New rules from UK telecoms regulator Ofcom will protect customers when they use their mobile phone on a foreign network. In addition, customers will be alerted if they are inadvertently roaming, perhaps because they're near an international border.

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:

“You're gonna need a bigger boat”. The words of Roy Scheider as police chief Martin Brody spots the shark in the film Jaws.

37 years later and O2 UK CEO Ronan Dunne is facing another all-devouring monster... but this is no aquatic predator. It’s in the air - and it’s invisible.

No, we’re not talking about a Pteranodon (that’s Jurassic Park III) but a 4G mobile broadband connection. A real-life data monster.

Mark Bridge writes:

There’s some kind of patent-related mobile technology story in the news most weeks. Whether this is the result of an innovation slow-down or the disruptive effect of newcomers on ‘traditional’ mobile manufacturers, there’s no denying it’s causing problems for many companies.

Mark Bridge writes:

At the beginning of last week, Facebook and Instagram were the talk of the mobile industry. Was this billion-dollar deal the sign of another tech bubble?  Facebook’s fast track into mobile?  Facebook moving to cement its dominance of online photography?  You, the jury, decide.

Mark Bridge writes:

Easter is often seen as a time for customs and rules – whether it’s giving up sugar for Lent or waiting until Sunday morning to eat your chocolate eggs – and this year the mobile industry seems to have joined in.

Mark Bridge writes:

It’s always a relief when April Fool’s Day doesn’t fall on a work day, isn’t it?  Still, that didn’t stop the jokes. Even though the mobile industry traditionally tends to head to the pub for a roast dinner and a pint on Sunday, there was many a prank in the morning of April 1st.

Our friends at 51Degrees.mobi revealed left-handed device detection, Google prepared to run mobile ads on phones with dials, Phones 4U introduced Gnomes 4U femtocells, Nokia made a Windows Phone device out of ice… and so on.