Google's CEO Eric Schmidt says his company's mobile strategy is focussed on building software for handsets and a mobile platform to help other software developers The Wall Street Journal says it looks as though we should expect the equivalent of a Google operating system for mobile phones. Meanwhile, Google has announced that its 'Checkout' payment service is now available on mobiles as well as conventional web browsers.

2007 started well for mobile manufacturers, according to research company Gartner. They say that 257.4 million handsets were sold worldwide in the first three months of this year, which is a 14% increase from the same period last year. Annual sales are expected to hit 1.15 billion units by the end of December.

The Guardian reports that the Metropolitan Police's top digital analysis expert is helping Portuguese police investigate the disappearance of Madeleine McCann by checking mobile phone data from the area she was last seen in. It's expected that the data will be used to check inconsistencies in evidence given by anyone interviewed by police.