New figures from ABI Research show that shipments of SIM cards fell by 193 million to 4.94 billion units in 2013, which is a year-on-year decline of 3.8%.

The main factor blamed for this drop was the mobile telecom market in Asia, where SIM card shipments fell below 2011 levels with a 10% decrease.

The US government's Federal Trade Commission says Apple has agreed to pay at least $32.5 million in refunds to customers who paid for in-app purchases downloaded by children without their parents’ consent.

In addition, Apple is now required to ensure "that it has obtained express, informed consent from consumers" before charging them for items sold in mobile apps.

A new UK mobile payment solution says it’s being adopted by at least five major financial service providers.

Later this year Zapp will be integrated into the mobile banking applications offered by HSBC, First Direct, Nationwide, Santander and Metro Bank, giving it access to over a third of all UK bank accounts.

This week's podcast starts with talk about money, as Google buys smart thermostat company Nest Labs while O2 UK closes its mobile Wallet product.

We're also looking at the decline of SMS text messaging in the UK, the end of the Cash4phones recycling business, an alleged security breach that wasn't what it seemed, mobile service on the Channel tunnel and the growth of 4G.

Continental, the automotive supplier best known for its brakes and tyres, has announced a new project with the Nokia HERE mapping and location business.

It follows an announcement in September last year, when HERE partnered with Continental Corporation, Magneti Marelli and Mercedes-Benz.