Niklas Savander

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.

Finnish handset maker Nokia has taken GPS a step further with the announcement Monday that it is acquiring Plazes, the developer of a social-networking Web site that lets friends locate each other.

Currently in beta, the Berlin-based Plazes site lets users update their locations and activities using either Plazes software or by sending text messages. Users can subscribe to activity streams from their friends or groups of friends, as well as to streams from specific locations.