Three UK is offering its customers a Facebook mobile application for Java-based feature phones that'll be available from tomorrow.

It's also enabling customers to download and use the app without incurring any data charges until the end of January 2012. The 'Facebook for Every Phone' application claims to provide a better and faster Facebook experience than other similar non-smartphone applications and mobile sites.

Mobile operators must make the most of mobile social networking by offering innovative devices, tariffs and services. That's the message from Pyramid Research, which has just published a report called The Peril and Promise of Mobile Social Networks for Operators.

It says communications patterns and mobile devices are both being influenced by social networking.

The GSMA and comScore have just released data showing how UK mobile consumers use mobile applications. The data has been collected in partnership with mobile networks and is the latest in the GSMA Mobile Media Metrics series of reports.

Overall, almost 8.8 million UK mobile phone owners - 40% of the UK's mobile internet users - accessed an app that connected to the internet during April 2011.

New research from the Ericsson ConsumerLab team has found that found that an increasing number of consumers are using their smartphones to go online before getting out of bed.

35% of Android and iPhone users in the USA said they interacted with non-voice apps before getting up, with almost a fifth of social networking users connecting with Facebook friends while in bed.

Sony Ericsson has added two new members to its Xperia smartphone family. Both run Android v2.3 on a 1GHz processor, offering a 5 megapixel camera, 720p HD video recording and a 3-inch screen.

The new Xperia mini is just 88mm x 52mm x 16mm, weighing 94g, while the Xperia mini pro is slightly larger to accommodate a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

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.