French telecoms company MobiWire - formerly Sagem Wireless - appears to have filed for insolvency.

Court documents show receivership ("redressement judiciaire") being pronounced on 28th April and papers being issued today, with a hearing set for 23rd June 2011.

MobiWire has launched its new user interface for Android smartphones. The news follows the company's transformation in February, when it changed its name from Sagem and first revealed its user interface plans.

Surface UX enhances the standard Android user interface. It claims to simplify and improve usability - and also introduces 'Surface Apps' that appear as branded on-screen widgets.

Mark Bridge writes:

The mobile user interface seems to fall in and out of fashion. Nokia and Apple have both transformed the mobile UI in previous years… but still the challenge of creating the 'perfect' user interface design remains.

This focus on mobile usability is the main topic of today's special podcast, which includes Chris Millington of Doro UK and Jerome Nadel from MobiWire.

Mobile usability is the main topic of this special podcast, which includes Chris Millington from Doro UK and Jérôme Nadel of MobiWire (recorded at Mobile World Congress). Conversation topics include the user interface, encouraging usage and designing mobile phones to suit a specific customer group.

MobiWire - formerly known as Sagem Wireless - has unveiled a portfolio of secure business phones with embedded security for voice, SMS, data and on-device encryption. There's a feature phone with a proprietary OS and an Android-powered smartphone as well. The devices have been co-developed with secure communications specialists ERCOM following a partnership announced last year.

Control of the phone's security is managed by a company IT department, not by the user. The built-in security cannot be removed from the device or tampered with.

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?

We start this week's show with news about the European Commission's plans to end mobile roaming charges completely from next year.

We're also talking about the future facing Twitter and Dell, Vodafone's security challenges in Germany, app development, wireless charging, mobile payments and Nokia's Android-based smartphones.

This week's show is packed with new products, including two iPhones, three smartwatches, two Android smartphones and a couple of innovative lens-based camera accessories.

We also find time to talk about mobile security, virtual networks and being dishonest via text message.

We're back after a short break last week - and just in time for three of the biggest industry news stories of the year.

Microsoft's CEO announces his retirement, then Vodafone sells its US operation for $130 billion... and now Nokia's mobile phone business is being bought. Alongside these reports there's also time to talk about 4G in the UK, children with mobiles, roaming charges and the future of smartphones.

In this special feature we're talking to David Akka, who tells us why he says Android is dead, why Chromecast is an omen for the mobile industry, why OS companies are getting into hardware and what the future holds for the mobile industry.

David is UK managing director of Magic Software and describes himself as a 'recovering techie'. His personal blog is at davidakka.com.

There's good news for Telefonica as it's chosen to support the UK's smart meter rollout - but bad news for fans of the Microsoft Tag barcode, which is being discontinued in a couple of years' time.

We're also talking about drivers who use mobile phones illegally, Amazon's new service for mobile developers, the forthcoming Kazam smartphone, mobile advertising, satellite broadband, wearable security accessories and a word that's completely unacceptable to Motorola.