The starting gun was fired today by the world's leading technology companies in the race to offer services via the 'internet of the future'.

Apple, MySpace, and Nokia, three of the biggest technology firms offering internet or internet-related services, have announced they would allow other companies to provide products which would work on their web platforms.

The 'open door' policy will free them from each having to develop every type of service under their own brand.

The decision by three giants to 'open up their platforms' - meaning that other companies can provide services via, say, an iPhone - signals a shift in thinking away from the so-called 'walled garden' approach - where devices and content were not compatible - to a more collaborative environment, where significant amounts of information are shared.

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In a flurry of announcements at the world's largest internet conference, in San Francisco:

Nokia released its latest smart phone - the N810 - and said that developers would be free to write applications for it, which owners of the devices would be able to install via Ovi, the company's internet services platform; and

MySpace announced that "within months" is would enable any developer to write applications for its website, following a decision taken by Facebook, the rival social networking site, in May.

Separately, Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, announced that early next year his company would do a similar thing for the iPhone, saying he wanted to create "a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone, enabling hundreds of new applications for our users."

"The open platform" is fast becoming the the next big phase of the development for the internet, and companies - like handset manufacturers - whose products offer web-based services are quickly signing on.

In the past, companies such as Apple and Nokia have guarded their 'platforms' fiercely, preferring to develop everything themselves, but as people increasingly access a range of services via the web - social networking sites, internet telephony, and music downloads, for instance - they are demanding to access them on any site or device they choose.

Developers are in turn writing applications for such sites - Facebook being the most notable example in recent months - which users are then able to install and customise as they see fit.

"We're going to allow the more than 3.5 million people in the Nokia developer community to support (write applications for) this device," said Anssi Vanjoki, general manager of multi-media at Nokia, as he released the company's new 'internet tablet' handset, the N810.

Chris de Wolfe, the founder and chief executive of MySpace, the world's largest social networking site, said that from a couple of months' time, developers would be free to write applications for his site, and in turn that MySpace users would be able to access their MySpace page from other platforms and devices via a small tool sometimes called a 'widget'.

"The more deals we can do where users can port at least a portion of MySpace profile to another site, the better," Mr de Wolfe told an audience at the Web 2.0 Summit.

Mr de Wolfe said the company had done a deal with Skype to offer its services via MySpace, adding that developers would be able to make money by selling services via the site.

Earlier in the day, Facebook, which 'opened up' its platform in a similar way six months ago, reiterated the importance of allowing developers to write so-called 'third party applications', but stressed it would not become a site through which media companies could syndicate their content.

"To the extent that someone wants to build an application based on a specific type of media, that's not really something we'd want to go after," the company's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, said.

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