Another day, another Apple parody. You would think the material for parodying Antennagate would have dried up by now, but, in part thanks to Apple themselves, it just keeps flowing. Here we have the fine chaps over at College Humour sending up Apple's recent press event where they promised to give away free bumpers. see above the Funniest Video About iPhone 4 you'll Ever see in your Whole Life!

Nothing gets you going quite like a good old fashioned leak! It comes in the form of a list of leaked HTC codenames from ROM hacker extrodinaire 'Conflipper'. The story goes that Conflipper is calling it a day in terms of Windows Phone modding and as such he's posted up HTC's codenames for their forthcoming Windows Phone 7 handsets. Conflipper's site, Shipped-ROMS, will no longer be updated and will effectively cease operations although it will remain up and running in its present form for users to access. This came about at the request of HTC who sent a cease & desist letter in the mould of other manufacturers who don't seem to realise the enormous benefit that modding sites and communities bring to their brands.

The list of devices includes Salsa, Motion, Maestro, Swing, Blitz, Sage, Tango, and Vienna. Admittedly the codenames sound like a combination between an evening of dancing  and kids' cartoon characters, but nevertheless it's an exciting list. Mozart has already been confirmed as a Windows Phone 7 device from HTC and ties in nicely with the musical/dance theme we see here. There isn't a massive amount of information available on each handset, but here's what's being bandied around at the moment:

• Maestro - global handset supporting both GSM & CDMA
• Swing, Salsa & Vienna - GSM handsets
• Swing#C, Salsa#C & Vienna#C - CDMA handsets

Of course some, or even all, of these handsets might not make it to market, but they are apparently all current codenames of handsets that are at the very least in the planning stage. It also demonstrate that Windows Phone 7 won't just be a one trick pny for HTC, they look to be embracing it as widely as they have done with Android and Windows Mobile in the past.

One very glaring omission from many an app store has been the lack of an official app from the BBC. Just about every other news and media organisation under the sun has their own app, but not Auntie. There were moves earlier in the year to launch some BBC apps for the iPhone, but that plan was shot down in flames after commercial news outlets protested that it would wreck their business models and the BBC Trust put a stop to the plan until it could assess it. Well the Trust has now given the plan the green light and users can look forward to an official BBC News app.

The news app will launch first on the iPhone and iPad and then later in the year on both Android and Blackberry platforms. Why they couldn't launch the app on all three platforms simultaneously wasn't addressed, but better late than never as the saying goes. Erik Huggers, Director of Future Media & Technology at the BBC said:

"We know that increasing numbers of you want to access BBC output on-the-go and the rapid growth of internet-connected mobiles and smartphones in the market means we can cost-effectively provide our content and services on these devices, and this is a really important way for us to deliver online services in the future. The first class journalism that you expect from the BBC is now available to you in a way that is simple, personalised and optimised for mobile devices."

Hopefully this is the first in a range of BBC apps we can look forward to, especially given the BBC's massive archive of content as well as their extensive access and reach into fields such as sport, technology, science, the environment, etc.

 

And The story goes on. Samsung did say something about the Antennagate but their official statement on that matter never showed up. Up until now. Here it is. It just can't get any more official and clear than that.

This is a Samsung I9000 Galaxy S ad that has just appeared in the UK press. Click on the image to enlarge it and take a look at what Samsung had to say about Apple's recently unveiled iPhone 4.

Last time when we heard Samsung talking about that the company sounded calmer, but this time it's all aggressive. And there is a reason for that. After all, instead of finding a real solution, Apple involved a handful of companies and products in their own mess, better known as the Antennagate.

 

Nokia faced another difficult quarter for its devices and services division, as the financials struggled in the competitive smartphone market

Nokia has reported difficult results for the second quarter as it continues to feel the squeeze from Apple and others in the smartphone market.

Nokia had already downgraded its outlook for the second quarter for devices and services, and said net sales would be at the lower end of, or slightly below, the previously expected range of €6.7 billion to €7.2 billion. This was primarily due to lower than previously expected average selling prices and mobile device volumes.

Reported net sales in the devices and services segment came in at €6.8 billion, up three per cent from the second quarter of 2009 and two per cent from the first quarter of 2010.

However, Nokia said net sales for devices and services would have declined two per cent had the results been reported at a constant currency rate.

Operating profit in the division fell 16 per cent to €643 million and the operating margin shrank from 11.6 per cent to 9.5 per cent over the year.

Latin America was a particularly key market for Nokia, with the value of sales up 31 per cent year-on-year and 28 per cent quarter-on-quarter. Sales in Greater China were also up 21 per cent year-on-year, although down 6 per cent quarter-on-quarter, while in Asia-Pacific sales were down year-on-year but up 13 per cent since the first quarter.

Net sales in Nokia’s biggest market Europe remained fairly stable, while North America recorded a 16 per cent decline year-on-year. The Middle East and Africa saw a 10 per cent fall in net sales year-on-year and a seven per cent negative swing quarter-on-quarter.

Sales of feature phones were down four per cent year-on-year to €3.4 billion, although business in what Nokia reports as ‘converged mobile phones’, including smartphones and mobile computers, added 12 per cent to net sales year-on-year to take it to €3.4 billion.

Nokia said the total volume of mobile devices it sold during the quarter was 111.1 million, an eight per cent growth year-on-year. It estimates 338 million units were shipped by the industry as a whole during the second quarter, up 14 per cent over 2009, giving it a 33 per cent market share.

Nokia added that the industry as a whole shipped 59 million smartphones and mobile computers during the quarter, while it moved 24 million units over the same period. This was up 42 per cent from a year ago and gives Nokia a 41 per cent market share, according to its own estimates.

In terms of volume, North America was the only market to see a year-on-year fall, down 19 per cent, with Latin America accounting for 11.2 million of the 111.1 million units shipped, a 26 per cent increase.

Price pressures and higher sales of lower priced smartphones led Nokia’s average selling price (ASP) to decline from €64 in the second quarter of 2009 to €61 in the second quarter of 2010.

The ASP decline was more marked for smartphones than feature phones, and fell from €181 in 2009 to €143 this year. Quarter-on-quarter, there was a €12 decrease in the smartphone ASP, which was cited as result of “price pressure in certain high-end smartphones”, namely the iPhone 4, and a strategy to sell devices at a lower price point to reach a wider group of consumers.

Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said: “Despite facing continuing competitive challenges, we ended the second quarter with several reasons to be optimistic about our future.

“For one, the global handset market has continued to grow at a healthy pace, led by some of the less mature markets where Nokia is strong. We are also encouraged by the solid second quarter performance of our mobile phones business, helped by an improving line-up of affordable models.”

Nokia said it is working on a family of phones built on the Symbian^3 platform that will give it broader reach and appeal.

Kallasvuo said: “In smartphones, we continue to renew our portfolio. We believe that the Nokia N8, the first of our Symbian^3 devices, will have a user experience superior to that of any smartphone Nokia has created.

“The Nokia N8 will be followed soon thereafter by further Symbian^3 smartphones that we are confident will give the platform broader appeal and reach, and kick-start Nokia’s fightback at the higher end of the market.”