Mark Bridge writes:

Developing a successful mobile product or service isn’t just a question of having a great idea. There are all sorts of challenges, from the technical aspects of application development to the wider issues of branding and funding.

That’s where The Mobile Academy steps in. It’s a London-based mobile masterclass designed to give you a helping hand with innovation, whether you’re an entrepreneur, a business owner, a developer or a designer.

The Mobile Academy offers a London-based masterclass designed to give you a helping hand with mobile innovation, whether you're an entrepreneur, a business owner, a developer or a designer.

We've been talking to Julia Shalet, Course Director of the Mobile Academy, to learn more about the next 10-week course.

Ericsson has published fourth quarter and full-year financial results. The company made a loss of 6.3 billion Krona (£625 million) in Q4 2012, although it remained in profit for the year.

Net income for 2012 was down 53% year-on-year to £586 million, while sales were up 5% to £6.6 billion for the quarter and almost unchanged year-on-year at £22.6 billion for the full year.

Facebook has reported its fourth quarter and full-year financial results for 2012, with quarterly revenue up 40% year-on-year to $1.585 billion but net income down over 78% to $64 million.

However, the social networking company noted that its research & development costs had more than doubled from Q4 2011.

Mobile technology business Qualcomm has announced results for the first quarter of its financial year. Revenue was up 29% year-on-year to $6.02 billion, while net income rose by 36% to $1.91 billion.

Shipments of Qualcomm’s MSM chips for smart devices were up 17% year-on-year to 182 million units.