Figures from Informa Telecoms & Media show that global annual SMS revenue is expected to fall from $120 billion this year to $96.7 billion by 2018, which is a drop of $23 billion.

This predicted fall is being blamed on the adoption and use of over-the-top (OTT) messaging applications that aren’t controlled by mobile networks.

Today's podcast starts with a gentle warning to app developers from the Office of Fair Trading.

We then move on to Amazon's new tablets, HTC's sale of its Beats Electronics stake, Twitter's emergency alerts, UK government plans to improve mobile broadband on trains, customer complaints and the growth in adult content for mobile devices.

While the UK government is trialling the use of SMS text messages and GSM cell broadcast to inform members of the public during a local or national emergency, Twitter is introducing its own scheme.

Twitter Alerts enable the sender to highlight urgent tweets, which will cause them to be delivered by text message and highlighted with an orange bell icon when they’re received by the Twitter iOS or Android app.

The UK government has arranged a series of mobile alert tests to make sure members of the public can receive information in an emergency. It’s running trials in North Yorkshire, Glasgow and Suffolk with EE, O2 and Vodafone.

Two different technologies are being tested: location-based SMS text messaging and cell broadcast messages.

The Information Commissioner’s Office and Ofcom have published a joint action plan to tackle nuisance calls and unsolicited text messages.

Ofcom has powers to deal with ‘silent’ automated calls and abandoned calls, while the ICO is responsible for dealing with companies that make unwanted marketing calls or send SMS text messages.