Music Ally

Microsoft says that when its Windows Marketplace for Mobile app store launches this Autumn, it will have around 600 certified apps available. That’s less than iPhone and Android, obviously (50,000 and 5,000 respectively), but more than the Palm Pre, which currently has 30. Microsoft’s store will allow people to pay by credit card or on their operator bill, and there’ll be a 24-hour return policy for apps if they’re not happy.

We’ve written a fair bit about promotional music apps on iPhone for artists like Pink, Snow Patrol, Lady GaGa and Soulja Boy. But what about iPhone apps that let you create music of your own? There are hundreds available, and as yesterday’s viral video from UK band The Mentalists showed, they can be put to innovative use.

We’ve put together ten of our favourites, based on our last few months of messing about on iPhone. They’re not all serious (Bebot – Robot Synth is marvellously silly), but they do hint at the potential for Apple’s handset as a music-making device. Each one comes with a YouTube video demo so you can see what we’re on about. Well, nearly each one.

1. technoBox (£5.99). It’s a 303 bass machine plus 808 and 909 drum machines in one app, with a tactile touch interface. As a technical achievement it’s hugely impressive, although if we’re honest, the appeal for us is simply blasting out squiggly acid bloops. Get it

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Nokia has unveiled its new mobile app store which it hopes will take on Apple’s App Store. It’s called Ovi Store, and will launch in May, replacing Nokia’s existing Nokia Download, MOSH and WidSets services.

In some respects it’s like the App Store on iPhone: users browse and buy apps on their handset, and developers get the same 70% revenue share as Apple offers.

However, the scale is one differentiator – Nokia says Ovi Store will work on more than 50 million handsets at launch (it’ll be a downloadable client), and plans to be preloading it on 300 million handsets a year by 2012 – not just high-end smartphones, but mid-range devices too.

Also intriguing is Nokia’s promise that Ovi Store is “smarter” than the iPhone App Store. It includes recommendation tech to serve up content and apps based on each user’s habits, past purchases and even their current location. Apple may need to find a way to tweak its Genius tech to work with the App Store to catch up.

Shazam has already signed up as a content provider, as have MySpace, Facebook and Electronic Arts. Companies – including music services – are being invited to join them by registering at the publish.ovi.com website