Palm and Apple Will Contest June

June looks to be the ‘mobile month’ with the much awaited launch of the Palm Pre in the US on the 6th June and whatever Apple are going to announce two days later on the 8th.

We can only speculate on the Apple moves but we can clearly state the Palm Pre ones. The device announced as the ‘iPhone killer’ finally arrives albeit in the US only and also only on the Sprint network. No launch date has bee announced for the UK. The much-anticipated handset will cost $199.99 (£129), after a rebate, and buyers must take out a two-year contract when signing.

One of the most appealing features of the Pre is webOS, the operating system that combines a variety of online services into a finger-friendly user interface. The phone automatically recognises when owners connect to social or e-mail services and builds up a global list of contacts and login details as it is used. Unlike many other phones, the handset also allows owners to have several different applications running at the same time.

The large touch screen, Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS, 8 GB of storage, and Bluetooth, all stack up well against rivals like the iPhone 3G, BlackBerry Storm, and the T-Mobile (Android) G1.

Palm will also be launching the Touchstone charging kit June 6. This puck-sized device can charge the handset wirelessly. The Touchstone charging kit will be sold for $69.99. Palm is also investing in an iPhone-style software development kit for third-party developers to create applications for WebOS called theMojo SDK.

The Pre's release date could be a gamble coming two days before Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference and theBlackberry Storm, was also billed as the iPhone killer.

So Who Would You Place Your Money On?

So how many Kindles, Iliads, Sony and ereader devices have been sold?

Today we read in Cnet.com that Canalys has released market share figures on smartphones that state that 39.9 million were shipped in the third quarter of this year. It certainly put the ereader shipments into perspective and coupled with the earlier statistics on games and gaming devices shows that the ereaders not only have a long way to go but that they may well have nowhere to go in their current form.

Regarding the smartphones the battle has clearly started and although Nokia still lead the race with 38.9 % market share this has fallen 12.5 %, compared to last year. The winners are surprise Apple who are now second with 6.9 million shipments (17.3%). But RIM with its new Blackberry Storm and Lewis Hamilton promotion, plus their new Pearl clamshell, look to make it a tight forth quarter. It truly is becoming as interesting a race as the Brazilian Grand Prix.

On the operating system front Sumbian remains in front, but again Apple and RIM are the second with Microsoft also increasing the number of Windows Mobile handsets shipped by 42%. Then we have the dark horse that is Google and its Android yet to make its mark.

Another Day Another Blackberry

Reuters have reported that RIM (Research In Motion)will roll out yet another mobile later this year! This touch-screen BlackBerry smartphone will go head to head with Apple's popular iPhone. The touch screen depresses slightly when it is pressed, giving users a soft click as the screen is released.

The BlackBerry Storm will be available exclusively to Verizon Wireless subscribers in the U.S. and Vodafone subscribers in Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand.
The Storm comes preloaded with e-mail and document handling software, a media player for music, movies and photos and has a 3.2 megapixel camera.

It appears that RIM are serious about their move into the consumer space and are certainly releasing models that have a wide market appeal and in a short period of time have dropped that business corporate only tag. The question in these times is whether consumers can maintain their confidence and churn rates or whether RIM has overextended its range too quickly.