Canadian-based research company IE Market Research Corp. has predicted the shape of the UK mobile industry in 2014. Its latest forecast anticipates a UK total of 84 million mobile subscriptions by the end of 2014. The merged Orange and T-Mobile customer base is expected to maintain its market share – calculated by IEMR to be 41% – while O2's subscriber market share will increase to 28% and Vodafone's share will drop fractionally to 23.3% in 2014.

Research In Motion has announced the new BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone, the first device that’ll run the BlackBerry 6 operating system. It’s also the first BlackBerry handset to combine a slide-out QWERTY keyboard with a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen.

Broadband and fixed-line telephone provider TalkTalk – once part of The Carphone Warehouse – is preparing to launch its own mobile phone service on the Vodafone network. It's expected to offer 'pay monthly' voice and mobile broadband tariffs to its customers from the autumn.

In recent months there’s been a lot of talk about smart metering and the wider subject of machine-to-machine communications. With well over 100% penetration of mobile phones in the UK, the promise of machines exchanging information over the mobile network offers operators a new opportunity for growth.

To explain more about the technology and the potential, we invited Ross Catley to join us for this week’s edition of The Fonecast. Ross has worked in the utility & telecommunications industries and is now a consultant who advises on smart metering.

Here’s an edited transcript of our interview.

Vodafone is running its Mobile Clicks challenge for the third successive year, searching for the best mobile internet start-up in the UK, the Netherlands and Portugal.

Vodafone Mobile Clicks 2010 is open to any start-up – either existing or planned – in the field of mobile internet products or services. The closing date for entries is 22nd August 2010. There's a €100,000 prize for the winner and €50,000 for the runner-up.