BBC News: The UK’s big five mobile phone firms have switched on a payment system that turns handsets into digital wallets. Called PayForIt, the scheme is designed for those buying goods and services with a value of up to £10. The industry hopes it will be used to pay for ringtones, train tickets, parking fees and eventually as a payment […]

Cellular News: A record label is launching a service that enables music fans to get information about music, simply by taking a photo of the CD case and sending it via MMS to their server. MMS & Buy is about impulse purchase through picture taking: You are looking at a CD in the store or passing by a promo poster. […]

TrendCentral: Even more so than in the U.S., people in Japan are overwhelmingly addicted to text messaging, mainly because making private cell phone calls in public is considered extremely rude. However, overcrowded public spaces such as the subway are not always the most private, so it has become common practice to use stick-on cell phone privacy screens which are thin, […]

TrendCentral: Atlantic Records has partnered with Hook Mobile to create mobile SMS-based trading cards featuring music artists from the label. Fans will purchase the cards via text and just like the old school tangible baseball cards that we all remember, cards will be distributed at random and some will be rarer than others. Collectors can hold onto their cards (which […]

TrendWatching.com: The main attraction at Booseytones is its wide range of less pedestrian ringtones. Being the world’s largest publisher of classical music, Boosey & Hawkes can draw from an immense catalogue of music by such distinguished 20th century composers as Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Britten, Adams and Reich. Previous centuries are represented by a host of venerable composers, from Handel to Tchaikovsky. […]

Springwise: Commuters, students and others who rely heavily on mobile devices but may often find themselves with time on their hands can now tap into a free online source for stories, essays, jokes and other text files that can be downloaded to their mobiles, read at their convenience and then sent to others via SMS. Wattpad operates much like YouTube, […]

StartupJournal: Alex Gurevich loves to log on to YouTube to watch music videos and comedy sketches on breaks from work. But the 24-year-old entrepreneur from San Francisco fretted that he couldn’t take the fun with him on his cellphone. Mr. Gurevich assumed that signing up for a mobile video service would require a “superexpensive” phone and more than $20 extra […]

TrendCentral: Created by the location-based service Yojo Mobile, this new web service MizPee sends a list of the closest and cleanest bathrooms straight to users’ mobile phones. Bathroom ratings are user generated and users can also search for amenities such as handicap accessibility and diaper-changing stations (perfect for moms!). The service is free but users have the option to access […]

Springwise: T-shirts have long been conversation starters, letting their wearers express bold political views, support their favourite artist or display their quirky sense of humour. Reactee takes the interaction to another level by harnessing the power of text messaging, creating t-shirts that “text back”. How it works? A customer picks a personal slogan and a unique keyword, which Reactee prints […]

Mobile Digest: Following on from Orange’s new pre-pay tariff yesterday, 3 has announced a new pricing structure for its Pay As You Go customers, with calls now from 5p per minute – the cheapest any network any time call rate available from any UK mobile network, according to the company. 3’s Pay As You Go Top-ups are also now available […]