‘Point and Find’ is a new futuristic device released from Nokia, whereby users point their mobile phones at an object or a picture and the phone is then able to produce a wealth of information about it right on the spot.

It all sounds very hi-tech, but it’s real and the Beta version has just been launched in the UK and the US. It works by using the camera and the internet connection on the handset. Although a picture is not actually taken, the viewer captures the image, sends it off to some huge database in cyberspace, where it is then cross referenced with other items and information is collected and delivered back to the phone in seconds.

The Beta version is limited to film posters at the moment, meaning the user can simply point their phone at a film poster and receive information on reviews, trailers and showing times in seconds. However, in the future the aim is to have a system that works for almost anything. It is also limited to certain Nokia handsets for the time being, but over time the feature will not just be available on Nokia phones and could become a regular addition to most handsets.

This could completely change the way that we use our mobile phones, but the possibilities for marketing are even greater. In the not-too-distant future, it is quite likely that companies will place ads which, when people use the ‘Point and Shoot feature’, will be able to provide videos, music and adverts straight to their phones.

After causing conflict across the mobile phone industry over recent weeks, Skype has now managed to arrive on the iPhone and the iPod Touch, which has itself caused more than a few ripples through the industry.

The free Skype application essentially allows users to make free calls over the internet to other Skype users, as well as low-cost calls to landlines all over the world. It also allows users to send texts to mobile phones.

However, it is not all as great as it sounds and will surely not make the iPhone network providers, which in the UK is O2, redundant. For a start, Skype can only be used on a Wi-Fi connection rather than 3G. This means that users cannot simply use Skype rather than their regular network whenever they want.

On top of that, the call quality will vary depending on where the phone is being used. If the Wi-Fi connection is in a bar with lots of other users, it will not be as good as using the regular network.

However, the application’s popularity has been phenomenal, racking up over a million downloads in the first two days alone. This is sure to worry the industry players, who will be worried about losing revenue to calls made over Skype. Only recently, O2 and Orange were threatening not to stock the Nokia N97 unless the in-built Skype application was removed, so it is fair to say that they will not be too happy with the latest developments and will be hoping that Skype does not prove as popular as it’s download figures have suggested.

Up until last week, if you wanted an iPhone then the only way to go about it was through O2. And even though O2 has just announced cheaper deals where customers can get the iPhone for free on longer contracts, a new option has arrived on the market from Play.com.

The online company has just announced that it will be offering the iPhone on a SIM-free basis, meaning customers will not have to sign up to a hefty contract with O2 in order to get all the benefits of the revolutionary phone.

This caused a few ripples through the industry, and many people were quick to question the legitimacy of the deal. However, Play.com has assured its customers that anyone who buys an iPhone from the company will be covered by Apple’s warranty. Indeed, the company actively encourages its customers to sign up on the Apple website after purchasing one.

It wasn’t long ago that Apple was threatening to block iPhones that were unlocked by their owners, and that any that were would not be covered by the warranty. However, Play.com says that the move has been possible due to “EU legislation ensuring the sale of SIM-free mobile phones”.

It’s all great news for those who are looking for a bit more choice, but it will of course come at a cost. The 8GB version is selling for £549.99, and the 16GB is currently selling for £599.99, although this could well go up in the near future. This is still cheaper than taking out a two-year contract with O2, but then you have to factor in money spent on a different contract as well.

And with rumours circulating that a new iPhone model will be released this summer, do you really want to splash out a small fortune on something that is sure to go down in value on the announcement of any new models?

Despite the technology being available now to allow people to pick up mobile phone reception whilst using the tube, it looks like the London Underground is set to remain a mobile free zone for the foreseeable future.

The news comes after TfL (Transport for London), which had been thinking about the possibility of such a scheme since 2005, carried out a two year research programme; it had been hoped that this would result in a six-month trial of an underground mobile phone system on the Waterloo and City line. However, TfL has just stated that despite its hopes for the system to get the go ahead, it has now turned out not to be “commercially viable”.

The news has brought mixed responses. Some have complained that seeing as the technology already exists, it is denying people, and especially commuters who rely on the Underground, access to their mobiles. However, others have said it is great news as it will keep the Underground free from the eponymous mobile chatter that seems to follow us everywhere these days.

O2 currently has a system in place in Glasgow that allows people to make calls on their mobiles as normal from the metro system. But TfL were keen to point out that the only reason for the decision was that the costs of a system would be too great.

A spokesman for TfL indicated that we could see a system arrive in the future if it was not too expensive, saying that “the market has yet to provide us with a credible proposal for enabling mobile phone use on the Tube.”

With mobile phone growth spreading rapidly across the world, the next huge growth area is set to be mobile banking. Research carried out by Berg Insight into mobile banking reveals some striking figures. According to the company, in 2008 there were 20 million mobile banking users across the globe. However, by 2014 there will be an estimated 900 million, representing an enormous growth in popularity.

The research went into detail about the findings, and revealed that 65% of all mobile banking customers will be in the Asia Pacific region, representing by far the biggest growth area. It also highlighted Africa as a large growth area because it will provide people with far greater access to financial services without the need to have a bank account.

Mobile banking is seen as something quite different in the developed world. Although the research suggested that more and more people are using their mobiles to access the Internet and will therefore start to access mobile banking more as well, it will be a natural progression for them and will not have the same implications as it will in the developing world. According to the figures, the USA will have 80 million users by 2014, and Europe will have 110 million.

