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Special Issue on Business Models for Mobile Platforms
Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research
Guest editors; Pietr Ballon, Harry Bouwman and Yufei Yuan
While digital mobile communication arguably has constituted, in
parallel with the Internet, the most impacting innovation of the
past decades in terms of how people exchange information - and
this first and foremost in Europe, Japan and Korea -, its business
and technological set-up is now facing profound change. Vertical
coordination and integration, with mobile telecom vendors driving
and controlling technological innovation, and mobile network
operators driving and controlling service provision, have
persisted in the mobile industry until very recently. However, the
emergence of various types of software platforms and internet-like
end-to-end architectures in mobile systems is increasing the
pressure on the dominant technological and busin ess set-up, to
the point of a reconfiguration of the entire mobile system.
The impact of this mobile-internet convergence for the structure
of the mobile industry, and in particular for the position of
mobile network operators as integrated service providers, has been
a subject of heated debate for some time now. One strong current
in business and academic literature is arguing that the ‘open and
modular’ internet architectures will (or should) wipe away the
current ‘closed and integrated’ telecommunications architectures.
It is often implied that, as a result, (mainly US-based) internet
and IT firms are bound to make significant inroads into the
telecommunications market. By contrast, others anticipate that the
advantages in terms of quality and security offered by integrated
telecommunications architectures will allow mobile operators to
dominate the mobile internet and to capture a major share of all
service revenues in this context.
Recently, however, a s mall body of ‘revisionist’ literature on
modularity and the ICT industry has emerged that, if applied to
the mobile internet, may challenge both visions. It argues that
there is no automatic mirroring between technical modularity and
market unbundling, and that, instead of relying on any outright
‘open’ or ‘closed’ strategy, successful ICT companies increasingly
employ ‘open but not open’ platform strategies in order to combine
advantages of diversity and complementarities with advantages of
control and coordination. Multi-actor and multi-side platforms
need closer analysis.
The emergence of various these new types of platforms in mobile
and wireless systems illustrates that competition and diversity in
the mobile arena are increasing strongly, and that convergent
service provision is rising strongly. Mobile platforms may refer
to various system levels including mobile devices\' operating
systems, mobile network protocols, mobile services and
applications, and so on. Through platform ownership, companies
aspire to position themselves as central gatekeepers in the mobile
industry. This evolution presents a range of new possibilities to
create and capture value in new and unexpected ways. At the same
time, it challenges the traditionally dominant stakeholders active
in the mobile industry, and has led analysts to anticipate a
reconfiguration of the entire mobile industry architecture.
Service and Content Providers have to consider how to decide how
to deal with the multiple available platforms. Moreover privacy
concerns for users are becoming more an issue.
In the wake of a buoyant and turbulent year for mobile service
platforms, this special issue will focus on the causes and effects
of the current explosion of platforms in the mobile ICT industry.
The objective of this issue is to explore changing business models
and industry architectures as a result of the introduction of
mobile platforms. The issue calls for original papers on this
central topic. Papers may be of an empirical or of a conceptual
nature. They may deal with the characteristics of successful
business models in this field, the emergence of new mobile
industry architectures, new mobile eco-systems, and the
competition and collaboration between media, IT, internet and
telecommunications companies regarding mobile platforms. The
papers may focus on individual platforms and applications, as well
as on cross-platform comparative studies. The focus is on
technology, on value creation in multi-actor settings as well as
on governance of new mobile eco-systems.
Topics
We specifically encourage papers on the following topics:
Platform theories, network effects and multi-sided mobile
platforms
Platforms and cross subsidization
Platforms: organizational and technical interaction
Eco-systems, channels and platforms
Standardization, and open and closed platforms
Business strategies related to mobile platforms
New reven ue (sharing) models around mobile platforms
Business models for mobile app stores and mobile search
Mobile media platforms, and their architecture
Mobile service platforms and eCommerce/eBusiness
Platform models for the Internet of Things
Privacy concerns
Mobile platforms and eCommerce.
Mobile platforms and eBusiness applications
Governance issues with regard to multi-actor eco-systems
About JTAER
The Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce
Research (JTAER) has been created to allow researchers, acade
micians and other professionals an agile and flexible channel of
communication in which to share and debate new ideas and emerging
technologies concerned with this rapidly evolving field. The
Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research is
published quarterly. The intended audience includes academicians,
researchers and professionals in computer science, information
management, telecommunications, business administration,
sociology, law, financial services, as well as specialists in the
field of electronic commerce. More info:
www.jtaer.com.
IMPORTANT DATES
-Full Script Submission: January 15, 2011
-Author Notification: March 15, 2011
-Revisions due by: April 15, 2011
-Final acceptance notification: May 15, 2011
-Camera ready version: 1 June 2011
-Publication: 15 August 2011
SUBMISSION
We are soliciting for original works capturing aspect of mobile
platform research, both theoretical and applied. Author guidelines
can be found at:
http://www.jtaer.com/author_guidelines.doc. All submission will be refereed by at
least three reviewers. Submissions should be directed by email to
w.a.g.a.bouwman@tudelft.nl.
GUEST EDITORS
Dr. Pieter Ballon
Interdisciplinary Institute for Broadband Technology-SMIT
Free University of Brussel s
Belgium
Pieter.Ballon@vub.ac.be
Dr Harry Bouwman
Delft University of Technology
Faculty of Technology, Policy, and Management
The Netherlands
And
IAMSR, Abo Akademi, Turku
Finland
Email: W.A.G.A. Bouwman@tudelft.nl
Dr. Yuan Yufei
McMaster e-Business Research Center
DeGroote School of Business
McMaster University, Hamilton
Ontario, Canada
yuanyuf@mcmaster.ca
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