Waretown, NJ – The 2009 Holiday season may be better financially than last year but many are still feeling the economic restraints. Luxury items, such as the traditional Christmas card mailing is out of the question for people who are busy trying to make ends meet. As a viable alternative, they are turning to inexpensive ways to send seasonal wishes, with helloCards topping the list as number one choice.

Nokia has pledged to strike back at Apple and produce mobile phones that will compete effectively with the US technology company’s iPhone. Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, chief executive of Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, said that it was aiming to be “even more competitive” following criticism that it had failed to come up with a handset to match the iPhone. In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Kallasvuo also insisted that Nokia would succeed with its strategy of transforming itself from a mobile manufacturer into a supplier of services on handsets, such as maps and music.

Bloomberg today reports that Americans are splurging on mobile smart phones like they never have before and are catching up to their European and Asian counterparts in handset spending.

Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Gartner said:

“The iPhone has made the U.S. consumer appreciate the value of the mobile phone. North America is the only region where the average phone price will increase this year. Last year, mobile handsets sold in Japan cost 74 percent more than in North America. In Europe, they were 10 percent pricier”.