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Fostering innovation: Factors that attract and
retain third party developers in mobile
ecosystems
SINAN DENIZ, MSC, DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATICS
FERDIA KEHOE, MSC, DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATICS
Outline of the research
• Master thesis presented in June 2013
• Study period February – June 2013
• With the objective to investigate factors which attract and
retain third party developers in mobile ecosystems
• Qualitative research interviewing with
– Three third party developers for iOS, Android, and
Windows Phone platfroms
+
– An independent research expert of the
telecommunications industry
The phenomenon under study
• Increased importance of mobile app developers caused
by the introduction of a smartphone
App
market
App
developersApp users
Creators of the
platforms’
content
Users of the
platforms’
content
A classical two-sided market
(Eisenmann et al., 2006; Hidding et al., 2011)
Motivation of the studied phenomenon
• Collaboration and interoperability between parties in
the new era of software ecosystem (Campbell &
Ahmed, 2011).
• Sharing the risk and cost of development with third
party developers provides an opportunity to leverage an
enormous pool of innovation (Boudreau & Lakhani, 2009).
• This adds a layer of complexity due to the
dependencies between platform provider and third party
developers (Bosch & Bosch-Sijtsema, 2010).
• Cultivating a platform is substantial task and many
technically good platforms have failed due to the lack
of developers (Rochet & Tirole, 2003).
Research question and purpose
» What factors attract and retain third party developers in
mobile ecosystems?
• The purpose is to demonstrate necesssary elements to
cultivate a healthy ecosystem (Iansiti & Levien, 2004)
from a developer perspective in which durable
opportunities will be presented to developers to function
successfully.
Mobile ecosystem
• Mobile ecosystem refers to an informal network of independent participants who are
connected to and benefit from an underpinning software platform and have a positive
impact on the economic success of that platform (Kittlaus & Clough, 2009).
Mobile application developers
Network Operators
Handset manufacturers
Users
Mobile platform provider
Two-sided network effects
Same-sided network effects
Two-sided network effects
Same-sided network effects
Visualization of mobile ecosystems [Adapted from Tuunainen and Tuunanen, 2001 & Constantinou, 2012 ]
Theoretical framework
• Centered around four main themes
•Mobile ecosystems & two-sided network effects (Cusumano, 2010; Rochet & Tirole, 2003; Eisenmann et al., 2006; Basole & Karla, 2011; Iansiti & Levien, 2004)
•Intrinsic motivations (Boudreau & Lakhani, 2009; Hsieh & Hsieh, 2013)
•Same-sided network effects and coopetition(Eisenmann et al., 2006; Walley, 2007)
•Switching costs and stored value (Klemperer, 2008; Hsieh & Hsieh, 2013)
•Boundary Resources (De Souza et al., 2004; Ghazawneh & Henfridsson, 2013)
•Platform governance (Boudreau & Lakhani, 2009; Gawer & Cusumano, 2002; Müller et al., 2011)
•Extrinsic motivations of developers in competitive markets (Boudreau & Lakhani, 2009; Hsieh & Hsieh, 2013)
•Business models (Vannieuwenborg et al., 2012)
EconomicBoundary Resources
Reach
Community and
developer network
Research methodology
• Qualitative research interviewing approach was selected as
research in this area is limited and no base of tested provisional
factors exists on which to draw
• Descriptive format of a research approach was adopted since it
provides inference to the best available explanation for developer
choice
• Kvale & Brinkmann’s (2009) seven stages of qualitative research
interviewing were followed
• Four independent interviews are conducted
– iOS/ Android Mobile Consultant
– iOS/ Android Mobile Architect
– Windows Phone Mobile Freelance Consultant
– Telecommunications industry research expert
Research framework
• The complete research framework was constructed in line with our theoretical
framework by reviewing online tech industry press articles and respected
sources such as IBM, VisionMobile, and Gartner
• Factors coming out from that review were assessed based on their number of
mentions in online tech industry trade press
– The Technorati Authority was used in assessing the top rated sources as
it measures the linking behaviors of the given website.
Theme Theory Provisional factors
Economic Extrinsic motivations of
developers in competitive
markets
Business models
Number of paid applications
Number of available revenue
models
Boundary
resources
Boundary resources
Platform governance
Software fragmentation
Device fragmentation
Community and
developer
network
Intrinsic motivations
Same-sided network effects and
coopetition
Switching costs and stored value
Size of development community
Reach Mobile ecosystems & two-sided
network effects
User engagement
Market share
Findings and analysis I - Economic
Potential for differentiation
Strong market share
-
-
Causal connection
Strong causal connection
+ Positive influence
Negative influence
Economic attraction
User engagement
Revenue models
+
++
Willingness to pay
+
+ +
Findings and analysis II – Boundary
resources
Software fragmentation
Stable development environment
Hardware fragmentation
Rich API
Boundary resources attraction
Native SDKEfficient app
publishing
Developer-focused platform
governance
Poor documentation
-
-
-
++
+
++
+
+
Causal connection
Strong causal connection
+ Positive influence
Negative influence
-
Findings and analysis III – Community
and developer network
Perception of the mobile platform
owner
Affiliation to development environment
Investment in training
Reputation
-
+/-
+
Causal connection
Strong causal connection
+ Positive influence
Negative influence
Development community attraction
Engaged development community
Size of the development community
+
+++
Findings and analysis IV - Reach
Multiple devices
Strong market share
Developed market
penetration
-
+
+
Causal connection
Strong causal connection
+ Positive influence
Negative influence
Reach attraction
User engagement
++
User feedback mechanism
+
+
Compiled factorsTheme Factors
Key factors Supporting factors
Economic Strong market share
User engagement
Willingness to pay
Revenue models
Potential for differentiation
Boundary resources Stable development
environment
Developer-focussed platform
governance
Native SDK
Rich API
Lack of software fragmentation
Lack of hardware fragmentation
Good documentation
Efficient app publishing
Community and developer network Affiliation to development
environment
Engaged development
community
Reputation
Investment in training
Positive perception of platform
owner
Size of the development
community
Reach Strong market share
User engagement
Developed market penetration
Multiple devices
User feedback mechanism
Thank you ANY QUESTIONS? PLEASE CONTACT US
© Sinan DENIZ
© Ferdia KEHOE
