Nokia has rebranded its mapping and location business as HERE, describing it as “the first location cloud to deliver the world’s best maps and location experiences across multiple screens and operating systems”.

One of the first HERE products for non-Nokia devices will be a free HTML5-based maps application for iOS, which is expected to be available in the next few weeks.

Vodafone has announced its half-year financial results for the six months until 30th September 2012.

Group revenue was down 7.4% year-on-year to £21.78 billion, although the company says this is equivalent to an ‘organic’ 0.2% increase when mergers, acquisitions and foreign exchange rates are taken into account.

Research In Motion has announced that its official BlackBerry 10 launch date will be Wednesday 30th January 2013.

This event will see the new BlackBerry 10 platform launched as well as RIM’s first two BlackBerry 10 smartphones, although the availability of these devices won’t be known until the launch.

UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has published its timetable for the forthcoming 4G mobile spectrum auction, along with reserve prices and final details of the auction rules. It’s described as the largest-ever sale of mobile airwaves in the UK.

The 4G services enabled by the auction will offer faster mobile data connections and more capacity than current 3G tariffs.

Mark Bridge writes:

We’re moving into that time of year where product announcements are replaced by promotional campaigns and sales figures. Apple revealed it had sold three million assorted iPad tablets in just three days, while Samsung said its Galaxy SIII smartphone had sold more than 30 million units since its launch in May.