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.

After catching up with last week's Microsoft announcement about new CEO Satya Nadella, we go on to talk about big changes for Brightstar and Sony as well.

There's also mobile payment news from MasterCard and Weve, some patent agreements, a warning about second-hand smartphone sales, a forecast of mobile data growth and a report about app developers.

Mark Bridge writes:

Mobile phones have been hitting the mainstream news over the past few days. There was Channel 4’s report about data on second-hand phones not being properly deleted before the handsets were re-sold, there was the latest round of the Smart UK Project and there was Tim Muffett’s story about the mobile-enabled high street on BBC Breakfast this morning.

Weve - the UK mobile payment and mobile advertising venture formed by EE, O2 and Vodafone - says it’s partnering with MasterCard to speed up the development of a contactless mobile payments system.

The new system will make it easier for banks to offer ‘tap and pay’ services to mobile phone users.

MasterCard has launched a new digital payment service called MasterPass.

It combines a secure ‘digital wallet’ for online shopping with the ability to use a mobile device for payments in high-street shops.

Mark Bridge writes:

The 'mobile doorbell'. What a clever idea. If someone rings your doorbell when you're out, it'll call your mobile phone and will let you talk via an intercom to the person at your front door. You can even protect yourself against burglars by pretending you're inside the house.

Mark Bridge writes:

Sometimes it seems that everyone and everything is out to get you. Recently, Nokia's been in that position – but this week it looks as though RIM is taking over as the mobile industry's whipping-boy.

Mark Bridge writes:

In this week's podcast feature, Iain Graham has been taking a look at 'box breaking' in the UK. Box breaking can take a variety of forms but it generally involves buying a 'pay as you go' mobile phone at a price that's subsidised in part by a mobile network - and selling it at a higher price to someone who won't connect it to the original network. The package of phone and SIM card is effectively 'broken', with the SIM often sold separately.

Mark Bridge writes:

I've written previously about the changes happening to mobile application stores. Last week I was talking to Todd Levy about the family-friendly application store he's planning to launch. He explained how BloomWorlds would be curated to provide trusted reviews that weren't skewed by the app developers themselves.

Mark Bridge writes:

It may have been done with the best possible intentions, but developer Daniel Amitay has managed to upset a few people after releasing information gathered by his Big Brother Camera Security app.

The app helped iPhone users to protect themselves against thieves; not only did it lock the user's iPhone if left unattended, it would use the phone's camera to take a photo of anyone who tried unsuccessfully to unlock the device.

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.