New research from the Ericsson ConsumerLab team has found that found that an increasing number of consumers are using their smartphones to go online before getting out of bed.

35% of Android and iPhone users in the USA said they interacted with non-voice apps before getting up, with almost a fifth of social networking users connecting with Facebook friends while in bed.

This year's Vodafone Mobile Clicks contest has been announced at The Next Web conference in Amsterdam, with a closing date for entries of 12th June 2011.

Almost any mobile-focussed start-up in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain or Turkey can compete for the €225,000 prize fund. The competition is open to companies that are less than three years old.

The British Retail Consortium and Google have launched a joint 'Online Retail Monitor' to provide insights into online shopping trends.

It reveals that the total volume of online retail-related searches in the UK grew by 29% in the first quarter of 2011 compared with the same quarter a year earlier. However, mobile retail search traffic rose by 181% over the same period. Overall, 11% of total retail searches in the first quarter of 2011 were made on a mobile device.

In this week's edition of The Fonecast we're chatting to David Emm, senior security researcher at Kaspersky Lab UK, about the security threats facing mobile phone users.

We also discuss the latest report from mobile tariff comparison site Billmonitor, we talk about Tuesday's Symbian news, we look at a new unlimited internet deal and we discover a clutch of MVNOs.

Talkmobile, the UK virtual mobile network from The Carphone Warehouse, has launched a series of 'pay monthly' tariffs that include what's being described as "unlimited mobile internet data".

Prices start from £12 per month for a two-year minimum term contract with a free phone plus 200 inclusive minutes and 200 inclusive texts per month.