Mark Bridge writes:

Contactless payments. They're catching on, aren't they?

But mobile contactless payments haven't proved so popular.

A new industry-wide mobile payment service says its final testing is on track and it’ll announce a launch date next month.

Once the Paym service is launched, consumers will be able to transfer money to someone else’s bank account by using their mobile phone number instead of a sort code and account number.

The UK government says it’s launching a consultation in 2014 that could result in consumers taking photos of their cheques instead of taking the physical cheque to a bank.

As a result, the money could be in a customer’s account within two days rather than six.

Barclays has added two new options to its Pingit mobile app, which was launched in February last year.

From today the app can be used for mobile-based online purchases and for buying from a print or on-screen advertisement.

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.

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?

Iain Graham, Mark Bridge and James Rosewell take their usual off-beat look at the latest industry headlines in this week's edition of The Fonecast. John Ryan offers retail merchandising advice - and there's a preview (or should that be a forecast?) of the BlackBerry Storm.

As well as its usual look at the latest industry news, this week's edition of The Fonecast includes an interview with Graeme Oxby, MD of Virgin Mobile. There's also time for a quick preview of the new Prada phone from LG.

In this week's edition of The Fonecast we're talking to Milind Kangle, CEO of Lycatel - the company behind new UK virtual network Lycamobile. There's also a quick preview of the forthcoming Android-powered T-Mobile G1 and our usual look at the latest mobile news headlines.

As well as its usual look at the latest mobile industy headlines, this week The Fonecast talks to an O2 dealer and the IMPDA's Chris Caudle about the changes to O2's dealer commission structure.

This week The Fonecast welcomes Nokia's Rupert Englander, who explains more about his company's new Comes With Music service. There's also a preview of the HTC Touch HD and the usual irreverent look at the week's industry headlines and rumours.