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.

Mark Bridge writes:

I open the iPhone 6 box and discover a phone that feels substantial. Well engineered. Practical. Despite being just 6.9mm deep, it doesn't seem unreasonably delicate.

Mark Bridge writes:

In the past five years, what started as an advertising message - “there’s an app for that” - has become a challenge to developers. It’s become part of 21st century culture. And it’s become an totem for journalists to pin their most outrageous app-based stories to.

Roadroid doesn’t need the attention-grabbing headlines.

Mark Bridge writes:

Every week we produce a half-hour podcast that covers all the biggest news headlines for the UK mobile phone industry.

Thanks to a special offer from Scribie.com, we can also offer a transcription of last week’s programme.

Mark Bridge writes:

Apple kicked off its 2014 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) last week with an announcement about the forthcoming iOS 8 operating system for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. There was some catching up, some innovation and a couple of new services designed to work with home automation and health/fitness devices. What’s Tim Cook’s plan? We’ll have to wait and see.

Mark Bridge writes:

Recent figures released by ABI Research have prompted the market intelligence company to ask whether Google is losing control of the Android ecosystem.

At first glance, Android dominated smartphone shipments for the final quarter of 2013. ABI Research says 77% of the 287 million smartphones shipped in Q4 2013 were running Android.

The Fonecast this week covers text message donations, free calls to government helplines, distracted driving, legal action, consolidation... and all the other major mobile industry headlines as well.

This week the team takes a look at product announcements from the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas before diving into the rest of the week's mobile industry news. And Faisal Sheikh from Fone Doctors offers his perspective on the Google Nexus One.

Happy New Year! We're back from our Christmas break with a quick look at the new Google Nexus One, a browse through all the other top mobile industry headlines and a review of 2009.

Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge take their usual look at the biggest mobile industry news stories - and this week they also predict what's likely to be hitting the headlines in 2010. In addition, they review their 2009 predictions... and discover they did pretty well.

This week's news headlines include the Google Nexus One smartphone, 4G technology, hands-free driving and (once again) the iPhone. There's also an interview with Mark Finlayson from business-to-business dealer Next Communications.