Vodafone has increased its New Zealand contact centre capacity after political unrest in Egypt forced one of its contact centres to close.

Gartner estimates that smartphone users will download a shopping 17.7 billion apps - worth US$15bn - this year.

Drivers are flouting the ban on hand-held cellphones - new figures show a phone-related car crash almost every two days, dozens of injuries and five deaths last year.

Fathers hoping to record the birth of their babies will have to rely on photographic memories now video cameras and mobile phones are increasingly being banned from maternity hospitals in the Australian state of Victoria.

Smartphones and tablets will help double the shipment of computers around the world in just five years, according to new research.

Complaints against the telecommunications industry have more than trebled in the last three years, with an increasing number made about non-members, giving rise to calls for the scheme to be made compulsory.

The Commerce Commission has called for lower wholesale voice and text pricing to encourage competition in NZ's cellular market.

Finally, mobiles are living up to their early promise.

Telco rivals say they have the technology to deliver the Government's goals.

It may be called a 'phone', when its main use is anything but - it's almost as absurd as calling an iPod Touch a radiogram.

These days, if someone calls me for "a chat", I adopt the same quizzical expression as if they'd suggested we mud-wrestle each other for kicks.

Dozens of cases of 'text neck' - a condition linked to using mobile devices - are being reported each week, chiropractors' say.

The smartphone revolution is gaining momentum and mobile operator 2degrees expects more than half of phones sold here next year will be smartphones.

It seems like the BlackBerry is losing its addictive powers, and businesses are shopping around for other smartphones.