Retail apps that capture and facilitate mobile moments gain approval and loyalty from users, a new study suggests. And app users will register their dislike for a brand experience quickly and harshly in their app reviews.

Facebook hasn't always seen eye-to-eye with mobile developers. Especially in its early years, the social giant had a reputation for stepping on their toes, and downplaying their place in its broader ecosystem. Yet, having wised up in recent years, the company Mark Zuckerberg built has made efforts -- and significant investments -- to bring developers into the fold.

Overreacting to a 'Vanity Fair' article this week, dating app Tinder had a massive public meltdown that was a joy to watch. We are now in the age of the thin-skinned corporation with the voice of a scorned teenager.

Word is that Facebook is working on a new standalone app that will blast breaking news alerts provided by partner publishers. Business Insider -- which first reported the app-in-development, on Tuesday -- thinks the new offering poses a direct threat to Twitter. It does. While its hardcore user base isn't likely to budge, Twitter's broader audience could probably be persuaded to receive its news by simpler means. Yet, if and when Facebook starts pushing out news alerts, the bigger question will be its impact on publishers.

A good gimmick and early momentum among a dedicated user base can do wonders for any platform. But lasting success requires additional traits, including ceaseless adaptation, and an unsentimental willingness to admit failure and part with problematic features and formats. Twitter, for one, has long suffered from its reluctance to meet average people at eye level, and slow its service to their speed. Snapchat, by contrast, is demonstrating a healthy willingness to change, innovate, and reshape its most cherished parts.

Interest in Apple Pay is even declining among those who have used the payments platform -- more evidence that consumers remain smarter than marketers seem to think they are.

This week Target became the latest retailer to integrate beacon technology into the shopping experience, announcing that it will test using low-energy Bluetooth beacons to deliver coupons and special offers to the mobile devices of shoppers when they're near the product in question.

The much-enhanced search and Siri functionality in iOS 9 powers up the OS. It is not just a platform anymore, but an intermediary to most functions and information.

If you're like me, your memories of Highlights, the classic educational magazine for children, will always be a little conflicted, because you usually read it while waiting for doctor or dentist. The 69-year-old kids' publication is now focusing on mobile publishing in a big way.

Just in case all you parents of teens out there don't have enough to worry about, a new survey from Australia found that half of teenage boys and girls surveyed had used a mobile device to send a sexually explicit photo of themselves. Presuming that American teens are just as hormonal and maybe not so smart as their Aussie peers, it seems safe to conclude a similar proportion have bared all via mobile.