Taking a page from Apple, Google and Facebook, Slack Technologies is starting an $80 million venture fund to support the creation of apps and add-ons that complement its business-focused group-messaging service.

Before you start planning next year's mobile strategy, first consider those retailers that are doing it right. More than ever, that means Home Depot, according to the latest mobile commerce report from EPiServer.

It was only a matter of time. Due to exceptional ad-buying efficiencies and shifting consumer tastes, the programmatic and mobile revolutions officially merged in 2015.

What does mobile have to do with the cable-cord cutting revolution? Everything, if you consider that it's telecoms like Verizon and AT&T that are increasingly cutting into the bottom lines of cable and satellite providers. "Telecom companies have done better than cable or satellite providers in selling bundles that include high-speed internet connectivity, phone service and TV," eMarketer senior analyst Paul Verna explains in a new report. "These all-in-one packages often save customers money and facilitate viewing on mobile devices." The result? This year, 4.9 million U.S. households will unsubscribe from traditional pay TV services, eMarketer estimates. If accurate, that …

A study released today from AppLift and Forensiq noted that more mobile ad fraud occurs at night, because many fraud tactics are not sophisticated enough to take into account actual levels of app usage. The study, called "Fighting Mobile Fraud in the Programmatic Era," found that about 34% of mobile programmatic traffic is at risk of fraud, with 22% being suspect, and 12% at high fraud risk.

What's the first thing you do in the morning? OK, just after that first call of nature? Rather than check emails, more Americans now go straight to their smartphones to check their messages in the morning, according to Deloitte's "2015 Global Mobile Consumer Survey."

It's pretty funny watching the tech press collectively lose its mind over Apple's new battery case. Sure, nearly doubling the iPhone 6's juice is impressive, and the case looks cooler than most. But is it worth asking whether iPhones are just too skinny? In fact, for power users -- who make up an increasing share of all users -- I think the case addition is more like a product recall than an upgrade. Either way, all the case commotion is overshadowing the much-more-significant news that Apple's mapping service is now used three times more frequently than its next leading competitor …

In a stroke of pure genius, Twitter has decided to let people post photos as they were originally intended to be seen. Yep, as part of the social giant's broader effort to engage more users, it's going to stop cropping their darn pictures.

Worldwide, the smartphone boom appears to be over. Yep, to the chagrin of phone makers everywhere, this will be the first full year of single-digit smartphone growth, according to a new forecast from the International Data Corporation.

It's easy to say that mobile and wearables are the future of in-store transactions, and perhaps they are. But the established nature of banks in our society -- coupled with the decades of training consumers to use and trust cards -- is a stumbling block for mobile payments and banking, not just in the U.S. but in any country with a robust and well-regulated banking sector.