Also at MWC, a consortium of mobile networks and phone makers have announced plans to pool resources and develop an open platform for the sale and distribution of mobile apps.

The mobile apps market has, of course, become dominated by Apple in recent years, after they simplified the process for making, selling and distributing apps to iPhone users, and in doing so kick started the whole apps market, in much the same way they did with the digital music market through iTunes and the iPod in 2003 (an achievement noted by the Congress handing the title of Mobile Personality Of The Year to Apple chief Steve Jobs this year). Apple's rivals in the mobile sector have tried to claw some of the burgeoning apps market back, most notably Nokia with their Ovi store, while Google's Android Market, selling apps for Android compliant phones, is seemingly catching up with the iPhone store. But I think its fair to say Apple still dominate the market at the moment. 

Which is presumably why Orange, O2, Vodafone and phone makers like Samsung and Ericsson are now keen to collaborate on a joint apps platform, which would sell apps that would work on most of the handsets made and sold by companies in the consortium. With a combined user base of three billion customers worldwide, plus with a product that would not be locked to phones made by one manufacturer, using one operating system or provided by one network, the hope is the new consortium can really take on both Apple and the growing Android store.

A spokesman for mobile sector trade body the GSM Association, confirmed plans to establish a snappily titled Wholesale Applications Community, saying the consortium would "unite a fragmented marketplace and create an open industry platform that benefits everybody - from application developers and network operators to mobile phone users themselves".

Also keen to get a bit of the app market is Microsoft, who launched their latest mobile operating system Windows Phone 7 at MWC this week. As you'd expect, the new phone moves Windows-powered mobiles very much into iPhone territory, with more entertainment functionality and a more friendly apps framework. As expected, music-wise the new Microsoft-powered phones will incorporate a lot of the functionality of the Zune player - which is why said phones were being dubbed 'Zune phones' before they were even officially revealed. Said phones should be the shops in time for Christmas.