Berg Insight has forecast that the real-time mobile location-based advertising and marketing market will grow from a worldwide value of €526 million last year to €6.5 billion (£5.6 billion) in 2017, which is a compound annual growth rate of 65%.

This will be 32.8% of all mobile advertising and marketing, giving location-based advertising and marketing around 5% of the digital advertising market.

O2 UK has created a new tariff that separates the subsidised cost of a mobile phone from a minimum-term airtime contract.

Launching on 16th April, O2 Refresh has a 24-month airtime plan and a separate finance agreement for a ‘phone plan’. Customers who want a new handset before the end of their minimum contract term can pay for the remainder of their Phone Plan and start a new Airtime Plan with no termination fee.

A group of technology companies including Microsoft, Nokia and Oracle has complained to the European Commission about Google’s mobile internet strategy.

The 17 companies are calling themselves FairSearch and describe Google’s distribution of the Android platform as “predatory”.

The UK’s Office of Fair Trading has launched an investigation to find out whether some free web-based games and mobile applications for children are breaking the law.

It’s particularly concerned that games may include a ‘direct exhortation’ encouraging children to make a purchase or persuade their parents to buy advertised products for them, as this is illegal under consumer protection regulations.

Samsung Electronics has released a new ‘phablet’ device with a screen that’s larger than the forthcoming Galaxy S4 smartphone and the pen-equipped Galaxy Note 2.

The Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 is an Android-powered handset with a 6.3-inch screen, a 1.7GHz dual-core processor and an 8 megapixel camera.