iPhone takes on Wii Fit for gadget of the year

LONDON (Reuters) - Apple's iPhone is up against a budget laptop, a trio of games consoles and a balloon-shaped iPod speaker system in a vote to find the public's favourite gadget of the year.

The sleek mobile, which combines a phone with a music and video player, went on sale in Britain last November after one of the most hyped product launches in recent years.

It faces tough competition from the latest generation of powerful video game consoles: Sony's PlayStation 3, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii Fit.

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The other two nominees for the readers' vote at the Stuff magazine Gadget Awards are the Asus Eee PC, a no-frills laptop computer, and the B&W Zeppelin, a set of speakers for a digital music player, shaped like an air balloon.

The winner of the online vote (here) will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on Tuesday. The shortlist was chosen by the magazine's editorial staff.

"After a lot of heated debate and only minor scuffles, we hope that we've narrowed it down to what we consider is the cream of this year's gadget crop," said Simon Osborne-Walker, Stuff's publishing manager.

Other categories cover everything from the best televisions and cameras to the coolest toy and the most blatant example of product placement in a film.

The best video game nominations include "Grand Theft Auto 4", a sprawling gangster epic; "Halo 3", a "first-person shooter" set in the 26th century and "Guitar Hero 3", where players use a plastic guitar to emulate their rock idols.