Mark Bridge writes:

Last week I spotted a couple of mobile-related news stories that involved payment company MasterCard. One came from CPI Card Group, which had introduced a “next-generation, MasterCard-approved payment tag” (a.k.a. 'sticker') that enabled “any mobile device to be used to make payments anywhere using the worldwide contactless MasterCard PayPass standard” (by sticking it on the back).

Mark Bridge writes

Ah, the joys of multiplying by zero. I was reminded of my school maths lessons when I saw a news release from Orange UK this week.

Steve Wallage, Head of Sport Partnerships and Services for Orange UK was quoted as saying “Based on the surge in demand for mobile TV during the Ashes last summer, we expect viewing figures could rocket by at least 74% during the World Cup”.

Ben Whitaker of Masabi talks about mobile ticketing, including his company's recent partnership with thetrainline.com that'll enable almost any mobile phone user to buy train tickets when they're on the move. (An extended version of the interview from Wednesday's podcast).

Northumberland-based Fone Logistics is the latest mobile telecoms company to be acquired by the Daisy Group. It's spent £3.6 million on the acquisition, although Fone Logistics MD Ian Gillespie is understood to be retaining part of his business.

O2 UK is the latest mobile network operator to remove 'unlimited' mobile data for new customers. Although existing customers won't be affected, any new or upgrading customers will have a fixed data allowance on their tariff and will need to choose a 'Bolt On' allowance if they want to exceed this. The new tariffs will be introduced from 24th June – when the iPhone 4 launches – although unlimited data will be available as a promotion until 1st October 2010.

The company says current usage patterns show that 97% of O2 customers would not need to buy additional data allowances as the lowest bundle (500MB) provides at least 2.5 times the average O2 customer's use.