Structuring the Smartphone Industry: Is the Mobile Internet OS Platform the Key?

Abstract

With the launch of the original iPhone, Apple redefined the "smartphone" product category and accelerated the convergence of traditional mobile telephony, Internet services, and personal computing into a new industry. As these sectors merge into a single device, formerly separate industry architectures and their constituent firms are being forced into direct competition. We test theories of industry architecture and technological platforms regarding their ability to explain the strategies of key entrants in navigating the transition. We analyze in detail the actions and strategies of four major competitors, including Apple, Google, Microsoft, Nokia, and, more briefly, Research in Motion and HP/Palm, from the framework of technological platform theory. Our analysis suggests that currently some competitors are following traditional platform strategies, but that Google and Apple appear to have adopted strategies at odds with platform literature. We examine how the dynamics of this convergence may lead to a reconsideration of certain tenets of platform theory.

Unraveling Platform Strategies: A Review from an Organizational Ambidexterity Perspective

“…Subsequently, platforms are becoming ubiquitous in many industries, such as smartphones and apps [1], video consoles and videogames [2], and personal computers and software [3]. Platforms allow firms to create new interdependencies that make the task of designing a successful platform strategy more complex [4][5][6].…”

Strategic Signaling and New Technologically Superior Product Introduction: A Game-Theoretic Model With Simulation

“…Samsung followed a similar strategy, aiming at improving the design of its products, together with subsequent improvements in its [more compatible] Android-based operating system (Tseng, Liu & Wu, 2014). The importance of the operating system as a competitive conditioning characteristic was emphasized by Kenney and Pon (2011). In this regard, the higher compatibility of Samsung's Android-based system was one of the main factors allowing its Galaxy series to take over the smartphone market.…”

Network Externalities and Compatibility Among Standards: A Replicator Dynamics and Simulation Analysis

“…Sure enough, they swiftly displaced the early mobile operating systems by less well-positioned vendors, such as Blackberry and Symbian (West and Mace 2010). 30 More recently there has been speculation about which segment is likely to determine the future development of the ongoing mobile device platform competition with some scholars arguing that attracting third-party developers is the most important aspect (Ghazawneh and Henfridsson 2013) while others contend that mobile online services (app stores, integration with social networks) play a crucial role compared to more traditional (software and hardware) segments (Kenney and Pon 2011). Specifically, the platforms that emerged as superior, Apple iOS, Google Android, and Windows Mobile were identified as those able to generate revenue in those services.…”