The GSMA - the mobile operator trade organisation - has chosen Barcelona as the Mobile World Capital from 2012 to 2018. Barcelona has beaten Milan, Munich and Paris in the final vote.

This means it'll host the GSMA Mobile World Congress (as it has done for several years) and will also develop a range of other activities throughout the year.

Network operator Telefonica has launched an ebook reader on the Movistar network in Spain.

The device is called the ebook bq and will go on sale next week.

The latest comScore MobiLens research shows that 20 million mobile phone users across the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy accessed their bank accounts via their mobiles in March.

Overall, that's 8.5% of mobile phone users. In addition, 5.1% accessed credit cards and 5.2% accessed electronic payments via their mobile devices.

App store analyst company Distimo and games market research firm Newzoo are working together to provide monthly data on game sales and downloads across the Apple App Store in various markets.

Their first report shows that half of all free and paid app downloads across the USA, UK, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium are games.

Telefónica España - the Spanish mobile network operator owned by the parent of O2 UK - has launched a contactless NFC mobile payment project for its staff. It's called 'Distrito NFC' and is available at the network’s headquarters in Madrid.

1,000 Telefonica employees have been given Samsung NFC devices that'll let them use their mobile phones for payment in and around the business campus. Over 10,000 additional employees are expected to be added to the scheme as it develops.