“Open for anything” – a promise that is not just a marketing slogan for Nokia Series 60 smart phones, but also the reason of this software platform's success. If you are not happy anymore with the applications on your S60 phone then you should just go online and get some new ones. Many of them are offered free of charge, like the Nokia creations from the Betalabs laboratory ( betalabs.nokia.com ). You can try the software a few times and if you like it you can buy it, unlike the applications offered for iPhone.
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The next two applications are very popular.

First let’s talk about Nokia Chat application. Instant messaging plus GPS connection: Nokia Chat informs you where your friends decided to go for dinner or what friends work over hours. “Context Awareness”, is the concept that describes the combination between Internet and real life, where the smartphone displays the online status of its user. What is Nokia Chat? Nokia chat is an instant messenger software application which allows you to chat with other users of the same application. After you download the application from nokia.com/betalabs/chat, the software will set up a user account. The most impressive feature of this application is the location pointer. Basically you can find out where the user is by using the GPS tuner. After a certain place is determined you can compare that location with other ones from the Landmarks list (integrated in Nokia Maps). Therefore your friends, family and even your boss (be careful) will know your exact location. If you don’t want to offer this kind of information you can turn off this feature. Nokia Chat can display, if needed, status messages like “on the phone” or “busy”.



The next application is very useful and it’s called Nokia Sports Tracker. Because GPS – tracking is getting so much attention, Nokia Sports Tracker will help you evaluate your workouts. This application was first introduced as a beta version, but it became on short notice very popular. Believe it or not the Sports Tracker application has something in common with Nokia chat. If you thought the GPS tuner, than you were right. The application can record the user’s data location using integrated GPS. Therefore the application can evaluate, depending on the speed, track field and time, the number of calories burned and the steps you have made.



These kinds of data are really good in workouts sessions, jogging or at bike tracks, but also in other purposes, like registration of a flight route. You can even check the route on the Sports Tracker web page.

At sportstracker.nokia.com you can download the software application free of charge. All the locations data can be viewed using Google Maps. You can edit the tracks in KML, CSV or GPX data, so that you can add them to Google Earth.

Unless you lived under a rock for the last years you already know what iTunes is. One of the most extraordinary digital media player application, iTunes was first introduced by Apple on January 9, 2001, at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco. It started as the software link between the iPods and the music from your PC or MacBook. But then again, as all of the Apple products it grew into something spectacular. The latest version, iTunes 8, was announced in September 2008. In the last eight years, iTunes was re-invented several times. The original version was not at all that interesting. In just nine month Apple released 2.0 versions of iTunes which added support for the original iPods. Version 3 allowed users to create small playlists. The iTunes Store was included in the 4.0 release. In September 2006, iTunes 7 was looking more attractive with the Cover Flow. The last major update, version 8.0, added Genius playlists (not all that useful), and a new visualize. But in the same time the iTunes Store was growing also. From a few albums to all international albums, plus video clips, rentals for movies, audio books and the recent App Store (available for more than 40 countries) there are a lot of changes in 8 years, even for an Apple product.
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The App Store opened on July 10, 2008 via an update on iTunes. Applications were available in the moment of launch. At the beginning there were only 500 third party applications available both for iPod Touch and iPhone. Surprisingly as a marketing plan Apple announced that 125 of these applications were free. Apple tried to cover all the categories: education, entertainment, business. In the first weekend Apple announced that over 10 million applications were downloaded. From the 10 million application downloads on 14th of July, 2008, to 15 billion application downloads on 14th of July, 2009, the App Store is a success.



Today, September 5, 2009, the App Store of the USA shows the following statistic:

-Top paid application, Games (6 out of 10, Geared, Alive 4-ever, Frogger, Cooking Dash, Sheep Launches plus!, Bejeweled2), Music (I Am T-Pain), Utilities (Convert), Entertainment (Family Guy).

-Top free applications, Games (7 out of 10, Boxed In, UNO, Geared, Racing Live, Jurassic 3D, Mr. Aah!, Sheep Launches plus!, Dirt Moto Racing Lite), Social Networking (Bump), Entertainment (Discovery Channel).



While the App Store of The United Kingdom shows the following statistic:

-Top paid application, Games (8 out of 10, Geared, Alive 4-ever, Pub Quiz, Modern Combat, Farm Frenzy, Solitaire, Flight Control, Cartoon Wars), Photography (ColorSplash), Entertainment (Pocket Ted).

-Top free applications, Games (8 out of 10, Biker Blast – Off !, Boxed In, Super Hard Puzzle, Geared - Free, Jurassic 3D Rollercoaster, Racing Live, Parachute Panic Lite, Dirt Moto Racing Lite), Entertainment (What’s your IQ ?, Shave Me !).

Apple succeeds in the entertainment category. iTunes, iTunes Store and now App Store (plus the Mac OS platforms) are token of evidence that Apple provides not only excellent hardware but also brilliant software. However, for the time being, Apple has not succeeded in the business category, neither with free or paid applications for the iPod Touch and iPhone. Then again, who knows what iTunes 9 might bring.