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:

A couple of weeks ago I was wandering through London, wondering whether mobile streaming could erode personal privacy… and whether anyone cared.

But there’s a positive site to the immediacy of streaming, as Bambuser reminded me today.

Mark Bridge writes:

James's recent trip down memory lane reminded me of a moment in 1998 when a major mobile phone manufacturer promised phones that 'gave you wings'. No, not Red Bull. No, not Red Bull Racing partner LG. It was Motorola.

James Rosewell writes:

Whilst flicking through my drawer full of old handsets I thought back to a time when Apple produced a new MP3 player, newspaper editors didn't know what a smart phone was, and Android was only a press release. A quick flick through YouTube threw up the following interview with Microsoft's Steve Balmer offering his thoughts.

Mark Bridge writes:

This sequence of recent events involving SAP, HP and Oracle – although unconnected – seemed deserving of a simple diagram.

Mark Bridge writes:

The Google Nexus S. Search for it online and you’ll find over a million web pages talking about it.

But I don’t care about the Google Nexus S. Or the Nexus Two or the Samsung i9020 or whatever else you call it. Quite frankly, it’s not any use to me. My current rapidly-aging HTC TyTn II has more features than the Nexus S.

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.