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T-Mobile takes a cue from the Apple iPhone app store.  This fall the carrier tears down the wall and opens the deck on all its phones with a platform virtually any developer can use.

Word comes from, T-Mobile’s director of Mobile Applications and Partner Programs Venetia Espinoza:

“T-Mobile is working with the industry to foster an open wireless services platform which will provide developers with the tools and information they need to make new, innovative experiences available to T-Mobile’s more than 31.5M customers. The devPartner Community site, which is in its alpha stage, is just a taste of what T-Mobile has in store and we encourage you to stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.”

The impact has the potential to be significant.  With T-Mobile’s 31.5 million U.S. subs the stage is set for an outburst of application development.

Developers will submit apps for review and when the green light goes on enter into a rev share with T-Mobile.

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Do cell phones really cause cancer?

There is no firm evidence. But there is growing curiosity. And there are conflicting views.

At the Montefiore Medical Center in New York, Neurosurgery Department Chair Dr. Eugene Flamm says that the notion that cell phones may cause brain tumors because of the electromagnetic waves they emit “defies credibility.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration claims there are “no harmful effects.”

The World Health Organization says there are are no known risks and people using cell phones don’t need to take precautions.

The source of cell phone cancer concern is not debatable. Cell phones do indeed emit non-ionizing radiation. These are energy waves. They are not powerful waves, and based on what we know today they are not powerful enough to break bonds inside cells. They are not powerful enough to disrupt DNA.

But the cell phone cancer issue boils down to what we don’t know. There has been no long term research. “It takes at least 10, 20 or 30 years to see exposure to cancer.” says Dr. Siegal Sadetski with the Tel Aviv University.

The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer is looking into the issue. It is pulling together different pieces of research which have already been conducted.

Later this year, the WHO will release some of the results of this project, called Interphone.

The United States is not taking part in this project. Participating countries are the UK, Australia, Canada, Finland, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden.

Interphone has done previous research into other phone related health issues. For instance, it found no dangers of cancer from the RF waves between base stations and cordless phones.

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The future of the touchscreen phone is the story of dramatically growing demand. IMS Research forecasts sales of 230 million touch-screen handsets by 2012, up from 30 million in 2007.Here’s what’s happening.

First, more manufacturers getting onboard. Second, touch-screens are showing up on more types of devices, not just smartphones.

Nokia will soon launch a mass appeal touch-screen phone.

The thirst for touch-screens is strong. Samsung’s Instinct is a hit. Sprint says the Samsung Instinct is its best-selling EV-DO device ever.

LG sold seven million touch-screen devices in July.

Apple sold a million new 3G iPhones a day the first three days of release. And not surprising, it is the parade of manufacturers following Apple’s lead that is manoeuvring to tap into the touch-screen demand.

As IMS Research analyst Femi Omoni puts it..

“The original iPhone was the catalyst that created this huge market interest in touchscreen phones. The fact that it was not only popular with consumers, but also helped drive data revenues proved how important touchscreen handsets can be. Now all of the network operators and handset manufacturers want a piece of the pie.”

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Overall, the Samsung Instinct is a fine phone. Its CNET Editor’s rating is a solid 8.2.

But if you are considering the Samsung Instinct, keep in mind that the call quality is not that great.A few other shortcomings to keep in mind…

• No Wi-Fi

• No photo editing

• Clunky browser

• No Instant Messaging

• Not much internal memory

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It’s not winning any design accolades, but it’s a good smart phone and a good deal.

Pricetag: $99.95 after a $70 mail-in rebate. Text messaging, voice, e-mail and web browsing are $29.99 monthly… unlimited web and e-mail use.

The Palm Centro can be tethered to a laptop via USB via Verizon’s BroadbandAccess Connect plan at $30 monthly.

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