Mark Bridge writes:

HTC experienced a bit of Christmas cheer last week when the threat of a sales injunction against the HTC One mini smartphone and a number of other devices was lifted. Nokia had previously won a patent-related court case against HTC but it seems that a sales ban was deemed too harsh a penalty.

Photo sharing service Instagram, which was acquired by Facebook last year, has launched a photo and video messaging feature called Instagram Direct.

This new feature forms part of the standard Instagram app.

This week's podcast starts with the world's slimmest smartphone (at least for the moment) before introducing a new smartphone company and even more new products from Samsung.

We're also talking about the battle of Instagram vs Vine, the sale of O2 Ireland, mobile retail web usage, the new CEO of BT and a new report about an unexpected health threat to mobile phone users.

Mark Bridge writes:

Another week, another couple of product announcements from Samsung. There appears to be no stopping them, despite a recent drop in the company’s share price.

This time it’s a couple of tablets – one of which runs both Android and Windows 8 – and a 20 megapixel camera that’s got a 4G-enabled Android device built in.

Mobile-based photo sharing service Instagram has launched an option to share video clips as well.

The service, which was acquired by Facebook last year, now lets users with its Apple or Android apps share up to fifteen seconds of video.

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?

This week's news report begins with quarterly figures from Samsung and Apple - and a discussion about what the future may hold for iOS.

We also talk about instant messaging versus SMS, the end of Best Buy's European joint venture with Carphone Warehouse, patent wars, white spaces and connected cars.

It feels like many people are hanging on to mobile advertising as the future of mobile marketing.

Yet there's much more to mobile marketing than the banner ad. In this podcast a panel of experts considers the latest trends and innovation that could change the future of marketing.

In this special feature we're looking around the GSMA Connected City at Mobile World Congress 2013.

Mark Bridge and Grant Notman discuss machine-to-machine communications and the Internet of Things, meeting people who've worked with 4G-enabled cars, port logistics, connected houses, m-health and the GSMA's own app development programme.

There's a diverse collection of mobile-related news in this week's 30-minute podcast.

We start with the new Twitter music service before moving on to discuss quarterly results, patent licensing, wireless charging, advertising and mobile payments... before ending with a curious report about app-controlled underwear.

This is the second part of our programme recorded at the April 2013 meeting of Mobile Monday London, where a panel of experts discussed the topic 'BYOD: A Faustian Pact?'

The panel was chaired by David Rogers of Copper Horse Solutions. His panellists were Caroline Maloney from Telefonica, Charles Brookson of Azenby, David Arnold from BlackBerry and Gemma Coles from Mubaloo.