Not content with dominating the mobile phone market, Nokia has now decided to launch itself into the mini-laptop market with the unveiling of the Nokia Booklet 3G. But ask yourself the question, do I need one….?

Based on, you guessed it, Windows, the Nokia Booklet 3G claims to have 12 hours of battery life which, as it’s one of the first things they go on about, must be a key selling point in their eyes. You can see why of course. Modern laptops are great, mini offices on the move, but they are so power hungry that unless you also have access to a mobile power station, then its pretty pointless taking the thing with you on your travels.

The holy grail for both smartphones and computer manufacturers, is the truly portable office device. And this is where the void still exists. No matter how clever your smartphone (it will happily discuss the meaning of life with you), you can’t really devise, or edit a complicated PowerPoint presentation. Nor can you massage the company’s figures in a large spreadsheet. Thus, you will always need a bigger screen, unless they equip us with magnifying eyes in the future.

But with the Nokia Booklet 3G and 12 hours of power at your disposal, you can impress people in the airport executive lounge. You can then board the aircraft, leave the thing on during the flight from London to Los Angeles, and 100 games of scrabble later (forget the PowerPoint presentation, you can fiddle with that in the customer’s reception) your mini-computer will still be humming along nicely.

Now, lets calm down a little. How many times have we bought a product on performance claims that just don’t substantiate? How many laptops claim a long battery life, but in reality, can only match that if you keep it in hibernation mode?

But back to the Nokia Booklet 3G. At its heart is the Intel Atom processor, built within a ‘ultra-portable’ (Nokia speak) chassis and it measures a bare two centimetres wide. It weighs in at around 1.25 kilograms which, at first glance, sounds a little obese, but with complete PC functionality, might be understandable.

It comes with what you’d hope: 3G/HSPA and Wi-Fi which gives you high speed access to the Internet.

The mini-computer also comes with an HDMI port for HD video out, a front facing camera for video calling, integrated Bluetooth and an easily accessible SD card reader. Its features include the ten-inch glass HD ready display and integrated A-GPS which, working with the Ovi Maps gadget, can pinpoint your position in seconds. This is great when you are trying to find a local bar to help you recover from your meeting.

So, do you need one? Probably not, but then again, that sort of logic never works, so go out and buy one, and impress the people around you! Mind you, they have to be the sort of people impressed by a long battery life.

Spanish mobile phone users get the chance to play with the BlackBerry Curve 8520 from next month. Research In Motion (RIM) has just announced that the Curve 8520 will be available from Spanish wireless carriers from September in two colours: Black and Frost. But will the Curve do well in the Spanish market…?

The BlackBerry Curve is a sophisticated smartphone which has become de rigeur for the successful executive. And with 19% of the smartphone market, the Canadian based RIM are one of the few companies that seem able to resist the advances of the iPhone.

The ‘…should I buy a Blackberry, or iPhone…’ debate has become a little like PC versus Mac. One might have all the right whistles and bells, but the other looks cool enough to forget your advancing years. With an iPhone in your hand, it’s a portal to eternal youth. With a Blackberry in your hand, you can afford eternal youth.

For those that like to stay connected to the Matrix, one of the phone’s fortes is easy mobile access to email, messaging (including IM, SMS and MMS) and those ever-popular social sites, including Facebook.

Sending emails around to all and sundry is of course the raison d’être of the BlackBerry, or CrackBerry as it became known, because of its addictive characteristics. The ping of the incoming email was cause enough for many to not sleep and seek external help. But it seems less of a problem these days, as people become used to an ‘always-on culture.’

True to its business pedigree, the phone features a full QWERTY keyboard which allows fast, easy typing.

“More and more cell phone users are choosing to upgrade to a smartphone and the new BlackBerry Curve 8520 will undoubtedly convince many more people in Spain to make the switch. It is a great new addition to the BlackBerry Curve series and delivers all the great messaging, social networking and multimedia features that customers have come to love about BlackBerry smartphones.” said Carlo Chiarello, vice president, product management, Research In Motion.

Features include:
•    touch-sensitive trackpad;
•    256MB Flash memory and 512Mhz processor;
•    voice activated dialing; Bluetooth (2.0);
•    2 MP digital camera with zoom and video recording;
•    Advanced media player for music, pictures and videos;
•    Access to BlackBerry App World;
•    BlackBerry Internet Service support for access to up to 10     supported email accounts;
•    expandable memory via hot swappable microSD/SDHC memory     card slot, supporting up to 16 GB cards;
•    built-in Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g);
•    Quad-band world phone: EGDE/GPRS/GSM (850/900/1800/1900     MHz).

Go to www.blackberry.com/curve8520 to have a look.

A number of the tech news sites are reporting that a deal has been struck between Apple and China Unicom to sell iPhones in China.

It’s being reported that Guangdong Unicom, a subsidiary of China Unicom, is to purchase five million iPhones in a deal put at around $1.5 million. Although Apple denied the deal, it is thought that it would suit both parties, as Apple wishes to crack the Chinese market, whereas China Unicom is looking to upstage its competitors.

