2nd January, 2009 The world's largest mobile phone company has been slow to bring in touchphone technology to rival Apple's iPhone and the BlackBerry Storm. A month ago Nokia launched its N97, which it dubbed the "world's most advanced mobile computer". It combines a 3.5 inch touch-screen with a slide-out Qwerty keyboard. But the launch came almost a year and a half after Apple's pioneering device hit the market. One of the most important battles now is for supremacy in the so-called 'smartphone' market - for phones that also surf the web, provide access to email and have other features like music players and route planners. Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia's chief executive, admitted the company had been "a follower" in terms of touch-sceen technology. Nokia recorded a fall in smartphone sales in the third quarter of 2008, according to research company Gartner. But it wants to regain the initiative by becoming the world's largest maker of touch-screen phones. To that aim it also launched a more basic touch-screen phone last October, the 5800. Growth in these top-end markets is likely to be crucial in 2009, when Nokia predicts handset sales by all manufacturers will fall for the first time in eight years.
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