Mobile conversions outpaced desktop conversions on Black Friday and throughout the holiday shopping season, according to Facebook data, and Facebook IQ set out to find out why.

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Yes, it’s time to look forward to 2017 and take a stab at predicting what important events and developments will impact mobile and location-based marketing. I find it’s always helpful to get some outside perspective, particularly from smart people both inside and outside the industry.

To that end, I asked about 20 friends, colleagues and clients for their input. From that group, I received 11 responses.

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The following is a guest contributed post from Edwin Choi, the current VP of Marketing for CellularOutfitter.

Unarguably, one of the most frustrating things is when your smartphone dies. As an expert in the mobile industry, I want to share some quick tips on how to keep your phone charged longer and enjoy your apps even more.

See full story on mobilemarketingwatch.com

Artificial intelligence is likely going to change our world like no other technology ever has. AI might steal our jobs. And AI might even powersex robots — yes, one of our experts went there …

But what we know for sure is that 2017 is the year artificial intelligence is hitting the mainstream.

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Many industry insiders expect mobile commerce to eclipse PC-based sales in the relatively near future. A new online survey from Fluent argues that may already be starting to happen.

The recent survey of 2,773 US adults affirmed other data showing that the bulk of consumers now spend much more time with their mobile devices than PCs. But the survey also reflected…

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According to a fascinating new report from VRJournal, the video game industry may be experiencing amazing success, but jobs for game developers have declined 65 percent since 2014.

There is obviously job seeker demand for careers in gaming, but the way video games are created is changing as new technology like smartphones and…

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This fall was packed with announcements about Googles mobile-first index. First, Gary Illyes gave a keynote at Pubcon and dropped a bomb that Google intended to roll out a mobile-first index in the near future.

Sure, Google had been hinting about the mobile-first index for a while, but now we had real information from a Googler that it was indeed coming.

See full story on searchengineland.com

Were constantly tuned in to the Internet as well as the new technologies and amenities that spawn from it.

Emoji — those little smiley faces and symbols used in your mobile devices messaging keyboard — used to be used exclusively for text messaging. Their meanings are simple. Unlike shorthand acronyms like LOL, emoji have the ability to convey universal messages, like laughter and joy.

See full story on searchenginewatch.com

App discovery and retention have become a high-stakes game for publishers, brands and retailers. Evidence of this is the fact that app install ads will be worth nearly $6 billion this year for Google and Facebook, with some estimates higher than that. Yet getting someone to download an app is increasingly difficult, and there’s no guarantee of retention.

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A recent study (reg. req’d) from Forrester Consulting, commissioned by Celtra, argues that $0.55 of every dollar spent on mobile advertising is wasted. Beyond this, negative mobile ad experiences are hurting brand perceptions among consumers.

These types of findings and conclusions aren’t new but they’re worth emphasizing because mobile traffic now dominates the PC…

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