Sources from inside Guangdong suggest that the iPhones cost them around $300 per unit, but will retail out at $350 for the 8GB phone and $700 for the 16GB phone.

Industry observers see this as a coup for Apple, given that the lucrative Chinese market is difficult to enter and succeed in. It is estimated that China has over 650 million customers, making it the world’s largest mobile phone market. And it’s a growing market, with sales expected to reach nearly 200 million handsets in 2010.

If the news proves accurate, it will also be a significant achievement for China Unicom, helping it to compete against rival China Mobile, the largest carrier in China.

This news comes at a time when it is thought that Dell is about to introduce a device for China Mobile. Based on the Android system, it is believed to be called the Mini 3i. It will be customized for the Chinese market and help set-up a growing demand for sophisticated handsets. Recent reports suggest that this device will be distributed within the Ophone brand.

Observers see this, as well as other deals shortly to be announced, as a jockeying for position by manufactures in order to exploit what is a vast and continually growing market.

And the recession, which has hit mobile phones overall, means that manufacturers will be keen to exploit any market opportunity they can. The recent worldwide mobile phone sale figures revealed that the market was down around 6%, but that smartphones, had increased their sales by 27%; a trend which will doubtless increase over the coming years as consumers demand more sophisticated handsets.

It’s a case of bad news, good news with the latest worldwide mobile phone sales figures compiled from Gartner, one of the world’s leading information technology research and advisory companies. They show that whilst worldwide mobile sales dropped by 6% in the second quarter of 2009, the sales of smartphones rose a staggering 27%. Gartner has a view on the market.

Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner, said:

“Despite the challenging market, some devices sold well as consumers who would usually have purchased standard midrange devices either cut back to less expensive handsets or moved up the range to get more features for their money.

“Touchscreen and qwerty devices remained a major driver for replacement sales and benefited manufacturers with strong, touch-focused mid-tier devices. However, the decline in average selling price (ASP) accelerated in the first half of the year and particularly affected manufacturers that focus on mid-tier and low-end devices, where margins are already slim.”

The actual number of worldwide mobile phones sold in the second quarter of 2009 amounted to 286.1 million units, a drop of 6.1%. But smartphones went past the 40 million unit sales mark – an increase of 27% - to become the fastest growing part of the mobile devices market.

Much of the decline was due to the recession, which continued to hold back replacement sales in both the mature and emerging markets. This is expected to ease through-out the remainder of 2009, as distributors and retailers will have to restock.

The figures also show that Nokia remains the mobile phone market leader, with a near 37% share, although it continues to achieve this with a portfolio of low-end devices. Samsung comes next with just over 19%, which is a 4% improvement over last time. LG comes in third with a shade over 10%; Motorola manages nearly 6% and Sony Ericcson comes in fifth with nearly 5%. Other manufacturers make up the remaining 23%.

In terms of smartphones, Nokia is also the dominant player with a 45% share of the market, with Research in Motion (makers of the Blackberry) in second slot at nearly 19% and Apple in third at 13%.

Did you know (in Michael Caine accent) that in 2008 there were more than 100 billion minutes of mobile phone call time in the U.K. No, not a lot of people know that. Well, they do now, because those busy people at Ofcom have figured it all out. It equates to 123 minutes per mobile, per month, That’s a lot of talking. And what’s more, it’s 6% more talking than last year.

People in the U.K. sent over 80 billion texts last year, which averages out at a incredible 100 texts per person, per month. That’s up a significant 29% on the year. Although Ofcom point out that the large increase in text traffic seems to have been generated by many mobile phone agreements being taken out with inclusive text deals.

Back to the basics now. The number of mobile subscriptions in the U.K. has increased by three million to 77 million, which means that on average, people have more than one mobile deal each.

And, very interestingly, given that 2008 saw the start of the recession, the number of mobile phone users taking out a contract increased by three million people in the U.K. This means that some 30 million people currently have a contract with a mobile telephone company. Paradoxically, pay as you go agreements fell slightly for the first time. Some 100,000 less people decided to have such an agreement, but it still is the deal of choice, with just under 47 million opting for no contractual obligations.

Also interesting in a recession year is the slight rise in telecoms revenue, which grew by £117 million (or a slight 0.4%), and Ofcom reckons this is down to the growth in mobile voice and data traffic.

On a slightly different tack, Ofcom point out that although some 19 million of U.K. internet users visit Facebook (that’s half the people who surf), the number within the 15 to 24 age group who use social networking sites declined from 55% in the first quarter of 2008 to 50% in 2009. Some wags in the media were quick to point out that that is because so many adults are now using social networking sites, the youths of today now see it as uncool and are looking at alternative methods of staying in touch. In other words, if their parents are on Facebook, then the kids don’t want to be.

Twitter continues to rise in popularity, with 100,000 more people using Tweets to keep in touch. This makes 2.6 million users in May 2009 alone.  If you want to learn more, then read: The Communications Market 2009 (August).