UK telecoms regulator Ofcom wants to ban inflation-related rises in phone and broadband contracts. Instead, it says any potential mid-contract price rises should be set out in pounds and pence.

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.

By incorporating advanced algorithms and machine learning capabilities, AI can help to optimize a smartphone's performance, providing users with a faster, more efficient and user-friendly experience.

Mark Bridge writes:

I've been taking a look back at the devices I've written about during the past few years. Some are still faithful companions, others... well, let's just say my faith was misplaced.

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?

Independent telecoms analyst Ovum says the market for ‘no frills’ mobile virtual network operators will increase over the next five years. Tesco – which runs the Tesco Mobile MVNO - and other retailers will benefit as more and more people select their mobile service as they shop.

Businesses need to take inspiration from the mobile gambling industry. That was one of the messages from this morning's Definition of Mobile event, which was hosted by Steve Dobson in Leeds.

In an exclusive interview, Steve talks to James Rosewell about the event's aims and its achievements – from making business "futureproof" to warning against becoming too "Apple happy".

Former LG sales & marketing director John Barton, who became a non-executive director of Bluechipworld earlier this year, is now also working with the TMTI Group's Gadget Helpline.

It looks as though the Nokia N8 smartphone will be dispatched to UK customers from 23rd September, according to a sponsored link on Google. However, there's currently no pre-order option on the Nokia UK website and there's been no official confirmation from the company yet.

In what looks likely to be the daftest news story this week, US-based digital coupon company Coupons.com has described iPhone users as chicken-eating fish lovers and Android users as pork-eating bird lovers.