In a determined effort to make up for lost ground to rivals like Apple and Research in Motion, Nokia recently laid out its plans to take social internet and music experiences by storm. At their recent bash called Nokia World, they sought to bring together the various strands of their internet and music strategies.

First came the launch of Lifecasting with Ovi, a new partnership with social network Facebook. Lifecasting with Ovi is, say Nokia, the first application to let people publish their location and status updates directly to their Facebook account from the home screen of their mobile device.

This - together with the introduction of a whole range of related products including Nokia Money, the Nokia N900, Nokia Booklet 3G, Nokia 5230 and Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition – is a major attempt from the company to muscle-in on the social mobile network scene. In their own words: “…Nokia expands in new directions for changing the ways people go about their lives.”

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO, Nokia, commented: “Nokia aims at reaching the many, not the few, with our rich portfolio of services. We are doing this through an increasing number of open partnerships with world leaders in many fields. We are proud to lead the charge in smartphones and beyond as manifested in the Nokia N900 and Nokia Booklet 3G, two great examples of how the world is changing and Nokia is driving this change.”

And Lifecasting with Ovi will be available for both the Nokia N97 and its companion, the Nokia N97 mini. The latter is a smaller mobile computer with stainless steel cues, a tilting 3.2″ touch display, QWERTY keyboard and fully customizable homescreen.

Jonas Geust, Vice President of Nokia Nseries, added his bit: “People want to bring their physical and online worlds together via the internet. The Nokia N97 mini is designed for this new social internet and to help navigate people and places. With Lifecasting, the Nokia N97 mini and Ovi usher in the next chapter of personal and location-aware internet.”

The Nokia N97 mini features new software, coming next month, which includes new homescreen widgets and additional usability improvements including flick scrolling. It’s powered by a new Ovi Maps experience which, claims Nokia, makes searching, finding and navigating even easier. And in addition to global pedestrian navigation, premium content can be accessed from Lonely Planet, Michelin and Wcities.

For those that plan to splash out on a Nokia N97 mini, it will set you back around 450 euros.

Now here’s the music bit. At the same Nokia World the Company announced the launch of the Nokia X6 which is one of their answers to the iPhone. The Nokia X6 is capable of playing up to 35 hours of music, with 32GB of on-board memory and a 3.2 inch finger-touch interface. It has a 16:9 widescreen optimised for photos, videos and browsing. It also has  direct access to Ovi Store that brings 20 friends and virtual communities, like Facebook, to the homescreen.

Jo Harlow, Vice President, Nokia, rapped: “The Nokia X6 and Comes With Music is a powerful combination, enabling music fans to download all the music they could ever want - quickly, easily and for free. We’re giving people convenient access to and ownership of a vast music library and an exciting new touchscreen device to play their music on.”

Due out shortly, the Nokia X6 has a price tag of around 450 euros.

Making its debut alongside the Nokia X6 is the Nokia X3, which is described as a compact music device which comes with stereo speakers, built-in FM radio, and a 3.2 megapixel camera. It will lessen the weight of a wallet by 115 euros when it becomes available later on in the year.

So there you have it, Nokia’s determined effort to look super cool for the youth of today. But only time will tell if they become the talk of the playground.

Its seems that one of the main reasons why once uber cool mobile manufacturer Sony Ericcson is not performing as well these days, is that the company’s range of phones lack internet capability. It was one of the main losers in the latest figures on the mobile phone market. Sony Ericcson dropped from a 7.5% share of the market in the second quarter of 2008, to 4.7% in the second quarter of 2009.

And Gartner, which monitors the mobile phone market and compiles the figures, puts this down not just to a challenging market, but to the lacklustre performance of Sony Ericcson’s uncompetitive handsets.

A Gartner spokesperson said:
“Sony Ericsson has neglected to exploit key trends such as qwerty products for messaging and e-mail, internet browsing and navigation. If it wants to build the presence of its three new products announced this quarter in the channel and capture Christmas sales, the products need to come to market early in the fourth quarter of 2009.”

Of course, all is not lost for Sony Ericcson, a brand which commands a lot of respect in the sector, as the mobile phone market is very susceptible to changing trends and fashions. And with sales of 13.6 million units in the second quarter to 2009, giving it fifth place overall, Sony Ericcson remains a major player.

