Technology retailer Dixons Carphone plc is going to rebrand its Currys PC World, Carphone Warehouse, Team Knowhow and Dixons Carphone operations. From October 2021, the Currys name will be used across the business.

Tech retailer Dixons Carphone plc - the company behind the Currys PC World and Carphone Warehouse brands in the UK - has announced plans to 'streamline' its store management, with up to 800 jobs expected to be cut across shops in the UK and Ireland.

Specifications and pricing for the BlackBerry Priv have now been revealed.

Consumers are being offered the handset directly from BlackBerry with a UK SIM-free price of £559 incl. VAT or on a contract from Carphone Warehouse. It’s due to be available later this month.

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.

John Allan, one of two deputy chairmen at Dixons Carphone, has resigned from his post to take the job of chairman at Tesco plc.

Richard Broadbent, the current chairman of Tesco, is stepping down from the board on 1st March.

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?

We start this week's podcast with financial results from EE - along with new phones from LG and HTC.

There's also a merger between mobile browser companies, mobile security from Vodafone, free WiFi from Barclays bank, a preview of Ubuntu for smartphones... and much more.

Truphone is a pioneer of internet calling via WiFi - and it's recently announced a new service that aims to integrate GSM calls with its VoIP app.

In this special programme we interview Truphone co-founder and CTO James Tagg about the company's plans.

There are many mobile boundaries being blurred in this week's podcast.

Topics include Truphone's combined WiFi and mobile service, Skype's move to direct mobile billing, the rise of 4G and an Android-controlled satellite.

One of the biggest companies meeting the UK's demand for public WiFi is The Cloud, which has spent the last few years putting its network into thousands of venues.

In this programme we interview Vince Russell, managing director of The Cloud, to discover what the company's doing... and to see whether mobile operators should be worried.

We start this week's podcast by talking about the launch of BlackBerry 10 before moving on to discuss a 4G promise from Three UK.

The numerical theme continues with the Microsoft 4Afrika project, a handful of quarterly results and some investment news. Plus there’s worrying new malware and a curious Apple trademark application.