Mobile platforms enable third-parties to extend and enhance functionalities of products and services by mediating these to consumers. A tremendously successful example is Apple?s App Store where third-party developers contribute applications that add to the usefulness of the mobile device. However, research and practice still struggle with understanding why and when such mobile platforms prosper or wither. In this paper, we develop a framework to study how companies use governance mechanisms to attract customers and third-party developers. We demonstrate the usefulness of our framework by analyzing how governance mechanisms were used to change the interaction of platform, customers, and third-party developers. We derive six principles for governing mobile platforms that highlight the need to further investigate how governance mechanisms align the value propositions to platform operator, customers and third-party developers.     «

Mobile platforms enable third-parties to extend and enhance functionalities of products and services by mediating these to consumers. A tremendously successful example is Apple?s App Store where third-party developers contribute applications that add to the usefulness of the mobile device. However, research and practice still struggle with understanding why and when such mobile platforms prosper or wither. In this paper, we develop a framework to study how companies use governance mechanisms to...     »