another popular phone’s dialing system. It does offer compatibility with popular Internet phone services such as Grand Central and JaJah.

Skype - The well known Skype service is available for Windows Mobile, enabling you to make Skype calls from your mobile, saving you a lot of money on calls.

Utilities

CapSure - You can capture your screen in BMP, GIF, JPG or PNG and then add captions, obscure sensitive information and more.

Dashwire - Allows you to sync your phone at all times including pictures, files, contacts, messages and more. Cool feature that lets you see texts on your computer as they arrive at your phone.

GSync - As you can probably guess by the name, GSync allows you to synchronize your Google Calendar with your Windows Mobile powered phone. The app is available in Dutch, English and Italian.

iContact - iContact changes your contact interface to more of an iPhone style system that allows you to browse through your contacts with just a flick of your finger.

Pocket RAR - An official version of the RAR archive manager that you can use on your mobile device.

SoftKey Manager - This app allows you to edit the soft keys on your Today screen.

What are some of your favorite Windows Mobile applications? Let us know in the comments!

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