Possibly thanks to a chatty Emirates Telecom/Etisalat executive, we have some more details about when we might see a new iPhone handset: June. While not directly attributed to Mark Davis, iPhone program director at Etisalat, a quote in the report reads that the "next version of the device, which is due out in June, will be launched in the UAE at the same time." Analysts had been hoping for a new iPhone handset sometime during the first half of the year. [Via AppleInsider.]

Nokia is apparently readying smartphones that contain touch technology, advanced 3G connectivity, and multimedia functions in a bid to regain control of the mobile phone market. The devices, so far named "IP08" and "Eitri" will have touch capability, but it's unclear if either device will raise Apple's ire when it comes to protecting its intellectual property surrounding multi-touch gestures. The "Eitri" model will allegedly feature haptic feedback, as well. [Via Electronista.]

Finally, MacRumors.com has some tidbits about what Apple is doing to replace the so-far-missing Push Notification System that Mike mentioned this morning. Instead, Arnold Kim hears that Apple may allow one or two "user-selectable background processes" on current hardware with a software update, and more processes on new hardware (thanks to hardware improvements). [Via MacRumors.]

While Apple stock is up over seven percent since its positive earnings report and conference call yesterday afternoon, both Nokia and Microsoft have released dourer reports about their financial outlook.

Microsoft said that it will lay off up to 5,000 people, about five percent of its workforce, over the next year and a half, according to the Seattle P-I. 1,400 of those jobs would be eliminated today. The news comes as the company announced earnings per share two cents less than their quarterly guidance -- 47 cents versus 49 cents -- on revenues of $16.63 billion. Analysts had expected revenues upwards of $17 billion.

Nokia today posted a 69 percent drop in profits for its last quarter. Nokia stock earned 15 euro-cent per share in profit, compared with 47 euro-cent in the same quarter last year. Sales fell 19 percent to €12.66 billion, missing forecasts of €13 billion.

What can we take away from this? Perhaps this is understating things, but Apple appears to be doing very well against its competitors. In yesterday's conference call, the company announced that it had grown sales and revenue even in the face of challenging worldwide economic conditions. In both retail and iPod sales, much of the growth was outside the United States. Apple sold 88 percent more iPhones than they did the same time last year, although much of that may be attributed to pent-up demand for the iPhone 3G.

At midday, AAPL is $10 higher than its record-low close on Tuesday, trading at around $88 per share. Both NOK and MSFT are trading down about $1.65 each.

[Via Daring Fireball.]

Update: Sony, too: It's posting a record annual loss of $3 billion, and plans to close factories and lay off workers.

Apple saw the iPhone's market share triple over the past year, capturing 12.9 percent of the worldwide smartphone market, according to a new Gartner analysis.

For the quarter ending September 30, iPhones accounted for 3.4 percent of the market in 2007. That figure was more than 3x higher on the same day in 2008.

Nokia is the leader worldwide in smartphone sales, with 42.4 percent of the market. BlackBerry maker Research in Motion comes in second with 15.9 percent. In North America, Apple is in second place behind RIM, with iPhones accounting for over a quarter of all smartphones.

Gartner analyst Roberta Cozza also noted that this quarter marked the first time iPhone sales exceeded those of Windows Mobile devices; that's pretty astonishing when you consider how many flavors of WM handsets are out there.

[Via Macworld.]

Steve Ballmer is imitating his CEO predecessor by suggesting that Apple separate its iPhone hardware from OS X, according to Ars Technica.

Nokia leads the smartphone market today with about a 30 percent share, he said. "If you want to reach more than that, you have to separate the hardware and software in the platform," he said in an discussion forum with the Churchill Club, a Silicon Valley business and technology group.

In 1985, Bill Gates approached Apple (and its then-CEO, John Sculley) with prospects in hand to convince it to license Mac OS to third-party vendors. As we all know, that didn't happen (at least not with Microsoft as a partner), keeping the bond tight between Apple hardware and software. Microsoft wound up doing it themselves with Windows.

The idea that Ballmer thinks other companies should be more like Microsoft isn't shocking at all; in fact, what else was the man supposed to say? Like Jobs with Apple, Ballmer's talks and interviews wield a great deal of influence on Microsoft's stock price. If he said anything other than what he did, MSFT would have taken a hit. As CEO, that's unconscionable.

A spate of bad news surrounding Mobile Me and iPhone 3G quality problems paired with renewed vigor from competitors Microsoft, Dell, and Nokia has Apple running out of slack from the normally fawning press (TUAW certainly not withstanding).

Forbes has a story about why Apple seems to have lost its luster recently. The New York Times is waxing nostalgic with a retrospective article titled Apple Imperfect. The National Post cites TechCrunch's Michael Arrington saying Apple is "rotting" and "flailing badly at the edges."

Consider the parable of the friend. Say you have a good friend, who's trustworthy, reliable and generally happy to be around you. If that friend suddenly isn't glad to see you anymore, swears at the elderly and starts drinking cheap bourbon from a hip flask in meetings, you'd say something, right? At least you'd worry that your friend was on the wrong path.

That's where we find Apple today: A friend on the wrong path. Many have noted that a lack of transparency in admitting its mistakes is hurting its credibility. The fact that it's making mistakes in the first place is generally forgivable, but we've been spoiled by Apple's pristine track record of consistently delivering quality. As consumers, we want the quality back. If anything, our expectations are even higher now to properly correct the various perceived injustices we've suffered.

Taking the long view, Apple will pull out of its funk. Knowing Steve Jobs, it will do so in a spectacular fashion, too, with new products, product improvements, or both. Apple isn't suffering from a lack of talent or innovation. It's suffering from management problems that any company of its size faces on a daily basis: scheduling new products, preventing employee burnout, and managing logistics.

We're nowhere near Apple's nadir under Gil Amelio, over a decade ago. In fact, investors don't seem to be fazed at all, with stock prices rebounding to their levels in May. Apple may already be back.

This morning, reigning iPhone hack-king NerveGas compiled and installed sshd2 and ssh on his iPhone. So what does this mean? It shows that the first steps have been taken towards allowing the iPhone to natively ssh out. For all of you who are inclined to say "Oh ssh, my Nokia can do that... pffft", remember we're still in iPhone's early days. And, no, there isn't a GUI version yet. If you need ssh on your iPhone right now, you'll need to use a Web-based solution. Want to learn more? Head over to #iphone-shell at irc.osx86.hu.

Thanks to the whole iphone-shell gang.

Remember, the mobile industry is one where some of the biggest companies in the world have tried and failed: Siemens, Philips, Fujitsu. None of them have creditable [sic] market shares. Even IBM put a toe in the water in the late nineties and then stayed away.

In related news, Coke just wuvs Pepsi, McDonalds is grateful for Burger King's latest offerings and, um, you might want to check your wallet.