The crowded UK mobile market could be about to get a bit smaller, according to several reports that say a handful of networks are interested in buying Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile UK network, the country’s troubled, fourth largest network. Guardian.co.uk, Reuters, Times Online and others all put various names in from—from…

Telefonica-owned O2 has won the exclusive UK distribution rights for the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre smartphone, according to a report from Guardian.co.uk, which says an announcement is due next week. Reports have linked the two companies to a UK tie-up for the some time and it would be quite a…

The rich data built up over time through mobile mapping technology and platforms will allow an explosion of mobile apps in the coming years—but Ed Parsons, geospatial technologist at Google (NSDQ: GOOG) warns that government agencies must allow greater access to more of their data for the mobile industry to…

It’s a thumbs up from the European Commission: the proposed merger of Tiscali’s UK broadband business and Carphone Warehouse can now take place as planned.

—Yell Group: The Yellow Pages maker wants to “comprehensively refinance” itself by changing the length and terms of its lending agreements. Talks will start with lenders and eventually with major shareholders—raising the prospect of a money-raising share issue—as part of a process that will last until the Autumn. The company…

—Independent.co.uk: INM is taking on Bluestar Mobile to overhaul its flagship mobile site, in its first client win since being bought by Germany’s YOC. Bluestar will also do marketing for the site, which will include targeted ads. The Indie says it has 240,000 mobile users now. —Nimbuzz: The social network…

Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) is mulling over a bid for T-Mobile UK, a move that would catapult them to the lead of the British mobile phone market, one of the most competitive markets in Europe. The FT.com, citing “people familiar with the situation” said that Vodafone, the world’s largest carrier by…

France Telecom’s UK carrier Orange, the country’s third largest, is cutting 370 jobs, the FT.com reports. A hundred of the lay offs will come in the next three months, while the remaining 270 jobs will be cut by not filling positions. Orange UK has been struggling to regain its position…

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is tripling its stake in UK microchip firm Imagination Technologies, taking its share to 9.5 percent. Its buying 2.2 million new shares at £1.4275 each (total £3.14 million).

—Irish music piracy: They warned they would, and now they have. The four major labels are suing Irish ISPs BT (NYSE: BT) and UPC to force them to implement a “three strikes” anti-piracy measure, FT.com reports. It worked against Eircom, which relented and agreed out of court to the practice…

The G1 phone’s built-in compass offers some tremendous possibilities. I had already tested the Wikitude app - which lets you identify landmarks through the camera - before finally giving up on the handset’s battery life. Kevin Anderson points to Wimbledon tech sponsor IBM’s new Seer app, which, for example, lets…

As the rush to launch app stores risks a nuclear arms race in app standards, Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) is almost alone in placing faith instead in the one great standard digital media already has - the web. While everyone fell over themselves to copy Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), Vodafone - together…

I already reported on the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games’ online strategy in text here. Now see London 2012 new media head Alex Balfour’s Tuesday keynote to Mobile Entertainment Market ‘09 in full in video here. It’s an extended run, but a really interesting insight in to the…

I caught up with Tanya Field, director of Telefonica’s mobile data group, at Mobile Entertainment Market in Westminster on Tuesday - listen below, or audio link also here. Field is responsible for user interface, mobile advertising and internet products and services across Telefonica (NYSE: TEF), including the O2 subsidiary… Listen!

More than 60 percent of mobile users still use their handset for only voice and text, according to a KPMG survey. KPMG director Mark Harding, who surveyed 4,190 consumers in 19 countries, called that an “opportunity” as he detailed the stats at the Mobile Entertainment Forum’s big Mobile Entertainment Market…

Twitter management app Tweetdeck has ridden the wave of Twitter’s popularity to become one of the top Twitter clients, with one million downloads. The free iPhone app launched this week got more than 100,000 downloads in its first 30 hours. But its London-based founder, Iain Dodsworth, sees the company’s business…

Charging for apps may just be the wave of the future, according to Chris Wade, the brand new CEO of Shozu, whose application allows users to upload content on their phones to content sharing sites—such as Flickr and Facebook—on the internet. Though there’s been much debate about whether its only…

—SpinVox-Telefonica (NYSE: TEF) Latin American deal: British speech-to-text firm, SpinVox, has signed a deal with European telecoms group Telefonica, which will allow its Latin American customers to receive their voicemails as text. In October, Telefonica rolled out the service to its customers of its Movistar carrier in Chile. SpinVox will…

Many music services have been dropping DRM to make their wares more popular, now speculation says Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is about to do the same. This thin story at Mobile-Ent.biz cites “sources” as saying Nokia will remove copy locks from Nokia Music Store in favour of MP3 later this year,…