Thursday 22 April, 2010, might just seem like another day, but for over one billion people in nearly 200 countries, it’s a chance to start something that might make a difference to the state of the planet.

Today is 40 years after the first Earth Day and, say the folks behind the globally organised Official Earth Day 2010 Campaign, the world is in greater peril than ever. And the point of creating and gaining publicity around a special day in the year devoted to the Earth, is to get people of all races and creeds motivated to help create a healthy, prosperous and clean energy economy for today and the future.

Earth Day 2010 is a clarion call for all those millions of people who make personal commitments to sustainability, whether its walking to the office, using less energy at home, or, indeed, mobile phone recycling. And its not just limited to individuals, companies, organisations and governments worldwide can help make a difference.

So don’t forget, whilst you’re thinking of things to help save the world, remember its easy to get cash for mobile phones.

The quarterly mobile phone market research report from Gartner also goes into the progress of the smartphone operating system market and it reveals which one continues to be top dog.

And it remains the Symbian operating system, although its share of the market dropped just over 5% to nearly 47% in 2009.

A Gartner spokesperson said:
“Symbian had become uncompetitive in recent years, but its market share, particularly on Nokia devices, is still strong. If Symbian can use this momentum, it could return to positive growth.”

Breathing down the neck of the Symbian operating system is of course the real powerhouses behind smartphones: Research in Motion’s operating system (which drives the BlackBerrys) and the iPhone operating system. These two gained ground in 2009, with an increase to 20% from 16% for Research In Motion and 8% to 14% for iPhone.

The other slight concern for the Symbian operating system – which is now fully open source - is that it is affected by the weakness of Nokia in the high-end smartphone market.

But things could improve with the impending release of Symbian3, announced at the recent Mobile World Congress 2010, and Symbian4 which will follow shortly afterwards.

The unloved Microsoft Windows Mobile lost market share, falling from nearly 12% to just below 9%. It remains to be seen how the latest reincarnation of the generally unpopular operating system will fair in 2010.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the new kid on the block, the Android operating system, rose nicely from 0.5% to nearly 4%. With it gaining popularity, it will be bound to stay on that sort of course throughout 2010.

The Gartner spokesperson added:
“Looking back at the announcements during Mobile World Congress 2010, we can expect 2010 to retain a strong focus around operating systems, services and applications while hardware takes a back seat. Sales will return to low-double-digit growth, but competition will continue to put a strain on vendors’ margins.”

It is fair to say that Microsoft have struggled to make people love their mobile phone operating systems, but with the introduction of Windows Phone 7, unveiled at the annual mobile phone bash held in Barcelona, things might be looking up for the guys from Seattle.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was on hand to launch Windows Phone 7 at the Mobile World Congress 2010.

In a typical upbeat presentation, Mr Ballmer laid out his store:
“Today, I’m proud to introduce Windows Phone 7 Series, the next generation of Windows Phones. In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience. Windows Phone 7 Series marks a turning point toward phones that truly reflect the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people and all kinds of seamless experiences.”

And that’s the gist of the Microsoft approach. Their challenge has to be to launch an operating system that will threaten the dominance of the big boys in the smartphone market. And Microsoft cannot regain lost ground by emulating the others; it has to produce something original and exciting.

It is with this new platform that the Seattle software kings can hold up their heads with pride; they hope. And they claim it offers a fresh approach, characterised by smart design and, in their words, “…truly integrated services.” In other words, letting people access quickly the content they want from the web and on=board applications.

Smart design will not be the key (considering the competition), but functionality, combined with smart design, could be.

To be fair, by design, Microsoft are talking about a holistic system that is behind every part of the phone, from the layout, motion, function and hardware integration. For example, the Start Screen will consist of dynamically updated ‘live tiles’ which will quickly open chosen applications.

So will Windows Phone 7 will be the answer that Microsoft needs? Much of course depends on the consumers liking the system, but also much lies with the operators wanting it and the manufacturers falling in line. Microsoft say that’s all in hand, with the major operators and manufacturers on board, and the first phones being available in mid 2010.

