The cost for brands to acquire loyal application users reached an all-time high in December as companies bid up the price on mobile marketing during a period when consumers were actively engaged with mobile, according to new data from Fiksu.

It is not just about team colors, beer and finger foods anymore. This year, many eager football fans will add one more thing to their Super Bowl party to-do list: downloading apps.

Mobile is poised to revolutionize media less than a decade after the desktop Web demolished long-established business models. How will mobile channels such as apps influence media’s future?

For how far we have come in tracking and optimizing online ads, we are still in the dark ages of mobile advertising, especially when it comes to promoting mobile apps.

Mobile commerce is expected to reach $31 billion by the end of 2016 and grow at a rate of 40 percent each year for the next five years, according to a report published by Forrester Research.

Is there anything wrong with 1 million people using your app only once?

The thing that is becoming crystal clear in mobile implementation: it is not easy to do. Marketers and retailers that want an easy path to mobile will be disappointed.

The honeymoon of the mobile application industry is over. The fight for users – and the challenge of building a sustainable flow of money from them – has arrived. And it will only get tougher.

Going mobile and engaging your audience anywhere and anytime is not about extending an Internet Web site to a mobile Web site and onward to a mobile app.

Apps are growing fast – and every indicator points to the fact that they will grow even faster. However, this rate of growth can only be maintained if app developers are able to keep their apps free.