First ever iPhone snaps kick off a week of meaty mobile news

The week in mobile coverage over on sister site Pocket Picks began with a plump and juicy iPhone rumour. Some photos, supposedly the first taken with an iPhone, appeared on Flickr and were removed shortly after but not before they caused a media meteor shower of reports variously confirming and discrediting them.

Why nobody stopped to ask why the iPhone photographer broke in the device by taking pictures of cabinets full of raw meat and people eating toast (pictured here) is anyone's guess.

Later in the week Microsoft's Steve Ballmer took the time to make some mixed comments about the iPhone, stating that in time the percentage of people using Windows based handsets will far outstrip the percentage of iPhone users. Interestingly, in making his prediction, Ballmer quoted an iPhone sales estimate bigger than Apple's own projections.

Either way, Ballmer's comments prove that Microsoft as always means business, and reports that the software overlord is looking to double its Windows Mobile OS shipments for the fourth year in a row show the muscle the company is willing to put behind the mobile sector.

Mobango proved this week that user-generated content is still a growing mobile phenomenon reporting a whopping 41 per cent growth in its business. Meanwhile mobile TV company MobiTV pulled the plug on its UK arm this week. A strange move considering the service was apparently quite popular at two million subscribers.

Meanwhile an ex-Microsoft employee, John Pollard, illustrated that there is still plenty of room for fresh innovation in mobile services by rolling out the revolutionary mobile memo and dictation service, Jott.

In handset news, a sleek-looking new addition to the Blackberry family made its debut this week, as did Nokia's new cost-effective 2505 clamshell phone, designed to appeal to developing markets.

As mobiles get ever sexier, the UK Home Secretary John Reid has decided that the best way to tackle mobile and gadget theft is to encourage the manufacturers to make devices theft proof. Willcom of Japan has a more novel approach, and has cleverly disguised a mobile as a torch.

Orange got its act together this week and launched its own flat-rate internet package for both pay as you go and pay monthly customers. In contrast, the roaming data charge debate continues to drag out; the EU had better make up its mind soon if it wants to be part of the party when everybody starts surfing at 100Mbps with 3GPP in as little as three years time.

Lastly this week, a few tidbits that are a little less business-like. How about a UV indicator you can tether to your phone to help judge when it's time to seek some shade? Or a crystal coated Motorola Bluetooth headset for the busy professional keen to add a bit of glamour to their gadget?

If you enjoy any of these pieces over on Pocket Picks be sure to make use of our new ratings system to let us know which sort of news stories you enjoy the most. Click 'Track It!' for more mobile news next week.