Publications
Publications
- May 2014
- American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings
Mobile Computing: The Next Platform Rivalry
By: Timothy Bresnahan and Shane Greenstein
Abstract
Competition to become one of several dominant mobile platforms is intense. Platforms compete for developers, who create applications which make the platform valuable for users. Why doesn't one form of platform governance emerge as superior? This essay will stress the reasons for differentiation and proposes a new argument linked to a platform's "hierarchy." Hierarchical governance features can help at one moment but then get in the way at a later time. These arguments are illustrated by different approaches to platform governance taken by the major mobile platform sponsors of recent years.
Citation
Bresnahan, Timothy, and Shane Greenstein. "Mobile Computing: The Next Platform Rivalry." American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings 104, no. 5 (May 2014): 475–480.