Apple is trying to boost its smartphone market share in Japan by teaming up with the largest local mobile operator, NTT Docomo. Through this agreement, the latter will officially offer the new iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, that were unveiled during a special event yesterday, in the land of the rising sun.

"NTT Docomo has built an impressive network, the largest in the nation with over 60 million customers", says Apple CEO Tim Cook. The large userbase should allow the Cupertino, Calif.-based corporation to grab a bigger slice of the Japanese smartphone market, which is heavily dominated by Android handsets. "We've enjoyed tremendous success with iPhone in Japan, in fact it's the top selling smartphone in the country, and we look forward to delivering iPhone into even more customers' hands through NTT Docomo", adds Cook.

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One of the key features of the new Apple iPhone 5S is the fingerprint sensor built into the home button. This allows users to unlock the device, and even authorize iTunes purchases, simply by pressing a digit against the laser cut sapphire crystal. So now when someone steals your phone, they’ll have to also steal one of your fingers at the same time.

It’s another attempt to replace the password and PIN, and we’ve seen a few of those over the years. Windows 8 even lets you sign in using a picture as an alternative. But the truth is, as exciting as fingerprint scanners and other forms of futuristic security measures seem, the password is here to stay for a while yet. And that’s a problem.

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I have vague memories of Windows Mobile from some previous life...it's like a nightmare that I can't escape, though I am pretty sure it was a dream in that dark, distant era. Fast-forward to today and I have found myself torn between two mobile operating systems and thankfully neither is that early CE-based mess that Microsoft pushed on customers and businesses lapped up -- when they were not swayed by BlackBerry.

Since those heady days I have settled down to Android, as many of my colleagues here use. However, I cannot help but stray my eye to other possibilities and Windows Phone 8 intrigued me enough to take a shot. The hardware and software (I'm using the Nokia Lumia 928) grabbed me, but the lack of apps did not. Still, it proved smooth and usable. My Galaxy Nexus was set aside, becoming a glorified MP3 player because I cannot live without Google Music All Access or Beyond Pod.

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As the market gears up for the new iPhone, research from analysts Forrester and mobile engagement company OpenMarket offers some insight into the struggles companies are having to incorporate the use of mobile devices into their business models.

The study of 167 enterprises in the USA, commissioned by OpenMarket, examines how in the era of smartphones, tablets and BYOD, organizations are adapting to the widespread shift to mobile -- both internally and among their customers. It found that 74 percent of businesses surveyed regard mobile as a priority, however, their IT departments are struggling to build and manage mobile solutions using their existing skills and technologies.

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Today, Apple announced two new iPhones, the 5S and 5C. Sadly, through various leaks and rumors, the wind was taken out of the fruit logo company's sails; the element of surprise was lost. Surprise or not, either way, both new smartphones look really well made, attractive and full-featured. There is only one problem -- no one cares.

Well, "no one cares" is an exaggeration. I'm sure existing iPhone users care and these phones will sell well. Unfortunately, it won't be enough to lure the people Apple really needs to target -- first-time smartphone buyers and Android users. In other words, Google will continue to erode Apple's market-share, one chomp at a time.

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Most Windows programs are controlled by "messages", signals which keep it up-to-date with what’s happening (you’ve moved the mouse) or tell it what to do: close down, perhaps.

If you’re thinking "so what?", then you may have a point. The typical PC user doesn’t have to know anything about this at all. If you’d like to automate common tasks via scripts or shortcuts, though, it may be worth looking at how this system can work for you.

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There were so many leaks prior to today's announcements at Cupertino that we pretty much already knew what to expect. Apple has taken the wrapper off the latest version of the iPhone and the company has stuck to its recent release schedule of following up a major iPhone with an S edition -- the iPhone 5S. Visually, things are very much the same as before, but in addition to black and white models, there's also the light gold colored model -- colors we now know should be referred to as space gray, silver and gold.

The promise to "brighten everyone's day" seems to have meant not only an addition to the color options for the iPhone 5C and 5S, but also new features. While the 5C retains the same processor as in the 5, the 5S boasts a new A7 processor which is the world's only 64-bit chip in a smartphone. iOS 7 has been re-engineered as a 64-bit operating system, but the chip is capable of running 32-bit and 64-bit apps. Apple claims the processor is double the speed of the iPhone 5 according to the graph they showed. And the processor now supports OpenGL|ES 3.0, the same as Nexus 7.

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Apple changed the smartphone market dramatically with the original iPhone, which launched in mid-2007. The company took the world by surprise as it reenvisioned the basic smartphone concept by forgoing the (typical) unintuitive user interfaces and adopting a simpler, hardware and software, design instead. The iPhone had turned Apple into the top smartphone vendor, a title which the Cupertino, Calif.-based corporation can no longer claim today. Why?

