ABI Research says the number of mobile machine-to-machine connections grew by 26.2% in 2011, rising from a cumulative total of 87.7 million connections worldwide in 2010 to 110.6 million connections at the end of 2011.

That figure is expected to reach 364.5 million connections by 2016, which is the equivalent of a 27% increase each year.

There are some interesting partnerships discussed in today's podcast, including bada & Tizen, Intel & Motorola and LG & Microsoft. Plus there's the rest of the week's industry news, from UK 4G coverage to Apple's riotous iPhone launch in China.

Car manufacturer Nissan has announced what it’s calling the world’s first self-healing iPhone case. It uses Nissan’s Scratch Shield paint, which was developed several years ago in collaboration with the University of Tokyo and Advanced Softmaterials Inc.

The paint is currently an option on a number of Nissan vehicles including the Murano, 370Z and X-Trail.

Construction equipment manufacturer JCB has its name on a new limited edition smartphone from Motorola Mobility UK.

The Motorola DEFY+ JCB Edition takes the standard ‘life-proof’ DEFY+ and puts it inside a protective sleeve. It also comes pre-loaded with bespoke JCB applications including a spirit level, theodolite, decibel meter and recorder, torch, unit converter, calculator and DIY store locator. In addition, it’s supplied with a car charger that has an extra-long curly cable.

A new report from Deloitte says sales of smartphones costing under $100 are expected to more than double this year. The consultancy has calculated there’ll be at least 500 million of these low-cost devices in use worldwide by the end of this year.

It’s thought around 200 million sub-$100 smartphones were being used at the end of 2011.