iPhone SDK backlash sets in while Jeremy Clarkson gets his wrists slapped
It's the weekly Pocket Picks round-up
The week began in style over on our sister site Pocket Picks, with a very unique looking touchscreen mobile concept phone. Dubbed the Mooon+ (that's the designer's extra 'o', not ours) the sleek ovoid device has a detachable Bluetooth headset built into its body and still looks more slender than a good number of handsets out there.
Speaking of sleek handsets, the Carphone Warehouse let a tentative release window for the N96 slip early in the week – August might end up being a good month for Nokia fanboys (and agnostic mobile obsessives like our ourselves, too). Fingers crossed.
In other handset news, Motorola released a new video on YouTube that was peppered with sneak peaks at what to expect of the company's 2008 line-up, including an intriguing looking camera phone that may or may not include Kodak branding.
Of course, in the aftermath of the iPhone/iPod touch SDK release the iPhone has been enjoying a fresh dousing in the limelight, though not all of it was for reasons that Apple will be pleased about.
Indeed, many developers are a bit peeved at the fact that the SDK, in its current form won't allow them to write applications that can run simultaneously with other iPhone apps. This essentially means that every time you receive a call, any third-party application you are running will have to close before you can answer.
On that note, Google's Rich Miner took time to aim some careful and somewhat muted pot shots at the iPhone SDK, underlining that very point and seizing an opportunity to big up the forthcoming Android mobile OS.
But it wasn't all bad. Some speedy and enterprising individuals managed to squeeze out the first iPhone third-party application, which although merely a pretty pedestrian to-do app (aptly named ToDo), is still impressive considering how quickly it was released after the SDK was made available (less than a week!).
The BBC also capitalized on the iPhone SDK hype by announcing that its iPlayer digital streaming TV service is now compatible with the iPhone. Pretty good, considering Macs haven't even been given that privilege yet.
The week's biggest fresh news came late in the week from the O2 camp as the company announced a partnership with Napster to launch a brand new mobile music service. The deal will put O2 decidedly in the game, with a music catalogue reported to be the biggest in the mobile music space.
And lastly in culture, Swedish people are getting into financial strife due to text loans, British people don't trust the mobile phone industry one jot and Jeremy Clarkson is due to get his wrists slapped after being caught using a mobile behind the wheel. As always, never a dull moment – click 'Track It!' to be sure to catch next week's round up.