Mobile phone maker Nokia has vowed to wreak revenge on its competitors in 2009 after slipping behind in the battle of the ‘touchphones’.

The N97 launch came almost a year and a half after Apple’s iPhone hit the market . The world’s largest mobile phone company has been slow to bring in touchphone technology to rival Apple’s iPhone and the BlackBerry Storm.

A month ago Nokia launched its N97, which it dubbed the “world’s most advanced mobile computer”. It combines a 3.5 inch touch-screen with a slide-out Qwerty keyboard.

But the launch came almost a year and a half after Apple’s pioneering device hit the market.

One of the most important battles now is for supremacy in the so-called ’smartphone’ market – for phones that also surf the web, provide access to email and have other features like music players and route planners.

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia’s chief executive, admitted the company had been “a follower” in terms of touch-sceen technology.

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