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Recall back in the day when U2 and Apple were bosom-buddies? Well, in the world of corporate sponsorship, everything is change, and Bono’s band today introduced their own take on the iTunes LP with the release of a new U2 Mobile App, not for iPhone, but for BlackBerry.

In a direct emulation of Apple’s iTunes LP and App Store, U2 and BlackBerry maker, RIM, claim the new app, “invigorates the album experience for the digital age.”

Developed in collaboration with the band, the app promises “a rich visual experience with evolving content and an interactive dimension for the band’s current Number 1 album No Line On The Horizon.
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Orange and T-mobile join forces in the UK as iPhone discussions continue; O2 owner Telefonica’s China Unicom deal grabs it a sexy 8 per cent of China Unicom’s huge cellphone market, soon to receive iPhone from China Unicom.

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MADRID: Spain’s Telefonica, which owns UK mobile phone market leader 02, is battling Vodafone and France Telecom’s Orange over Deutsche Telekom’s flagging British arm T-Mobile, with Apple’s iPhone said to be playing a key supporting role in the proceedings.

Fascinating glimpse at future mobile telco consolidations.

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As the march of the Apple-inspired App Store trend continues, Shazam has introduced a version of its mobile music application for download inside Nokia’s new OVI Store.

The application lets users discover music on Nokia handsets and online. “Shazam has been selected as a strategic partner in the music apps category of Nokia’s new mobile storefront,” the companies said.

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O2′s exclusive deal with Apple for distribution of the iPhone in the UK is reportedly set to end two years early, according to a report published on the ITProPortal website.

The report – which seemingly draws heavily on conjecture – suggests O2′s recent deal with Palm in which it becomes the exclusive provider of the Palm Pre is evidence of an end to the Apple iPhone exclusive.

“O2 currently has an exclusive agreement with Apple that is supposed to last until 2011 but rival networks are likely to push for Apple to rethink its strategy and make the iPhone platform agnostic; and there is no reason why Apple wouldn’t do that,” the report explains.

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O2 has announced one million iPhone sales in the UK, suggesting approximately one person in sixty in the UK is already using an Apple mobile.

“We can also announce that as of today more than 1 million iPhones have been sold in the UK,” the company said as it announced its October-December results.

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Microsoft has taken a stab at the UK’s mobile music artist, this morning introducing a new music download service through MSN Mobile.

The new service is attempting to tempt UK consumers to purchase and download songs, realtones and music videos from thousands of major artists as well as up and coming acts.

The content licenses and technical platform for MSN Mobile Music is offered in partnership with VidZone Digital Media.

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Despite public clamour over the rift between Apple and Macworld, the company’s secretive plans to develop its own mobile processors for future iPods, iPhones and other devices remain critical to its future, or so it seems.

Apple’s decision to acquire the military-grade technology expertise of PA Semi earlier this year, and its more recent attempt to hire an IBM chip expert to lead its iPod team, Mark Papermaster, all contribute to what is known on its plans.

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This is an interesting account of some of the winners in the gold rush to create applications for the iPhone.

Sure, we’ve all seen recent reports which claim Apple’s provision of free apps makes it hard for some developers, but to get an objective opinion you also need to mull over the successes.

“Some kid in his bedroom can make a million bucks just by writing a little application for the Apple phone,” begins the latest Newsweek report by fake Steve himself, Mr Lyons…

Go read…

Apple’s iPhone 3G took another step closer to China today on news the country could issue 3G licenses to local mobile phone carriers within weeks.

Speaking at a press conference, Chinese industry minister Li Yizhong confirmed the country will award three licenses, , including global 3G standards, and China’s local technology, TD-SCDMA. China Unicom will be assigned W-CDMA and China Telecom will be given CDMA-2000.

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Mobile phones which play MP3s are outselling CD players by five to one to become the UK’s favourite music devices – at least that’s what the research claims.

The Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) has released GfK data which shows that over the past two years over 44 million mobile phones have been sold in the UK that can play MP3s.

That compares with sales of just over 8 million CD players over the same period, ERA said.

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