French telecoms company MobiWire - formerly Sagem Wireless - appears to have filed for insolvency.

Court documents show receivership ("redressement judiciaire") being pronounced on 28th April and papers being issued today, with a hearing set for 23rd June 2011.

MobiWire has launched its new user interface for Android smartphones. The news follows the company's transformation in February, when it changed its name from Sagem and first revealed its user interface plans.

Surface UX enhances the standard Android user interface. It claims to simplify and improve usability - and also introduces 'Surface Apps' that appear as branded on-screen widgets.

Mark Bridge writes:

The mobile user interface seems to fall in and out of fashion. Nokia and Apple have both transformed the mobile UI in previous years… but still the challenge of creating the 'perfect' user interface design remains.

This focus on mobile usability is the main topic of today's special podcast, which includes Chris Millington of Doro UK and Jerome Nadel from MobiWire.

Mobile usability is the main topic of this special podcast, which includes Chris Millington from Doro UK and Jérôme Nadel of MobiWire (recorded at Mobile World Congress). Conversation topics include the user interface, encouraging usage and designing mobile phones to suit a specific customer group.

MobiWire - formerly known as Sagem Wireless - has unveiled a portfolio of secure business phones with embedded security for voice, SMS, data and on-device encryption. There's a feature phone with a proprietary OS and an Android-powered smartphone as well. The devices have been co-developed with secure communications specialists ERCOM following a partnership announced last year.

Control of the phone's security is managed by a company IT department, not by the user. The built-in security cannot be removed from the device or tampered with.

Mark Windle, head of marketing at OpenCloud, predicts that this year’s reduction in the number of traditional telecoms operators in some countries will provide an opportunity for other operators to innovate and capture market share in 2016.

He says next year will be a year of rapid change for telecoms… whether it’s MVNO disruption, competitive tariff pricing or simply defence from the ‘dark art’ of hacking.

Mark Bridge writes:

The most memorable moments in life often go unrecorded. You don't have your camera in your hands. Your finger is still hovering over the 'pause' button on your audio recorder. Or you were simply too busy experiencing whatever was happening. It's all about the one that got away.

That's where Kapture can help.

Mark Bridge writes:

James Rosewell shows me a colourful roll of paper that's the width of an iPhone but well over three metres long. When I look closer, I can see it's a printed copy of the Wall Street Journal's mobile website. That's a lot of scrolling to do... and a pretty unfriendly user experience for anyone reading the news online. Why does it work so badly?

Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge return to review their mobile industry predictions from last year. Which mergers, partnerships and developments did they forecast correctly... and which didn’t work out as planned?

Later in the programme, the team anticipates some of the topics that will be hitting the headlines during 2016.

Mark Bridge learns about the mobile technology trends at Mobile World Congress 2015 by chatting to James Rosewell of 51Degrees, Dr Kevin Curran from the IEEE and Chris Millington of Doro.

They talk about wearable devices, wireless charging, mobile operating systems and much more... including some of their favourite products from the exhibition.

We're taking a look back at the biggest mobile industry news stories from February 2015, including allegations that the UK's security service tried to breach SIM card security by hacking into one of the world's biggest SIM producers.

We also talk about the planned BT and EE merger, the creation of two new UK virtual networks, some acquisitions in the mobile payment arena and a new Ubuntu smartphone.

In today's programme Mark Bridge talks to Chris Millington, who's Managing Director for Doro UK and Ireland.

They discuss the state of mobile retailing in the UK, the future of wearable devices and - as you might expect - smartphones for seniors.

We're back with a month of mobile industry news, including takeover talks and takeover rumours. O2 and Three are said to be discussing a merger... but is there any truth in the suggestions that BlackBerry could be up for grabs?

We also discuss Apple's record-breaking quarterly figures, the highlights of CES and the launch of Microsoft Windows 10, as well as saying farewell to the current version of Google Glass.