The short answer is "Android". The long one is a bit more complicated. Apple began changing the smartphone market in 2007, but the smartphone market changed as well since then. The iPhone was and still is a flagship product, a high-end handset with the price to reflect it. Consumers, however, have been slowly moving away from that price range and type of device to cheaper, mid-range and low-end products. According to an IDC report from June, the smartphone average selling price (ASP) dropped from $443 in 2011 to $372 in the first half of 2013, and is expected to drop even further, to $309 by 2017. That is a price-bracket that Apple could not tap into, as it had no product to fight with. The iPhone 5C, that the company just unveiled during a special event, is designed to change that.

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As you’ll no doubt be aware Apple is currently hosting an iPhone event at its Cupertino, Calif.-based home. Like all Apple events, proceedings started with an impressive figure -- Apple will ship its 700 millionth iOS device next month -- and then after a brief look at the free iTunes Festival, we got a recap of what the next version of Apple's mobile operating system has to offer us.

The Jony Ive designed iOS 7 has a flatter, functional design and the skeumorphism -- faux wooden bookshelves, green felt and the like -- is no more. The icons have been redesigned, the typeface changed, and there’s new pallet of colors. Siri has been massively improved too. Apple also engineered iOS 7 to take full advantage of the advanced 64-bit technologies in the iPhone 5s, including the native 64-bit kernel, libraries and drivers. The built-in apps have been re-engineered for 64-bit as well.

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In August, Microsoft's search engine Bing launched a contest for all the photographers out there, calling for them to submit images for a chance to win a rather nice prize package. Professionals and amateurs alike were invited to send in images depicting hometown pride by grabbing a stunning shot of the local environment.

Today this contest reaches its most crucial juncture. Bing has narrowed the choices down to ten and now the decision moves to the people.

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Okay, it was an easy joke, I confess, but thanks to recent Surface sales, the concept is perhaps not too far from the truth. One division at Microsoft which delivers a large part of corporate revenue is Office. The latest version, Office 2013/365, blurs the lines between desktop and web app, and is powering an increasing number of large businesses and government offices.

Now, hot on the heels of caving to developers yesterday by releasing Windows 8.1 to TechNet and MSDN subscribers, the software giant announces yet another altruistic gesture, this time donating Office 365 to non-profit organizations. "Today we are donating to nonprofits and NGOs access to Microsoft’s best-in-class cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools, enabling them to spend fewer resources and time on IT and focus on their missions addressing global issues, such as disease eradication, education and literacy, and environmental sustainability,” says Jean-Philippe Courtois, president of Microsoft International.

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When it comes to the humble web browser, the fundamentals haven’t changed an awful lot over the years. Even when porting the browser to a tablet, developers have traditionally steered a conservative line and have either scaled up a mobile browser or attempted to replicate the desktop interface in a touchscreen environment.

For those who find web browsing on the iPad more fiddly than it should be, rejoice: Opera Software has attempted to reinvent the tablet browser with the release of Coast by Opera.

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Google is renowned for its lack of Windows Phone support. The search giant has only released one app for the tiled smartphone operating system, and that is basically just a portal to the mobile Google Search page. Windows Phone users get none of the popular apps launched on Android or iOS -- YouTube, Gmail, Google Drive or Google Now. That doesn't look like it will change in the near future, unless Windows Phone's market share is significant enough for the company to notice (which is a far-fetched scenario anyway).

Sadly, Google also shows its lack of Windows Phone support at browser level. Those who wish to access the Gmail website from a handset running the tiled OS are greeted with a plain ugly interface, while Android, iOS and even BlackBerry users get treated to the latest smartphone-optimized design. As a Windows Phone user I had hoped that this would change, but it looks like Google has other plans in mind, as, surprisingly, it considers the tiled smartphone OS to be of the feature phone kind.

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Just like Brian (despite his niggles), Android is my mobile operating system of choice. I was once a diehard iOS user -- my old iPhone 3GS is still one of my favorite phones of all time -- but I've also been known to experiment with other mobile platforms.

Back in the days before smartphones, I had handsets from Nokia, Sony, Samsung, LG and numerous others that have been lost in the mists of time. My first smartphone was a rebranded HTC handset going under the guise of an Orange SPV M3100. It ran Windows Mobile, had a slideout keyboard and was amazing.

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With the launch of a new iPhone on the horizon you can almost sense the forming of a queue each time you go past an Apple store. But Apple isn't the only company with new products either already launched or in the pipeline. In fact 2013 has been something of a bumper year for technology releases.

The FinancesOnline website has produced a handy infographic showing this year's stand-out gadgets and those that are still to come. In the smartphone market most of the interest was at the top end. HTC and Sony joined the premium smartphone battle with new products this year with the Google Nexus 5 still to come.

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