Sir Richard Branson has been announced as one of the new investors in Square Inc, although neither party has revealed the amount of investment involved.

The mobile payment company, which launched a year ago, has supplied over 800,000 card readers to merchants and is currently processing over $2 billion in payments annually.

Security researcher Charlie Miller from Accuvant has found a flaw in Apple’s App Store, demonstrating how it’s possible to create a malicious application that is accepted into the store.

Although all apps need to pass Apple’s review process, Mr Miller created a ‘proof of concept’ app that appeared benign but was able to steal data after receiving an online update.

Vodafone has published its half-year financial report for the six months that ended on 30th September 2011. It made £6.0 billion in operating profit and now expects to hit £11.4 - £11.8 billion for the full year, which is better than it anticipated six months ago.

Group revenue was up 4.1% year-on-year to £23.5 billion, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) were up 2.3% to £7.5 billion.

Telefonica UK has appointed Claire Valoti as Managing Director of its O2 Media business with effect from January 2012. She’s taking over from Shaun Gregory, the ex-Blyk CEO who joined the company in February 2009.

O2 Media delivers personalised targeted messaging to customers and is responsible for the O2 More loyalty scheme, which has over six million customers.

France Télécom-Orange and the Publicis Groupe advertising business are planning to launch a new venture capital fund.

The fund - which is starting with a 150 million Euro investment from the two companies - will help budding entrepreneurs in Europe’s digital economy. Additional funding from other investors is expected to bring total funding to 300 million Euro.