And although Nokia remains very much the market leader with a 37% share, the manufacturers doing really well were Samsung and LG, with sales of 55 million units and 30.5 million units, respectively, in the second quarter of 2009. Samsung’s story is almost the opposite of Sony Ericcson which, having secured its fair share of touchscreen devices, qwerty phones and smartphones, helped boost its performance in the mature markets. Following a contrary strategy is LG, and gaining some success with it, is LG’s move into low-tier devices designed to exploit growth in emerging markets, especially in China. The 3G rollout in China is a big opportunity for the mobile phone manufacturers and value-for-money devices are in demand.

The fourth player in the top five, Motorola, also had a disappointing quarter, with sales down due to its reliance on the US market and failing influence in Europe. Sales in Western Europe of Motorola handsets were below one million for the quarter under scrutiny.

As the recession eases, it will be interesting to see which manufacturers can properly exploit both the expected upturn in the mature markets and the opportunities in the emerging markets.

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%.

Nokia might be a dominant player in the global mobile market, with a near 40% share of all phones sold, but when it comes to the giant U.S. market, they struggle. Rather than try and penetrate the U.S. market in the low to bottom end ranges again, Nokia is trying to force its way in with a top end phone: the E17x.

Up until now, the Nokia roster has been aimed firmly at the crowded middle market, competing against numerous Motorolas and Samsungs. This market relies on the $50 ticket, or free with contract offer. It’s proved a disappointing hunting ground for Nokia.  Although the Nokia E17x is a fine product (hitting the market at a pleasing $100 with two-year contract), commentators are not convinced that it will give the Finnish firm the beachhead they require.

That’s because the territory so coveted by Nokia for its E71x, is already well served with the likes of Apple, Palm and the BlackBerrys from Research in Motion. It’s a crowded part of the market and competition is tough, with strong brand names and quality products.  The E71x is certainly a contender. Powered by the Symbian operating system, it has a QWERTY keyboard (a must for the high-powered executive); 3G; Wi-Fi; music and video players; a three megapixel camera; e-mail support via Microsoft Exchange; and, a web browser. It can certainly hold it’s own with the big boys and its been launched with U.S. carrier AT&T.

The big problem is that whereas the iPhone has proved that external, downloaded apps are a major selling point, the Nokia equivalent, the Ovi store, is not being made available via AT&T. So the E71x has had its wings cut already.  What’s more, the other Nokia flagship top-end handset – the N97 – is not being offered by any mainstream U.S. carrier.

The trouble seems to lie with technology. Nokia might be strong in GSM networks – used by most carriers – but it’s not so strong in CDMA technology (over half of U.S market), used by Sprint and Verizon Wireless. So, Nokia might still struggle to make an impression on the U.S. market.

For all you fitness freaks out there, Nokia actually makes a mobile phone specifically designed for your needs. Meaning you can seamlessly talk to your life coach on a ten k jog, or listen to the Eye of the Tiger while pumping out another 20 burpees.

The Nokia N79 is available in two different versions: the N79 Active and the N70 Eco. They retail direct from Nokia at around £300. Both phones feature an impressive line-up of features, not least a five Mega-Pixel digital camera with Carl Zeiss optics incorporating a 20x digital zoom. It also boasts a LCD screen, measuring 2.4”, and the phone can support 3.5G, Wi-Fi and GPS.

But now comes the difference between the Active and Eco versions. The N79 Active can actually monitor your heartbeat and via a Polar Bluetooth WearLink belt (which straps around you chest and monitors the heartbeat) sends the data back to your phone. Now Nokia doesn’t say whether your mobile is programmed with auto dial to the nearest hospital cardiac unit, but that would be pretty cool.

Many of the features in this phone have been transferred from Nokia’s first fitness phone, the Nokia 5500 (2006), which included the Sports Tracker GPS-based application. So there you are, if you regularly hit the streets to jog, or pop down to the local gym, then this phone might be for you.

With the N79 Eco, you might well expect a number of green features, but this might disappoint the true eco-warriors amongst you, as it seems to boil down to not getting a new charger (they assume you already have one) and a one-donation to the World Wildlife Fund of £4.

Oh yes, forgot to mention the different covers and a single N-Gage game.