The application revolution

Finally, the application revolution is in full swing with Nokia and Mircosoft following apple's tremendously successful AppStore.

Application marketplaces offer handset owners the platform to browse and download useful applications. These applications can range from well constructed information offerings (i.e. train times, airport departures and arrivals) to more entertaining applications (i.e. Musical, social networking etc).

Microsoft have tied in the announcement of their "Windows Phones" marketplace with their new mobile operating system Windows 6.5. The Windows mobile OS is already widely used as it seemingly integrates with Microsoft Server; now in conjunction with Microsoft's new application store, the software giant is ready to go head to head with Apple.

Alongside the most successful software house, is the most successful handset manufacturer Nokia, who has launched their "Ovi Store" which combines its multimedia service MOSH with the application market place.

There are reports of other official stores to be released namely Blackberry and Samsung.

In the last year, touch screen handsets are making computer interaction more seamless and attracting a new breadth of users.

The mobile revolution continues with more major players now coming to the forefront, which will only improve this marketplace with increased competition. As more and more developer kits are made available; better quality and more useful applications will be become available across a multitude of platforms. Let's hope one day, open source will take over and I can buy an Apple application on my blackberry.