We start this week's podcast by talking about the launch of BlackBerry 10 before moving on to discuss a 4G promise from Three UK.

The numerical theme continues with the Microsoft 4Afrika project, a handful of quarterly results and some investment news. Plus there’s worrying new malware and a curious Apple trademark application.

Mark Bridge writes:

Apple launches a new product and BlackBerry pushes it out of the headlines. Who’d have thought it, eh?

Yes, Apple’s new $799 128GB iPad didn’t get much of a mention in the mobile press last week - thanks to the new BlackBerry 10 platform and two new smartphones. Memories of Stephen Bates’s awkward BBC interviews were soon forgotten as the touchscreen Z10 appeared and quickly hit the shelves of UK retailers.

Quarterly figures from LG Electronics showed a net loss of 468 billion South Korean won (£272 million) for Q4 2012, although this included the results of an EU fine. Overall, LG made KRW 91 billion (£53 million) profit for the year.

Sales for the quarter were down 2.2% year-on-year to KRW 13.50 trillion.

ABI Research, the International Data Corporation, Juniper Research and Strategy Analytics have all published their estimates for mobile phone sales in 2012. Although some manufacturers release shipment or sales figures as part of their quarterly results, others - such as Samsung - don’t provide a detailed breakdown.

The full statement from IDC is below.

LG Electronics says sales of its Optimus L-Series smartphones have exceeded 10 million units worldwide. The first L-series devices were announced at Mobile World Congress earlier this year.

All of the company’s L-series phones follow a design identity called ‘L-Style’, which was also introduced at MWC 2012.