This week we start with contrasting quarterly results from Apple and Nokia before talking about Google Labs, a new London taxi app, gesture recognition technology, mobile payments and some customer service research.

Mark Bridge writes:

Roaming charges are back in the news this week. Not the latest round of price cuts (or, to be technically correct, lower price caps) but the European Commission's plans for the future. As well as continuing the downward pricing trend for a few more years, Neelie Kroes also wants wholesale interconnection at capped rates and the option of a separate 'roaming contract' when you travel abroad.

Mark Bridge writes:

There's been a bit of a location-based theme in the mobile industry this week.

Hardly surprising, with a new report from Pyramid Research saying location-based advertising is becoming increasingly popular – and NAVTEQ revealing that most consumers are happy receiving promotional offers in exchange for free location-related content.

Mark Bridge writes:

It may have been done with the best possible intentions, but developer Daniel Amitay has managed to upset a few people after releasing information gathered by his Big Brother Camera Security app.

The app helped iPhone users to protect themselves against thieves; not only did it lock the user's iPhone if left unattended, it would use the phone's camera to take a photo of anyone who tried unsuccessfully to unlock the device.

Ralph Jennings of voanews.com writes:

Taiwan's massive high-tech industry has long been synonymous with building gadgets cheaply for foreign companies. But at the country's annual technology convention, locally designed tablet computers are hoping to change that image by challenging Apple's wildly popular iPad.

After decades of making PCs at a discount for more well-known foreign companies, Taiwan firms are using their manufacturing experience to design their own machines.