MasterCard and US-based mobile banking company mFoundry have announced an international partnership that’ll that let more banks give their customers the option to pay for items with their mobile phones.

mFoundry has also received a strategic investment to from MasterCard.

The European Commission has worked with mobile handset manufacturers, operating system providers, internet service providers, broadcasters, social networks and mobile operators to form a new coalition that aims to make the internet better and safer for children.

There are 28 founding members of the ‘Coalition to make the Internet a better place for kids’.

As we approach the end of the year, so next year’s predictions start. We’ll be offering our own mobile industry predictions in a special podcast later this month.

Meanwhile, market intelligence company International Data Corporation has been looking at the growing areas of mobile computing, cloud services, social networking and data analytics - and has made its own 2012 predictions.

Vodafone Global Enterprise, the business unit that manages the communications needs of Vodafone’s largest multinational customers, is acquiring European IT and communications consultancy Bluefish Communications Ltd in a deal worth around £3 million.

The acquisition will help Vodafone Global Enterprise create a new Unified Communications and Collaboration practice that’ll offer advice and guidance about mobile, fixed-line, IT and cloud-based services.

IP communications business BroadSoft has published a survey entitled ‘Mobile Enterprise of the Future’. 400 senior staff responsible for mobile and unified communications IT purchases at US and UK-based businesses were contacted about their company’s communications usage and its plans.

25% of these enterprise IT decision makers believe that desk phones will be replaced by mobile phones within two years.