Vodafone is enabling customers to add loyalty cards and membership cards to its ‘mobile wallet’ app.

Although the application hasn’t yet been launched in the UK, it’s already available in a number of European countries.

Both Visa and MasterCard have made separate announcements about taking advantage of Host Card Emulation (HCE) within the Android operating system to offer more mobile payment options.

HCE allows an NFC application on an Android device to emulate a ‘smart’ payment card, which avoids the need for payment details to be uploaded to a SIM card.

Vodafone has launched its mobile wallet in Europe, enabling customers to pay by touching a compatible smartphone against a retailer’s NFC reader.

It’s the first European mobile payment service built on the secure GlobalPlatform open standard.

Visa Europe and Orange have announced a partnership to encourage the use of mobile-based contactless payments in France.

They’re starting by launching a service called Orange Cash, which will enable Orange customers with an NFC-equipped smartphone to make contactless payments.

This week's podcast begins with a report about a delay - or perhaps even cancellation - for the UK launch of HTC's Facebook phone, the HTC First.

We then move on to Vodafone's results, an Android app scare for Sky, Samsung's successes, contactless payments, potentially life-saving QR codes and an uncomfortable story about a smuggled mobile phone.

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 we talk to Chris Tombs from Timico, look at the Samsung F210 music-playing phone, ask Sunny Dehiri from Sunalysis about telecoms recruitment and review the week's mobile news headlines.

The Mobile News podcast team discusses the latest Google 'gPhone' rumours, looks at the new Mandarina Duck handset and talks about the week's industry news headlines.

This week the team discuss Nokia's mapping purchase, review the Sony Ericsson K850i and bring you all the latest mobile related news and views.

The team take a look at the news headlines including the first advertising funded mobile service from Blyk and all the latest iPhone & gPhone rumours. Plus a review of the HTC Touch using Windows Mobile 6.