As to whether the consumers are infatuated, will only be clear by the end of the year. If they aren’t, then Microsoft will look like they’ve played their last hand in the mobile phone operating system market.

How do you convert 500,000 tonnes of waste into 16 million gallons of green jet fuel every year and effectively take 48,000 cars off the road?

Simple, you get the Solena Group to help you and this is exactly what British Airways has done in order to do its bit for the environment.

British Airways has teamed up with the Solena Group to build the first sustainable jet-fuel plant in Europe which will be used to power its aircraft from 2014.

The process basically provides lifecycle greenhouse gas savings of around 95% when compared to fossil-fuel derived jet kerosene.

The new plant which is likely to be built in East London takes waste materials which would usually go into landfill sites and converts it into aviation fuel.

And the 16 million gallons of fuel is equivalent to making all of the airlines flights from London City Airport carbon-neutral and is also equal to taking 48,000 cars off the road every year.

Solena Group Inc is a world leader in renewable energy systems and from its headquarters in Washington DC, it partners companies throughout the world to produce bio-energy and bio-fuel solutions. And not only will the plant produce airline fuel, it will also generate some 20 mega watts of electricity.

Solena will build and operate the plant and British Airways has agreed to buy the bio-fuel product. Some four sites are being considered in the east of London and its expected to create some 1,200 new jobs.

The bosses are as-one as to the merits of the project, with
Willie Walsh, British Airways’ chief executive, leading the way:
“This unique partnership with Solena will pave the way for realising our ambitious goal of reducing net carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2050. We believe it will lead to the production of a real sustainable alternative to jet kerosene.”

Next up was Dr Robert Do, chairman and chief executive of the Solena Group who said:
“The Solena - British Airways BioJetFuel project will efficiently convert biomass into clean renewable fuels and electricity and is completely carbon neutral. The plant will be a state-of-the-art renewable fuel manufacturing facility, distinct from a standard waste to energy incinerator facility. It will not produce any polluting emissions or undesirable by-products.”

Not to be out-done in the applause, The Mayor of London Boris Johnson, said:
“I welcome this fantastic new ‘carbon lite’ fuel production facility in London. City Hall has been working with British Airways and Solena to drive this project forward to help untap the massive potential to generate cleaner, less polluting energy from waste, otherwise destined for landfill.”

So next time you take of in a British Airways jet, just think for a minute what might be powering it in the future: the waste of all those Londoners!

So how many devices did mobile phone giants Nokia sell in the last quarter of 2009 and do they still continue to dominate the market?

In their recent financial results announcement Nokia confirmed that they had sold some 126.9 devices, up 12% on the quarter, but perhaps more significantly, up 17% on the third quarter.

This is especially good when considering that Nokia estimates that overall industry mobile device volumes were only up 8% on the year and 14% from the preceding quarter.

Nokia reckons that they enjoyed a whopping mobile device market share of 39% in the fourth quarter, a 2% increase on the same period last year and 1% more than the previous quarter (Q3 2009).

Although, despite good sales figures and market shares, sales at 12 billion euros were down 5% compared to the fourth quarter 2008 and down a far larger 22% from the preceding quarter.

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, the CEO of Nokia, said:
“We grew our market share in smartphones in the fourth quarter, driven by the successful launch of new touch and QWERTY models. Our performance in smartphones, combined with continuing success in the emerging markets…Our solid results also owe a good deal to world class supply chain management and impressive sales execution.

“Our focus remains firmly on execution, especially around user experience. Here I want to highlight our move to shake up the navigation market with free walk and drive navigation on our smartphones, a good example of how we are leveraging our assets to bring real benefits to consumers.”

The reference to the smartphones market in the above quote might be seen by some observers as a nod to Nokia struggling in the past to make its prescence felt in the top end of this particularly demanding sector. In other words, it does not have the ‘killer’ device. Many feel that although Nokia does dominate in market share terms, it has not traditionally had a device which can take on the iconic iPhones and BlackBerrys.

Brands are of course fickle things and only time will tell as to whether a Nokia smartphone will genuinely begin to challenge the two brands that are considered the trend setters.