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The mobile applications store market is becoming mind-bogglingly complicated, leaping from just two stores to about a dozen within a couple of months, and with Acer the latest company reported to be joining the fray. And while we may have already been confused by the dividing line between Nokia's Ovi Store and the planned Symbian marketplace, Nokia is now muddying the waters further by deciding to exclude its N-Gage gaming service from its store - even though N-Gage was only recently hailed as a key Ovi component, and with Apple's App Store reporting games as its leading revenue generator.

Nokia's decision suggests that N-Gage may be put on the back burner. It has had a chequered history, starting as a device to take on the Nintendo and Sony handheld consoles - and ahead of its time as an integrated web services smartphone - and then being reinvented as a software platform within the Ovi family. However, games publishers have complained of a difficult business model and complex testing processes, so it may be that Nokia will now look to create a brand new gaming offering, more in line with its MusicStore and Comes With Music structures, and rebrand this within Ovi.

One thing is sure - it will not abandon mobile gaming. The iPhone App Store now has 6,300 games on offer, about one-quarter of its total catalog. Nokia would only say that mass market games would, in future, form part of an umbrella Ovi Store concept and brand. The shop is set to go live in May and some major games developers, such as EA, have already agreed to support it. A spokesperson said N-Gage would be retained as a specialist platform for high end devices and hard core gamers, but that may be a kind way of saying the product will be phased out.

Meanwhile, having unveiled four Windows Mobile smartphones at last month's Mobile World Congress, and four more at last week's CeBIT show in Germany, Acer told Mobile Entertainment that it was considering opening its own store to host Windows Mobile applications. Acer's senior VP in charge of smart handhelds, Aymar de Lencquesaing, said it could also consider devices powered by Android, and so these apps would then be included in the store. Acer would find itself competing with Microsoft Skymarket in Windows, Google Android Market, and various cross-platform shops hosted by operators or independents.

All this points to a sector that is becoming hopelessly fragmented, with all the parties fighting for the best slice of the revenue pie.

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