Cross-Market Platform Competition in Mobile App Economy

Abstract

The mobile app economy comprises two distinct platform markets through which app developers make revenue: app platform and ad platform markets. App sales are facilitated by app platforms, whereas advertising matching is intermediated by ad platforms. Cross-market platform competition exists, i.e., app and ad platforms compete for developers' revenue sources to earn commissions. In literature and policy debates, however, these platform markets are studied separately. The goal of this study is development of a unified model to examine them jointly. The results provide novel implications for competition policy, which could not be reached without consideration for cross-market platform competition.