Telefónica UK has announced a new brand for beta versions of mobile apps.

Some new O2 products will be branded as ‘1st Edition’, indicating that the company is looking for feedback from customers before the application is launched. The first app badged as 1st Edition will be the new O2 Connect VoIP service.

HTC Corporation is spending $13 million to acquire Inquisitive Minds, the company behind the Zoodles brand.

Zoodles is a free app for smartphones, tablets and computers that puts the device into a child-safe mode. It’s currently used by over two million people.

A newly-published piece of research from Denmark has found that mobile phone use apparently resulted in no increased risks of tumours of the central nervous system.

The study looked at all Danes aged 30 or above and who were born in the country after 1925. Information about the risk of tumours of the central nervous system came from the Danish Cancer Register; this was then processed along with details about mobile phone use.

Mark Bridge writes:

Mobile banking. eBanking. Mobile money. m-payments. They’re all terms that are often thrown around interchangeably (and incorrectly) when talking about mobile financial services.

To help understand more about the difference facets of mobile commerce - from security concerns through to current implementation and future innovations - I headed for Gemalto’s recent Innovation Day at the Museum of London. I started by talking to Howard Berg, senior vice president at Gemalto, and admitted to him that I still thought of Gemalto as being a SIM card and smartcard manufacturer rather than the digital security company it’s become.