The BBC has announced that its apps for Android phones and other mainstream devices will launch towards the end of this year.

The first of the BBC News apps to be launched in the UK were for use with the iPhone and iPad.

The apps, which are free to download, were originally due to be released in April of this year.

However, the launch was delayed as the BBC Trust, the corporation’s governing body, took a detailed look at the proposals and investigated the impact that the free-to-download apps would have on the rest of the industry.

A number of news organisations already offer apps for the Apple products which allow the user to remain instantly informed of key news events.

It is understood that similar apps for services such as BBC iplayer and sport will follow shortly.

According to KPMG’s Global ‘Consumers and Convergence IV’, an annual survey of consumers’ day-to-day use of mobile and PC technology, UK web users remain less willing than their global counterparts to pay for digital content.

81% of UK consumers would search elsewhere for content if a frequently used, previously free, website was to begin charging with only 19% of those surveyed stating that they would be willing to pay.

In contrast, across the globe, 43% of consumers are willing to pay to receive access to frequently updated online content. In Asia-Pacific countries, this figure rises to 59%.

Interestingly though, three quarters of UK consumers stated that they would be willing to receive online advertisements in exchange for reduced content costs.

Alongside these results, the survey also revealed other interesting points relating to the UK market.

Whilst the ‘death of the landline’ has been documented heavily in the press, the survey found that 94% of UK consumers have no plans to discontinue landline use in favour of their mobile phone devices.

Interestingly, mobile banking usage is said to have doubled in the past 18 months as people have grown more confident in managing their money on the go. However, whilst online banking is heavily regulated and monitored by security forces, the
majority of people are still sceptical about the levels of protection across the internet as a whole.

Globally, 90% of consumers said that they were apprehensive about risking their privacy and the issues surrounding security whilst carrying out internet transactions.

Despite these concerns, it appears that people across the globe are adopting mobile internet at an astonishing rate as it offers an easy and accessible way to carry out everyday tasks. It will only be a matter of time before the issues of security and privacy are ironed out and m-commerce becomes the norm.

Samsung Apps has released a series of applications designed to help holidays to go without a hitch.

Vanilla Breeze, an anti-mosquito company, has created an application which emits an insect-repelling sonic frequency from the end user’s handset. The app enables any holiday maker to turn their device into an effective, chemical free and child friendly insect repellent.

Interestingly, Sixt Company has also created the Sixt rent-a-car app which makes car hire even simpler. You are able to choose your car on your mobile device and receive your reservation confirmation via SMS, email or screenshot.

Coolgorilla Phrasebook offers more than 500 professionally translated words and popular sentences with both text and audio translations to help you get to grips with the local language.

Samsung Apps has grown in popularity since its creation and it is thought that with the continued release of helpful applications, its client base can only increase.

A YouGov survey of 2,255 UK consumers has revealed that loading times and product display pages are two of the most common irritations for m-commerce end users.

Whilst only 21% of the people surveyed owned a smartphone, 81% of these consumers had used their mobile phones to help them to shop, compared to just 15% of non-smartphone users.

35% of consumers said that a negative mobile commerce experience would force them to look elsewhere for a particular product. Interestingly, only 25% of those surveyed said that they would try to re-load a page before giving up and taking their business to another retailer, with another 25% stating that after a bad purchasing experience, they would never go to that site again via their handset.

One of the pre-requisites of a successful m-commerce site is to have a slick purchase process. It is vital that retailers keep the information that is required to complete a transaction to a minimum and only ask what is essential to complete the purchase. Otherwise, retailers run the risk of deflecting business away from themselves and straight into the catchment area of their competitors, resulting in high churn rates.

A website designed for use on a mobile phone is clearly a business opportunity for many retailers. The survey revealed that many consumers find having to zoom in and out of a page to view all of the information was annoying and distracted from the buying experience.

With larger brands such as Marks and Spencer and Next now beginning to follow the trend by releasing sites or applications, retailers wishing to crack the m-commerce market would be wise to take this into consideration when developing their site.

Whilst the amount of mobile users shopping via their handset is fairly small at the moment, it is only a matter of time before interest spreads across the mobile industry for consumers and retailers alike. When this surge arrives, it is vital that m-commerce sites are equipped with the ability to shop with ease and simple sophistication.

Top10.com, the research comparison website, has revealed that if people moved to contracts which better suited their needs, they could stand to save up to £62 a year.

This excessive figure is down to users not making the most of their monthly deals or continually going over their allowance and incurring the premium costs.

With so many mobile phone contract deals available at the moment, it is thought that people often become confused by the amount of choice on offer and estimate the tariff that will be suitable rather than examining previous bills and making an informed decision.

However, whilst bundle packages may benefit consumers, from a business perspective, they are rarely the best solution.

Lorne Fry, Regional Sales Manager at Total Ltd explains: ‘The perceived financial benefits to businesses of shared bundle tariffs often remain unfulfilled. It is important to note that minutes that are included in bundles are not always cost efficient. If a business does not use its allowance then it will pay above and beyond its needs but similarly, if it were to use more than its included minutes, it stands to be charged premium costs.’

He added: ‘Another issue with bundle plans is the fact that once the original bundle is set, it cannot be reduced until the contract expires. This leaves the customer at risk if usage happens to fluctuate throughout the year.’

‘In our experience, almost all customers have far more flexibility when they choose a bespoke plan, paying for calls at significantly reduced rates alongside low line rental charges. This allows greater cost control as you only pay for the minutes that are used. It is also important though that businesses maintain clear and regular communication with their Service Providers to ensure that their needs are met with the most cost-effective solution.’

181 thefts were reported in 2009, compared to just 53 in 2006 with police reports confirming that some thieves had been caught with up to 20 handsets.

According to the National Mobile Phone Crime Unit (NMPCU), there has been a mutation of mobile phone offences and they are now often linked to serious crime such as drugs.

It is thought that demand in other countries has led to a rise in this type of crime, with phones then going on to be sold at four times their original UK price.

Many handsets end up in eastern Europe and north Africa where the mobile phone business is growing at an astonishing rate. The police have reported that there was a 50% rise in mobile phone thefts between 2008 and 2009 to keep up with the demand.

The NMPCU have reported that in 2009 alone, gigs by artists including Oasis, The Wombats, Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian were targeted.

In the throes of the festival season, crowd concentration levels are high offering the perfect environment for thieves. Theives have been known to disguise themselves, often wearing the artist’s merchandise to ensure that they blend in.

Gig-goers have been urged to be cautious and advised to use an old handset, register mobile phones with an online database and keep valuables in a secure locker.

More than 3,000 people have fallen victim to this type of crime, in more than 500 separate incidents.

In terms of the future, police are working with venue owners, concert promoters and various artists to raise awareness and help to prevent the crime levels of recent years.