Carphone Warehouse has completed its planned acquisition of Best Buy’s 50% share of the CPW Europe business, bringing an end to the joint retail venture.

From next month’s AGM, Andrew Harrison is stepping up to become CEO of the Carphone Warehouse Group. Roger Taylor, current Group CEO, will become deputy chairman.

Carphone Warehouse is planning to take over the European business that bears its name, which is actually a 50/50 joint venture set up with US-based retailer Best Buy in June 2008. It’s agreed to pay £471 million for the 50% of CPW Europe it doesn’t already own.

This 50% share in Carphone Warehouse was originally sold for around £1.1 billion as part of Best Buy’s European expansion.

American technology retailer Best Buy Co. Inc. has confirmed that it’s received a letter from Richard Schulze, the company’s founder and former chairman, outlining an offer to acquire all the Best Buy shares he doesn’t already own. Mr Schulze resigned as chairman in June this year.

His offer of $24 to $26 per share is significantly above the current trading price for the company’s shares, which are trading at around $20.

Carphone Warehouse Group plc has published a trading update for the fourth quarter of its financial year.

Revenue at CPW Europe - the company’s 50% joint venture with Best Buy - were down 5.5%, while total connections were down 19%. Postpay connections were up in the UK, although the company estimates that the overall prepay market in Q4 was down 30-40% in the UK.

The UK-based Mobile Money Network, which is behind the Simply Tap mobile shopping app, says Visa Europe is planning to take a 15% stake in its business. Visa Europe will join the MNN’s three founders: Monitise, Best Buy Europe and Charles Dunstone.

The two businesses aim to implement a number of m-commerce initiatives in the UK in 2012.

Iain Graham writes:

I recently had to, as a last resort, call the customer service department of a large communications company about a problem I currently have with a piece of equipment. I know I could have looked in the 150-page accompanying instruction manual but I haven't got half my life to spare! (as I mentioned in my previous blog piece on handsets!)

Businesses these days are telling us "Customer service has been outsourced to the Indian subcontinent and technologically streamlined in order to offer our customers a better, more efficient service"!

Mark Bridge writes:

So – you’re thinking about buying a new mobile phone. A smartphone. And yes, I mean a real smartphone, not just something with a touchscreen that looks nice.

I know, I know. You’re tempted by the iPhone. It’s all those apps, isn’t it?  100,000 and counting.

Yet Android is catching up. Admittedly it’s still got a long way to go to match that six-figure total… but the signs are certainly there.

Mark Bridge writes:

I really don’t want to make a habit of pointing at surveys and laughing – or even scratching my head in the kind of theatrical gesture used by Stan Laurel – but I should imagine there was some wry amusement at Strategy Analytics this week.

They’d been talking to car owners in Europe and the USA about their preferred brand for Bluetooth headsets and speakerphones. In the United States, 45% of respondents said Bose was their preferred brand. Excellent news for Bose. Excellent news for Bose stockists. Except...

Mark Bridge writes:

I’m always on the lookout for technology that’ll make life easier. That’s one of the reasons the Movon MB80 caught my eye. It’s a Bluetooth handsfree unit that you wear on your wrist. The MB80 is designed for the times your phone’s not convenient and you don’t want to miss a call – but you also don’t want to wear a Bluetooth headset. Perhaps you’re playing sports or are out for an evening with friends. The Movon Bluetooth wristband rings or vibrates when someone calls – and then can be used as a handsfree loudspeaker.

James Rosewell writes:

"Mobile: new cancer alert" - The Daily Telegraph

The front page of Saturday's Telegraph led with the headline "Mobiles: new cancer alert" re-igniting fears about mobile phone usage. The centrepiece of the article is "a £20 million, decade long investigation, overseen by the World Health Organization (WHO) will publish evidence that heavy [mobile phone] users face a higher risk of developing brain tumors later in life". How should this topic be reported and what will it mean for our industry?

Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge return to review their mobile industry predictions from last year. Which mergers, partnerships and developments did they forecast correctly... and which didn’t work out as planned?

Later in the programme, the team anticipates some of the topics that will be hitting the headlines during 2016.

Mark Bridge learns about the mobile technology trends at Mobile World Congress 2015 by chatting to James Rosewell of 51Degrees, Dr Kevin Curran from the IEEE and Chris Millington of Doro.

They talk about wearable devices, wireless charging, mobile operating systems and much more... including some of their favourite products from the exhibition.

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.

In today's programme Mark Bridge talks to Chris Millington, who's Managing Director for Doro UK and Ireland.

They discuss the state of mobile retailing in the UK, the future of wearable devices and - as you might expect - smartphones for seniors.

We're back with a month of mobile industry news, including takeover talks and takeover rumours. O2 and Three are said to be discussing a merger... but is there any truth in the suggestions that BlackBerry could be up for grabs?

We also discuss Apple's record-breaking quarterly figures, the highlights of CES and the launch of Microsoft Windows 10, as well as saying farewell to the current version of Google Glass.