2010 has been touted as the year mobile internet will become mainstream, and as such the big players are already at each other's throats.
The first major upset of the year comes in the guise of a new lawsuit that has been filed against Apple - maker of the hugely successful iPhone - by longstanding mobile phone manufacturer Nokia.
The suit is the third in a series of actions the two firms have launched against each other. In October, Nokia launched an action that claimed Apple had infringed 10 Nokia patents. Last month, Apple filed a countersuit alleging that Nokia had infringed 13 patents. The third of the series sees Nokia alleging that Apple has infringed a further seven patents in versions of the iPhone, MacBook, iPod and other products.
There is no love lost between the two companies. Nokia's Paul Melin has said that Apple has attempted to "free-ride on the back of Nokia investment in wireless standards." Apple's Bruce Sewell has pointedly remarked that "companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours".
The immediate winners, of course, will be the lawyers. But with so much at stake in the mobile internet market, it's hard to see either company backing down, no matter what an online PR disaster the battle might become.