The telecom analyst at Berg Insight, Marcus Persson, said that mobiles are in “an excellent position” to allow them to become the “primary digital channel” for accessing banking and financial services across the world.

This technology could really open up the world of banking to people who have previously been unable to make use of financial services due to them not possessing a bank account. Whereas in the West it will make life a bit easier, in the developing world it could change people’s lives considerably.

Last week, numerous rumours began to surface that O2 would be slashing the cost of the iPhone due to the launch in the summer of an anticipated new model from makers Apple, which many are thinking could be an ‘iPhone Nano’.

Mobile Today reported that O2 would be making the iPhone free for £35 and £45-a-month customers, leading many to decide to hold back from purchasing a phone just yet to see if the rumours were true.

O2 was quick to respond to the rumours by announcing some changes to its price plans. Starting on April 3rd, O2 will be offering the iPhone free to customers taking out a 24-month contract.

At the moment, before the changes go through, the 16GB phone is free to customers paying £75 a month, and the 8GB version is free to customers paying £45 a month.

Under the new contracts, the 16GB iPhone will now be available for free to £44.05-a-month customers, whilst £34.25-a-month customers will have to pay £57.74 for it, as long as they are on a 24-month contract. The 8GM version will now be free.

O2 have said this new deal is for customers “looking for added value in return for added commitment”. And although it is still a lot to pay over two years, it does at least make it more affordable for fans who have so far not been able to get their hands on the iPhone.

Following this news, Apple also announced iPhone OS 3.0, a huge host of features that were currently missing from the iPhone that will now be available for free for iPhone owners in the summer. They include cut, copy and paste, as well as MMS and the 'shake to shuffle' feature.

But as for news of whether a new iPhone model really is on its way, we’ll just have to wait.

Money4urmobile.com, a company which as its name would suggest, pays you for recycling your mobile phone, predicts a 15% rise in the number of Nokia handsets being recycled this year. It seems that with the rise in popularity of the i-phone and Blackberry we are discarding our traditional mobile phones and, with the current state of the economy, who could blame us for wanting to convert them into cash?

Nokia takes the top three places in the recycling charts, according to figures from money4urmobile, with Sony Ericsson coming fourth and fifth. The public is becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of recycling items such as phones, not only in terms of the environment but also our pockets. In fact, certain mobiles are worth £150 if recycled.

The average life expectancy of a mobile phone is a mere 18 months with many of us upgrading our handset every time our contract comes up for renewal. The average person in the UK has two mobiles languishing at home and if you are under 20 this figure rises to three. If you think that is bad, consider the residents of India, where the average number is five.

Only 17% of people in India are aware that mobiles can be recycled and Nokia has started a campaign to increase awareness, with green incentives being offered such as the planting of a tree for each handset deposited in their recycle bins.

If you are living in the UK and are more interested in hard cash than trees being planted, take a look at the website for money4urmobile and see how much you could get for your old phone.

Google Latitude has already caused a stir only a month after its launch. The new service from Google, which allows friends and family to keep track of each other through their mobile handsets, has been criticised by MPs who claim that it could provide a threat to the privacy of the nation.

A group of four Liberal Democrat MPs have signed an Early Day Motion in parliament asking that the government looks into the service and the potential threat to privacy that it represents.

Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said that we as a country faced an “insidious threat to our liberties”, and that Latitude represents an “unnecessary danger”.

Google has responded by saying that Latitude is only available to people who opt in to use it. As a result, people signed up to the service cannot simply be tracked by anyone.

But there are worries that it could be misused, and that companies could use the information in ways that would affect the privacy of the users.

Google has said that protecting privacy is a “key consideration”, and that the service has a safety feature built in to alert users when the service is in operation, meaning it could not be used covertly by anyone.

Privacy is a hot topic at the moment, especially with the advances being made in social networking and mobile technology. Anything which poses a threat to the privacy of the public should certainly be looked into for any relevant threat it represents, although it is unlikely that this latest scare will lead to much. If anything, it will provide great publicity for Google.

As mobile phones continue to evolve to contain ever more features, Hyundai has taken a different path by announcing the launch of a mobile phone wristwatch.

The Hyundai MB-910 first appeared at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year, and it is now thought that it will arrive in the UK by the summer after already having proved extremely popular in Europe.

Although it looks hi-tech, the MB-910 is actually very simple, at least compared to the higher-end smartphones released lately. It has a WAP browser rather than 3G, and does not have that staple of nearly all mobile phones these days, a digital camera. However, it comes with a touch screen as well as the ability to play music and videos.

Hyundai is not the first company to announce the launch of a watch phone. LG also revealed its own version of a watch phone, the G910, at the Mobile World Congress, which will be released later this year. However, the £200 price tag for the Hyundai version is likely to prove the more affordable option.

Indeed, Roland Prinz, the director of Hyundai Mobile, said the watch represents the “latest cutting edge technology” whilst being at a price that is “accessible to the masses”.

Other features include three hours of talk-time and 70 hours in standby mode on a single charge. The phone will come SIM-free, and the idea is that it will be used with a Bluetooth headset, although it will also be possible to speak directly into the screen.

It all looks a bit gimmicky, but it could well catch on. Who knows, in the convenience culture we live in maybe the effort of reaching for your phone from you bag or pocket could seem like too much work in the near future and we will wonder how we ever managed without our watch phones.