Seven men have been sentenced to over 40 years in jail for their part in stealing £38 million from HM Revenue & Customs in a ‘missing trader’ tax fraud. A further two men will be sentenced in the next few weeks.

The fraud centred on the import and sale of mobile phones and computer parts through a chain of companies, including Sky Computers UK Ltd of Middlesex and Maxro Technology Ltd of Surrey.

Mark Bridge writes:

Last year, mobile payments seemed a lifetime away. Even Visa Europe's head of mobile wasn't overly optimistic about the likelihood of the 'mobile wallet' becoming a reality in the short-term.

This week we have not one, not two, but three mobile payment announcements.

Nokia has released software update 1.1 for its newest Symbian devices: the Nokia N8, Nokia C7 and Nokia C6-01.

Software for the standard version of the Nokia C7 is available today, with software for the Nokia N8 and C6-01 following early next week. Country and operator-specific variants are due after this.

The total value of mobile augmented reality - a 'digital overlay' shown on top of on-screen images - will approach $1.5 billion (£930 million) in 2015, according to a new report from Juniper Research.

That’s up from just $1.5 million in 2010, an average annual growth of 295% over the five-year period.

Vodafone Egypt has made its position very clear during the current troubles in the country.

Last weekend it advised that “all mobile operators in Egypt have been instructed to suspend services in selected areas”, later restoring service and explaining “there were no legal or practical options open… but to comply with the demands of the authorities”.