Hong Kong is getting its first official Apple Store on September 24. The store will be in the International Finance Center with more than 200 stores inside.

Apple is expected to steal the top smartphone seller spot from Nokia this year. Apple is expected to ship 86.4 million smartphones with Nokia shipping 75 million.

A report has surfaced that looks at all the items on iTunes and then puts it with some other figures available to come up with an estimated cost to run iTunes each year. According to the report, it costs as much as $1.3 billion a year to run iTunes.

Apple has settled the ongoing patent suit with Nokia. The settlement has Apple paying an undisclosed sum in licensing fees.

A new version of Angry Birds has landed on the iPhone called Seasons. The game has a new Christmas version in it along with the popular Halloween version of the game. You can download it right now for $0.99 on the iPhone or $1.99 on the iPad.

The iPhone 4 has put a beat down on the Nokia N8 in sales in the most recent numbers. The Nokia flagship N8 was outsold by the iPhone 4 by a margin of 6 to 1.

Nokia reminded Apple that it was in fact the larger mobile phone company this week. The reminder came after Jobs said that Apple was the largest mobile device company.

Wired has posted up a review of the iPhone game Crush the Castle. The game sells for $1.99 and is said to be well worth the money.

Apple has tried to block Nokia imports while the IP dispute between it and Nokia is ongoing. Nokia previously tried to block iPhone imports.

A new application for law students has turned up on the app store that sells for $1000. The app is called BarMax and is designed to help law students study to pass the bar exam.

Apple has filed a counter suit against Nokia after Nokia filed suit against Apple over patent licensing fees. Apple alleges that Nokia is trying to overcharge on patent fees because it “missed the boat” and chose to “copy the iPhone.”

The Guardian has announced the launch of its official iPhone app. The app lets you download content to listen too later and allows personalization along with access to picture galleries and more. The app isn’t free though and costs $3.99 here in the US.

With two worms targeting the iPhone in only a few days security of the handset is a big topic. The vulnerability from one of the worms is only a threat to those who jailbreak their devices. The second worm is being called a proof of concept and future worms could be malicious.

Strategy Analytics has announced that Apple was the most profitable handset maker for Q3 2009 with operating profits of $1.6 billion. The second place maker was Nokia with $1.1 billion in operating profits. It’s very impressive that Apple does this with only one device tied to one carrier in America.

Anyone who plays games on the iPhone 3GS knows that it is one fantastic mobile gaming platform. The iPhone is pointed to as one of the reasons that companies are rushing to the mobile games market. The iPhone 3GS and 3G iPod touch are putting pressure on dedicated mobile gaming consoles like the PSP and Nintendo DS.

Nokia has filed a patent infringement suit against Apple over the iPhone. Nokia alleges that Apple is violating ten of its mobile phone patents. The suit was filed in Delaware.

Why is mobile ad share important? Because in the smartphone segment, the tail wags the dog — apps drive customer loyalty more than hardware features… Yes, Apple offers many more apps, and yes, it’s more geared to consumers than Nokia.

Nokia already realized about the power of mobile applications and contents. As we know, Ovi Store is Nokia’s answer to the iPhone’s App Store.

From the ease of use to the accessibility of the iPhone App Store, unified hardware and software package, the panel discussed what it is that has made iPhone just so successful. Chief Technical Officer, Tom Conrad from Pandora, for one credited iPhone’s App Store with the success of Pandora’s free music discovery application. The company saw more customers after a few months on the iPhone than it did after two years under the carriers’ wings.

Jeff Smith, CEO of Smule said the iPhone was the only device that could handle their audio application. Ocarina (pictured) requires five audio scripts to run concurrently, Smith said, plus GPS, the accelerometer, multitouch and multithreading. Developers have an easier time as they can get started without having to negotiate with the likes of AT&T and Verizon on their own. iPhone has a huge slice of the market through the Western World. Overall, Nokia still has 40% of the hardware and there are a number of models coming out in the next few months (as well as associated app stores) to take iPhone on. I will be very keen to see statistics and thoughts by the end of 09.

[via CNET]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzETYbGEqgo[/youtube]

[Via Applephoneinfo.de]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3uPxep2OIk[/youtube]

Nokia has already admitted to ‘borrowing’ from the iPhone’s UI, with Executive VP & General Manager of Multimedia, Anssi Vanjoki, telling reporters that “if there is something good in the world then we copy with pride”.  The differentiating factor of the Nokia Touch concept, though, is that it seemingly includes all of the high-end features of, for instance, the N95, as opposed to the iPhone with its notable omissions of MMS and the like.

Windsor predicts that rather than a court battle, the two companies will settle in 2009.  That could be enough time for Apple to push iPhone development and further cement their touchscreen lead.

Edit: Turns out that this is an official Nokia video; it’s part of their GoPlay event media as a demo of possible future interface design.  When questioned as to the, ahem, similarities with the OS of the iPhone, Executive VP & General Manager of Multimedia at Nokia, Anssi Vanjoki, told reporters that “If there is something good in the world then we copy with pride”

 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFKyAMQPbmI[/youtube]

To be honest, it really is all a bit similar – the slideshow transitions move with the same flow, the screen auto-rotate looks the same and the general feel of it is very Apple.  The icons at the end of the video would seem to indicate the full gamut of functionality from audio and video playback, camera and internet access; nothing new, then, since Nokia’s existing range offer these.

If the price – and the features – are right then I’ve no doubt Nokia would find buyers for a cellphone like this.  But they’ll sure take a battering along the way from critics deriding their lack of originality.

Honestly, the more I look at this device, the more I think it’s the cellphone Apple should’ve released instead of the rubbish iPhone we have now.  I mean, a 1.3-megapixel camera!  A media player with 256mb of T-Flash memory!  Throw Safari out of the window, since this bad boy has a WAP browser.

Oh, it also supports MMS.  Take that, iPhone!

[via Pocket-lint]

You may have read my previous report of the Synaptics Onyx Concept phone, which features many of the forthcoming touch screen technology. The LG Prada phone is the direct result of the Onyx concept phone.

“Optical sensors and touch will be the next big things,” Nokia Chief Technology Officer Tero Ojanpera said in Singapore on Monday ahead of the CommunicAsia telecom fair.

“I believe there will be a lot of innovation around these,” Ojanpera said.

The video below is a great example of the throughput rate for the new generation of touch screens with sensors.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJIC07YgcDk[/youtube]

High Tech Computer (HTC) also jumped on the iPhone bandwagon recently with its Touch phone, offering similar on-screen gesture as the Prada and iPhone.

Nokia sees future for touch screens, move sensors [thanks Dan- via Engadget & Investor's Village]