Pocket Picks round-up: May 20th - New Apple SIMs, Android exploit alert, Amazon tablets, the passing of Ovi

Two Pocket Picks round-ups in one week? We’re spoiling you.

For a change, this round-up isn’t completely dominated by Android news, although those with bada handsets are in for a disappointment as Samsung’s format once again didn’t make the cut.

If you’re an iPhone user, you may be interested to hear about a Google Music competitor that may be announced soon by Jobs and co., or that the company is trying to push through an even smaller SIM card design for its new devices.

Elsewhere, the slow march of the Amazon tablet rumours is starting to pick up pace, while Google is forced to rush and patch up a security exploit in Android that leaves pretty much everyone open to nasty people.

Not content with using the tiny MicroSIM cards in its iPad and iPhone 4, the Cupertino company is now looking to get an even smaller design approved for use by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

This new micro-Micro SIM (not the real name) has already received the blessing of some mobile networks, and appears to have been designed primarily for eking out a few extra millimetres for thinner handset designs.

Orange’s head of mobile services predicts that the new SIM will most likely be in new devices from 2012 (should it get approval), so we’ll more likely see it in the iPhone 6 than the rumoured upcoming model(s).

Nokia has finally realised that the name ‘Ovi’ doesn’t really mean anything and only ends up confusing people, and has decided to ditch it across its range of services.

This means there will no longer be an Ovi Maps or Ovi Store. Instead, the services that used to use the name will now be titled ‘Nokia x’ (‘x’ being the service, not a trendy down-with-the-kids initiative).

Nokia calls the move, “centralizing our services identity under one brand”, but we like to call it a victory for common-sense.

The Amazon tablet/phone rumours are really gaining speed in recent weeks, thanks to the CEO heavily hinting that the company will be moving into this sphere shortly.

Latest news suggests that Amazon will be developing two tablets for launch in 2011 - the Coyote and Hollywood, with the former packing a Tegra 2 dual-core chipset, and the latter - more interestingly - supposed to ship with a Tegra 3 quad-core inside.

With the company seemingly certain to join in the Android hardware party (especially considering its Amazon app store distribution service), we wouldn’t be too surprised if these latest murmurings turn out to be true.

Expect more details to slowly leak their way out over the coming months.

Another vulnerability in Android was picked up this week by researchers at the University of Ulm in Germany.

Unlike others that have been reported, however, this security hole was a serious one, affecting pretty much every Android handset on the market - right up to new releases running Gingerbread.

Effectively the security issue can be exploited by setting up an open wi-fi hotspot and waiting for an unwitting phone to automatically connect to the network. After that, your data is fair game.

Google has patched the exploit in version 2.3.4, but as little as 1 per cent of all Android handsets currently run this version of the OS.

If you want to stay safe, Lifehacker has rustled up a handy guide that will help you avoid being burned until the patch wings its way over to your phone

The wheels of the rumour mill have begun grinding once again, in relation to the expected announcement of Apple’s cloud-based iTunes service.

With Google having revealed its own system - Google Music - at the I/O event the other week, it’s almost inevitable that the market leader in terms of digital music distribution will follow suit now.

Recent reports of the Cupertino company buying up domain names including ‘iCloud’ have started to fuel the fires of speculation, as do signs that Apple is negotiating/has negotiated cloud licenses with the major music labels already.

If the company is indeed working on the service, it’s almost inevitably going to be unveiled at WWDC (June 6-10th), so there’s not long to wait now.