MasterCard has announced a new digital payment service called PayPass Wallet Services.

It’ll enable MasterCard’s banking partners to create their own digital wallets for online shopping - with consumers able to add any credit, debit and prepaid cards - and will also offer in-store NFC payments using compatible mobile phones. In addition, retailers will be able to include MasterCard’s check-out, fraud detection and authentication services into their own internet-connected transaction systems.

International payment service PayPal has launched a new service called PayPal Here, which allows small businesses to accept almost any form of payment. It includes a free app and free triangular card reader, turning any iPhone into a mobile payment device. An Android version is due in April.

The service has launched with a number of merchants in the United States, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong; general availability in those countries will follow next month.

Geoff Varrall of RTT writes:

About 15,000 years ago some indigenous Northern Australians decided that they needed a more efficient way of talking to each other than just shouting a lot.

And blowing into a long cylindrical tube proved to be just what was needed and seriously useful fun – the dawn of the didgeridoo.

Trumpets and bagpipes were invented at about the same time. The ancient Greeks used the trumpet in battlefield communication to devastating effect.

The way you can tell that your didgeridoo is better than everyone else’s didgeridoo is to blow into it and see how far the sound goes.

The forthcoming PlayStation Vita gaming device will be supplied with a Vodafone SIM card in selected countries when it launches next February.

A new partnership with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe means that Vodafone will be the ‘preferred provider’ of 3G connectivity for the 3G+WiFi version of the PS Vita in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands.

BlackBerry’s BBM Music app has left beta in Canada, the United States and Australia. There’s still no news about UK availability or pricing, although RIM has confirmed the service is destined to arrive here.

BBM Music uses the BlackBerry Messenger service to let customers share music with friends.

Mark Windle, head of marketing at OpenCloud, predicts that this year’s reduction in the number of traditional telecoms operators in some countries will provide an opportunity for other operators to innovate and capture market share in 2016.

He says next year will be a year of rapid change for telecoms… whether it’s MVNO disruption, competitive tariff pricing or simply defence from the ‘dark art’ of hacking.

Mark Bridge writes:

The most memorable moments in life often go unrecorded. You don't have your camera in your hands. Your finger is still hovering over the 'pause' button on your audio recorder. Or you were simply too busy experiencing whatever was happening. It's all about the one that got away.

That's where Kapture can help.

Mark Bridge writes:

James Rosewell shows me a colourful roll of paper that's the width of an iPhone but well over three metres long. When I look closer, I can see it's a printed copy of the Wall Street Journal's mobile website. That's a lot of scrolling to do... and a pretty unfriendly user experience for anyone reading the news online. Why does it work so badly?

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.