The number of contactless transactions via mobile handsets is forecast to exceed 9.9 billion globally by 2018, up from just over 3 billion this year. That’s according to a new report from Juniper Research.

Two factors are expected to boost this growth: HCE (Host Card Emulation) and an Apple iWallet

Dr Kevin Curran, Reader in Computer Science at the University of Ulster, joined us during Mobile World Congress to offer his well-informed opinion about trends in mobile technology.

We talked about a wide range of topics, including battery life, disposable tablets, wearables, m-health, 4G fragmentation, connected furniture, M2M security, the rise of video and the IEEE.

The Smart UK project is an annual government-supported competition looking for the UK's Most Innovative Mobile Company.

A few days ago, all 20 companies on the competition shortlist gave a short presentation to the Smart UK panel of judges. Afterwards, Mark Bridge spoke to some of the entrants to discover exactly what they had to offer - and how they planned to disrupt the mobile industry.

Analyst firm Ovum has published its mobile payment and mobile advertising predictions for this year.

Ovum expects continued technology and service innovation, notably around location-based applications, in the mobile payments space in 2014. However, there will be increasing complexity within the mobile payments ecosystem this year, and on-going challenges around the business model for digital wallet services.

The Typo keyboard, which combines a protective case with a Bluetooth-connected QWERTY keyboard for iPhone devices, is being threatened by legal action from BlackBerry.

US TV personality Ryan Seacrest and entrepreneur Laurence Hallier founded Typo Products last year after almost two years of product development. Their first Typo keyboard case, designed for the iPhone 5 and 5S, is due to start shipping this month.