Mark Bridge writes:

Predicting the future is easy. Making accurate predictions is more of a challenge. In our final podcast of 2012 we've provided a forecast for the mobile telecoms industry in 2013 - and we've also looked back at last year's expectations.

So... what do the three of us at TheFonecast.com expect from mobile phones and wireless technology next year?

Mark Bridge writes:

We started last week with a 20th birthday party for the SMS text message, which was first used as an alternative Christmas card by Neil Papworth in 1992. Since then, mobile data has been transformed from the familiar dit-dit-dit dah-dah dit-dit-dit of Nokia phones to non-stop internet connectivity on smart devices.

Mark Bridge writes:

As the end of the year approaches, so the volume of ‘real news’ tends to reduce as it’s replaced by annual reviews and seasonal surveys. We’ll be joining in with our predictions for 2013 in a few weeks’ time... but first, here’s a look back at the biggest stories from the past seven days.

Mark Bridge writes:

The last few days have been particularly busy for UK telecoms regulator Ofcom. It started the week by announcing its rules for next year’s UK 4G mobile spectrum auction – expect services to go live in around six months – and it ended the week with plans to avoid a 5G capacity crunch.

James Rosewell writes:

The last time I used a Microsoft based mobile phone was 2008 in the form of the HTC Hermes. Since then Apple and Android have dominated my mobile life. It was therefore with more than a little trepidation that I switched over to Windows Phone 7.5 in the form of the Lumia 800 in July this year. Since then I’m continually being asked what I think of the phone and the operating system. Here are my experiences and thoughts.