phone maker

Last year, Palm thought it had all the pieces for a turnaround in the market it pioneered: A new CEO known for making the iPod a household name, a sleek new smart phone called the Pre and fresh, intuitive operating software.

Instead, the company is in danger of going the way of its 1990s Palm Pilot, making it the latest innovator to learn that great technology and an accomplished leader don't guarantee success.

Apple's App Store has reached two billion downloads. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company has been promoting both its iPhone and its App Store as rivals have launched new smartphones and online app stores.

With more than 85,000 apps available to 50 million plus iPhone and iPod touch customers and 125,000 developers, Apple said its store continues to be a success.

Motorola took the cover off its first Android-powered device on Thursday. The CLIQ will be available through T-Mobile USA in the fourth quarter. But analysts said the CLIQ alone can't rescue Motorola from its recent woes.

The CLIQ will run on MOTOBLUR, Motorola's rendition of the Android operating system. MOTOBLUR manages and integrates e-mail, social networking, and other communications on the handset and delivers them to the home screen in a stream organized by contact.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs, just back from a medical leave of absence, wasted no time trumpeting the success of the App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch. The store has had 1.5 billion downloads since its launch a year ago.

Jobs' announcement may be an attempt by Apple to put a lid on recent questions about the App Store's success and revenue. Apple hasn't revealed if it is making huge profits on the store or if the money spent to maintain the venture is more than the revenue from purchased apps.

LG Electronics has joined its rival mobile-phone makers in launching its own online store for applications. The Seoul, Korea-based company and world's number-three handset maker will launch the beta version of the app store on Tuesday.

The LG app store located at www.lgapplication.com will first launch in Asia-Pacific nations, including Malaysia, Singapore and Australia, and will offer LG users 1,400 applications, including 100 free programs, in 15 different languages. The company said it plans to have 2,000 apps available to nations in Europe and South America by year's end.

Nokia is attempting to make a splash this summer with a new phone and a new app store to go with it. Executives from the Finnish phone maker have been teasing about an application store dubbed Ovi for some time, but this week Niklas Savander, Nokia's executive vice president of services, told Forbes it will launch as the largest app store to date, boasting 20,000 apps.

The number of mobile phone operating systems is on the rise, with Apple and Google the most notable entrants of late.

While Apple, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion and Palm develop their own operating systems just for themselves, the following systems battle for handset makers and consumers in the open market:

Symbian

Symbian leads the market for software platforms, but has lost much ground over the last year to Apple and RIM.

The much-anticipated Android-based T-Mobile G1 hit store shelves and became available for online purchase Wednesday, but T-Mobile's exclusive offering and partnership with Google may not be enough to boost the carrier.

Because T-Mobile's G1 is the first smartphone powered by Android, it has fueled interest by consumers.