Blyk, which ran its own ad-funded mobile network in the UK before working with Orange, has launched a consumer mobile phone service with Vodafone in the Netherlands. The two companies announced a partnership deal last July.

Blyk NL promises 1,000 monthly free minutes of Blyk-to-Blyk calls and 1,000 monthly text messages to consumers aged 16 to 29 who top up their account by 10 Euro every three months. As with the UK service, users need to provide their own MMS-capable mobile phone.

Microsoft and Nokia have launched the first application that's been created from the partnership announced last August. It's called Microsoft Communicator Mobile and is a business-focussed communications client for selected Symbian-based Nokia Eseries smartphones.

Communicator Mobile enables users to see their colleagues’ availability from the contacts application. Users can then click to communicate with colleagues using their preferred method, from instant messaging and email to texting or making a phone call.

This new application is available to download for the Nokia E72 and Nokia E52. The two companies plan to pre-install Communicator Mobile on select Nokia smartphones in the future, with support for additional devices also planned.

This week's edition of The Fonecast seems particularly full of big names and large numbers. HP acquires Palm, HTC and Microsoft do a deal over Android, Apple sells a million iPads - and quarterly handset sales show some dramatic increases.

John Forde writes:

As I sit tapping away on a keyboard, here at 30,000 feet above the Atlantic, I can't help but think...

Thank God Arthur Summerfield got it all wrong.

See, Arthur was the U.S. Postmaster General for President 'Ike' Eisenhower. And in 1959, he boldly predicted...

"Before man reaches the moon, your mail will be delivered within hours from New York to Australia by guided missiles. We stand on the threshold of rocket mail."

Imagine. I'd hate to think what spam would look like, under those circumstances.