Mark Bridge writes:

We’ve previously talked on The Fonecast about ‘superphones’ - a relatively arbitrary description for high-end smartphones. Google described its Nexus One as a superphone when it was launched at the beginning of 2010 - although it’s also what Dr Who’s companion called her upgraded Nokia 3200 in 2005.

Now Strategy Analytics has a definition and a growth forecast.

Mark Bridge writes:

When it came to telephones, my granny was an early adopter. She had a landline phone for as long as I can remember - and that’s quite a while when you consider the town only got an automatic telephone exchange two years after I was born. Recent research has now suggested that my granny was also well ahead of the game when it came to consumer behaviour.

Mark Bridge writes:

I’m reminded of a sketch from BBC TV’s ‘The Young Ones’ in 1982. The four horsemen of the apocalypse are waiting around.

“What’s new?”, asks Pestilence. “Microchip technology”, replies one of the others. “That’s quite a new thing, isn’t it?”

Quite new. It’s probably the best description for much of last week’s mobile industry news.

Mark Bridge writes:

Security is often a balancing act - and security on mobile devices is no exception. If procedures and processes aren't tough enough, you'll compromise the security of the information you're protecting. But if your security is too tight or if it seems too complicated to an end user, that user is likely to find a way round your security by doing something else instead.

Mark Bridge writes:

Atria Books, part of the Simon & Schuster publishing family, has released what it’s calling the first-ever smart book. A thousand copies of ‘The Impulse Economy’ by Gary Schwartz will have an NFC sticker attached, providing a web link to book-related content.

Hmmm. That’s not really a smart book, is it?  The same kind of logic means my NFC credit card turns my wallet into a ‘smart wallet’ and transforms the pocket of my jeans into ‘smart jeans’. It means my NFC-equipped smartphone is a smart smartphone.

Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge return to review their mobile industry predictions from last year. Which mergers, partnerships and developments did they forecast correctly... and which didn’t work out as planned?

Later in the programme, the team anticipates some of the topics that will be hitting the headlines during 2016.

Mark Bridge learns about the mobile technology trends at Mobile World Congress 2015 by chatting to James Rosewell of 51Degrees, Dr Kevin Curran from the IEEE and Chris Millington of Doro.

They talk about wearable devices, wireless charging, mobile operating systems and much more... including some of their favourite products from the exhibition.

We're taking a look back at the biggest mobile industry news stories from February 2015, including allegations that the UK's security service tried to breach SIM card security by hacking into one of the world's biggest SIM producers.

We also talk about the planned BT and EE merger, the creation of two new UK virtual networks, some acquisitions in the mobile payment arena and a new Ubuntu smartphone.

In today's programme Mark Bridge talks to Chris Millington, who's Managing Director for Doro UK and Ireland.

They discuss the state of mobile retailing in the UK, the future of wearable devices and - as you might expect - smartphones for seniors.

We're back with a month of mobile industry news, including takeover talks and takeover rumours. O2 and Three are said to be discussing a merger... but is there any truth in the suggestions that BlackBerry could be up for grabs?

We also discuss Apple's record-breaking quarterly figures, the highlights of CES and the launch of Microsoft Windows 10, as well as saying farewell to the current version of Google Glass.