Welcome to a special Christmas holidays edition of PocketGamer.biz's rundown of the stories clocking up the hits, picking up the click-throughs and generally keeping the advertisers happy by serving up page views.

Or, if you'd prefer, the top five stories currently dominating our readers' attention.

This week, we're counting down the biggest news from the who of the Christmas and New Year festivities, giving just a glimpse of the industry's big issues, from five to one.

2014 Preview: 5 mobile predictions that will almost definitely come true in 2014

It may seem odd start off a countdown with an article that's essentially a countdown, but it seems getting to grips with what's likely to happen in 2014 is key to PocketGamer.biz.

Which makes a lot of sense, really. After 12 months of almost constant change, pinning down what the year ahead is likely to serve up is key for developers looking to secure longterm success.

Not that we can guarantee that any of the five trends we've highlighted will actually come to pass in 2014, but we get merit points for trying, right?

The Charticle: QuizUp - the least successful most successful iPhone game ever

Christmas saw QuizUp developer Plain Vanilla raise an additional $22 million, in part thanks to the success its head-to-head trivia game enjoyed in the US post launch in November.

But though the game charted well in terms of downloads, the game is yet to generate significant revenue, thanks to what editor-at-large Jon Jordan described as an "almost total lack of monetisation."

"At present, there are just three in-app purchases, which for an hour multiple the rate at which you earn XP," he continued.

"And that's the reason QuizUp has been a total failure relative to its top grossing performance. In the US, its peak on the iPhone top grossing chart is 228, while in the UK it's 266.

"Clearly, this is something the Plain Vanilla and its investors, which include Tencent and Sequoia Capital, will be keen to improve upon in 2014."

Opinion: I've played Clash of Clans more than any other game, but now it's time to log off

It might be more than three months old, but editor-at-large Jon Jordan's tale of falling out of love with Supercell's Clash of Clans motored into the top five over Christmas.

"It's also important to play some of these games for long periods of time to see how your motivations to play and pay rise and fall over the months," said Jordan, speaking on his role as a journalist.

"And, of course, to experience how developers update their games with new content and time-dependent offers to keep their long term audience interested. So, in that context, will I be deleting Clash of Clans from my iPad?

"Not quite. It's going into a new folder called 'Games I Used to Play'. I might dip back into it every so often, but my attention is demanded elsewhere."

ICS Mobile's Joe Bayen on bringing emotional currency to app discovery with AppXchange

At its prime, FreeAppADay was a powerful promo tool, helping developers gain vital exposure at a time when free games were something of a rarity.

But with freemium now ruling the roost, FreeAppADay creator Joe Bayen has a new tool he believes will help developers get discovered: an active app community called AppXchange.

"Users are encouraged to share their app knowledge to gain access to the collective knowledge of the community," detaiuled Bayen.

"Simply put, today, instead of asking which app is best to download in any category, a user can directly interact with one of our app category experts to obtain an answer instantly. And that's the novelty!"

2013 In Review: The developers' take

Top of the pile, though - and fittingly so – was the take of some of the most prominent developers on what went on in the world of mobile in 2013.

Featuring Vlambeer, TinyCo, Simogo, Halfbrick and Nitrome, the most interesting element of the whole piece was the fact that, on many issues, these leading lights simply didn't agree.

You can read their full and frank account of 2013 here.