The companies hope that piggybacking on the phenomenal success of Apple's "App Store", which allows users to download games and other services, will help them to counter a collapse mobile phone sales. Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, who yesterday launched the company's Windows Marketplace service at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, said the store will take mobile phones to "another level". "It's no longer about how the phone works by itself but how it works with the internet," he said. "It is your instant access to all the people and information that you care about." Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone company, and the network operators O2 and Orange also launched rival stores. Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia's chief executive, said the company will collect 30pc of the revenue paid to software developers, such as EA Games and Lonely Planet, through its Ovi application store. The moves come as the industry tries to find new revenue streams as mobile phone sales are expected to decline by 10pc this year.It will be only the second time the industry has contracted since mobiles were invented in the 1980s.

Analysts expect Apple's App Store to generate more than $800m (£556m) in its first year. Since the service was launched last July more than 500m applications, from games to interactive travel guides, have been downloaded. Tony Cripps, principal analyst at mobile phone consultancy Ovum, said: "Every man and his dog wants an apps store. Apple's has been such a phenomenal success that all the other players are desperately trying to play catch-up as traditional revenues fall."Orange and O2's apps stores – called Orange Portal and O2 Litmus respectively – could anger their mobile phone-making partners as the marketplaces will go head-to-head with their own stores.Yves Maitre, head of Orange Devices, said the launch would help "drive continued demand of mobile broadband use". James Parton, head of O2 Litmus, said: "O2 is creating not just another apps store, but a completely consumer-led series of useful applications". ( www.telegraph.co.uk )

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The death of the digital camera moved a step closer after Sony Ericsson unveiled the world's first mobile phone with a built-in 12.1-megapixel camera. The device, codenamed Idou, will go on sale later this year, and is expected to be available in UK shops in time for Christmas. Sony Ericsson's new handset could render digital cameras obsolete by offering as many megapixels as many semi-professional and consumer cameras. The Idou will also compete directly with Apple's hugely popular iPhone, and features a 3.5in widescreen touch-screen and powerful flash for high quality photos. It also has all the capabilities of Sony Ericsson's Walkman range of phones, which means it can be used for music and video playback as well as taking pictures. The device will run the Symbian mobile phone operating system, and users will be able to download extra software and applications to their device. "The Idou is certainly an impressive change in direction for Sony," said Ernest Doku, a consultant with mobile phone comparison site Omio.com. "Sony has produced a slick, feature-rich handset to combat the iPhone's dominance, and Idou is bound to make waves with its built-in 12-megapixel camera. ( www.telegraph.co.uk )

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Officials from New Mexico's Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory have fessed up to having only just realised that 67 of its computers were missing, with no less than 13 of them having disappeared over the past year alone. A memo leaked by the Project on Government Oversight watchdog brought the lost nuclear laptops to the public's attention, leaving the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration with no choice but to confess. Better than letting the debacle blow up in their faces, we presume. Kevin Roark, a nuclear spin doctor at Los Alamos, confirmed that the lab was now carrying out an inventory check to make sure no additional PCs (or nukes??) were missing. Roark dismissed fears the computers contained highly-sensitive, classified information about how to blow up islands in the South Pacific, noting it was more likely to cause "cybersecurity issues" than issues of national security. In other words, personal information about the lab's staff might be at risk, but none of the lost laptops came equipped with a big red button, so we can all sleep easy. Three of the 13 computers which went missing in the past year were stolen from a scientist's home on Jan. 16 and the memo also mentioned a BlackBerry belonging to another staff member had been lost "in a sensitive foreign country". Could that be Russia? China? Iran? ( www.theinquirer.net )

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