CTIA mobile gems of 2009: Day 1

Welcome to Gadgetell’s round up of the hottest action coming from Las Vegas, Nevada’s CTIA show. Opening day has been sprinkled some interesting developments, both at the show and those looking to preempt it a bit. Here is what is happening today:

Blackberry App World

Blackberry (finally) launched its App store. App World, brings together a bunch of apps users probably didn’t know existed and puts them in one place. Bloggers have been arguing all day on whether or not this service is of any worth. The store requires a PayPal account for now, trackball or touch screen and 4.2 OS. Easy enough, right?

The store itself looks good. 200+ apps already in there. Right now, apps are $2.99 and up. To be as big a hit as Apple’s version? We’ll see.

HTC Snap

Though it won’t be called that by HTC in the US (though I will be, I promise you that, HTC), this phone looks pretty snazzy. Many have compared it to the BlackBerry Bold and for a Windows Mobile 6.1 phone coming this summer, it doesn’t look that bad. Besides good looks, it’s got “Inner Circle” that culls your favorites messages to the top of your email. Inner Circle is an interesting filtering concept that I am sure we are going to hear lots more about.

WiFi, AGPS/GPS, microSD, and more. This, too, is one to watch.

Palm looks set to announce old apps are Pre apps!

Dieter from PreCentral says his tour of the Pre included an icon they didn’t mention that says, “Classic” which he infers to mean the webOS that runs on the Pre will emulate the old Palm OS so all those apps hanging around can run on the Pre immediately. Could the Pre hit the ground running a 1000 apps strong? Looks promising.

Nokia aims to identify everything with Point & Find

Nokia announced the beta version of their Point & Find program that aims to provide users with more information based on things they point their phone at. The beta is releasing in the US (holy cow, Nokia cares about the US???) and the UK (phew!).

However, I am totally suspect:

“With Nokia Point & Find, businesses are able to target engaging experiences and calls-to-action to consumers,” said Philipp Schloter, general manager of Nokia Point & Find.

Ways to scam advertising dollars aside, Nokia’s got something here. Similar to WikiTude that identifies landmarks via Wikipedia entries, Nokia’s scheme could have huge potential. things like museums where users need only point their phone at the Mona Lisa to learn she is not smiling and in fact, not a her (guessing here). I could see this idea working on many levels.

Wait till you see what Day 2 brings!