If ‘Arnuld’ walked into a US bikers bar these days, would he add to the immortal cinematic line (in Austrian accent) ‘…I want your boots, your clothes and your motorbike…’ with the words ‘…oh yes, your smartphone as well…’.

Maybe not, because recent research has shown that those across the pond don’t really like the direction in which mobile phone technology is heading.

It seems that many US consumers are not happy with all the added packed features that are included on today’s ‘super’ phones. Not least that phones are both a talking device (as originally planned) and MP3 players.

And it’s not clear whether men, or women think this, as this would lead to inevitable jokes about women being more able to multi-task than men, so therefore able to figure out how to use a phone which is also a MP3 player, but lets leave that tricky subject to one side.

This research may have a serious point for mobile phone manufacturers though. How far can these little handheld devices go before they become too clever for their own good? How long before your mobile gets invited to the dinner party, because it’s a darn site more interesting than you. And how long before it gets your job, because it’s far cleverer than you and doesn’t whine on about the coffee machine always being empty?

Even now people are obsessing about their mobiles. CrackBerry heads might be in therapy and coming to terms with needing to instantly reply to the little black device’s evil chirping, but how many times does someone start banging about their latest mobile device. ‘…Ya, mine reads Baudelaire love poetry in the original 17th Century French, can perform rare Indian foot massage and if I’m stuck at the office, can drive around to school and pick the kids up. Ya…’

It’s a phone. Get over it. Basically, it allows you to talk to people without using two tin cans and a bit of string. It is not the Holy Grail; it won’t provide you with the meaning of life.

Understood? Right, pass me my phone, I need to find my way out of the office.

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.

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%.

When it comes to cash for mobile phones, it looks like more smartphones will be coming the way of the recyclers in the future. Recently announced research showed that whilst overall mobile phone sales declined nearly 9% in the first quarter of 2009, sales of smartphones actually grew by nearly 13%. The figures come from U.S. based technology research firm Gartner.

The report showed that on a worldwide basis, some 269.1 million phones were sold in the first quarter of 2009. Although an impressive figure for a world in a depressed economy, it still represented an overall drop of 8.6%. The bright spot was that 36.4 million Smartphones were sold in the period, up 12.6%.

Carolina Milanesi, research director for mobile devices at Gartner, said: “There were some signs of a recovery in markets such as North America and China, but overall sales in the first quarter of 2009 registered the biggest quarter-on-quarter contraction since Gartner began monitoring the market on a quarterly basis in 2001.This was also the first time the market contracted year over year during the first quarter, a period traditionally helped by strong seasonality in the Asia/Pacific market.”

Garner said that the industry made a big effort to reduce stock levels, so as not to be over-exposed throughout the year. Nokia continues to be top dog, with a leading share of 36.2%, shipping 97.4 million handsets, although 3% less than in the comparable period.

A not so close second was Samsung with 51.4 million units shipped, although it increased its overall market share, up nearly 5%. LG came in at third position with 26.5 million units shipped and Motorola fought back to fourth position with 16.6 million units, having previously lost out to the now number five Sony Ericsson with 14.5 million units. Other manufacturers made up for the rest.

On the Smartphone improvement, Gartner pointed out that good performances by Research In Motion (RIM) and Apple showed that services and applications were key to smartphones’ success. Roberta Cozza, principal analyst at Gartner, said: “Much of the smartphone growth during the first quarter of 2009 was driven by touchscreen products, both in mid-tier and high-end devices. Touch for the sake of touch’ was enough of a driver in the mid-tier space, but tighter integration with applications and services around music, mobile e-mail, and Internet browsing made the difference at the high end of the market.”