UK mobile phone manufacturer Vertu, which was owned by Nokia until last year, has announced its first Android handset.

The company, established as a luxury phone maker 15 years ago, had previously used Nokia’s Symbian platform.

Revenue from mobile location-based services in Europe is forecast to grow from €325 million last year to €825 million (£707 million) in 2017, representing a compound annual growth rate of 20.5%.

That’s according to a new report from Berg Insight, which also expects the North American location-based service market to grow from $835 million in 2012 to $1,295 million (£829 million) in 2017.

Trakdot, the luggage-tracking service announced at the recent CES show in Las Vegas, is heading for the UK.

Consumers simply put the battery-powered Trakdot Luggage device in their case and receive city-specific information on the location of their baggage in real time. The service sends alerts via SMS and can be accessed via an Apple or Android application as well.

Mark Bridge writes:

Mobile networks aren’t what they used to be. As last week’s interview with Vince Russell of The Cloud demonstrated, more and more customers are relying on WiFi to augment their mobile data service.

Truphone is now planning to do exactly the same with voice calls and text messages by linking its mobile network with WiFi for even wider coverage.

UK telecoms service Truphone, which runs a mobile Voice-over-IP service and a mobile virtual network operation, has announced its intention to create a new service that combines the benefits of GSM with internet calling.

Truphone+ will enable customers without GSM coverage to make and receive calls on their ‘mobile number’ via a WiFi connection.