Towards the end of last year, O2 became the first UK network to pass on 90p for every £1 donated to charity by SMS. (The remaining 10% covered network and third party costs). This move was echoed by a number of other network operators.

It's now giving 100% of text donations to UK charities by covering the costs itself.

Information from mobile messaging specialists Airwide Solutions has revealed a 778.4% spike in Spanish text message traffic when the 2010 FIFA World Cup final ended on 11th July in South Africa.

Mobile telecom author and commentator Tomi Ahonen has published a lengthy blog post covering smartphone segmentation: which people use smartphones - and why they use them.

In it, he anticipates around 35% growth in smartphone shipments this year (excluding Japan), with most growth coming from lower-priced handsets. Headline figures include...

Mobile information and entertainment company WIN plc has announced it's working to improve Vodafone's services to mobile virtual network operators. Current UK MVNOs include Asda, Talk Mobile, BT Mobile, Truphone and Lebara.

The partnership enables new customers on Vodafone-hosted MVNOs to request a SIM by simply sending a text to a shortcode. WIN's SMS platform then manages a short dialogue with the consumer, obtaining and recording their name and address before the SIM card is posted directly to them.

Criminals are using the FIFA World Cup as an opportunity to trick mobile phone users into providing their bank details in exchange for non-existent prizes. The scam has the same basis as many spam email messages – "you've won a prize, give us your bank details for payment" – but it's being sent as an SMS text message. Recent incidents have been reported in Australia, although the problem could easily be international. FIFA has already warned football fans to be aware of email scams and internet hoaxes.