Content On The GO: The Economics of the Market for Mobile Apps
Led By Associate Prof. Ramesh Johari, Department of Management, Science & Engineering


In recent years, there has been an exponential growth of mobile applications on smartphones and tablets (“apps”). Over 600,000 apps, either free or paid, are available for immediate download from designated app markets, including the Apple Store and Google Play. These app marketplaces are disrupting the way content is created and consumed.

On the demand side, these app marketplaces offer users rich content utilizing the functionality of their mobile devices, grabbing their attention away from legacy media — such as print media –and even modern media – such as web browsing on a desktop. On the supply side, these platforms provide content creators direct, instantaneous, and highly popular distribution systems where they can implement their own marketing and pricing policies, cutting out middlemen.

Presentation from the mediaX 2013 Conference

In this project, the research team of Ramesh Johari and Bar Ifrach:
•Took a combined data-driven and structural analysis approach to study the various aspects of the relationship between pricing decisions and marketplace visibility.
•Aimed to empower individual content creators by offering strategic guidance on how to leverage the marketplaces’ flexibility.
•Focused on the role of rankings and recommendations in driving demand, to harness the so-called “wisdom of the crowds.”

All Publish On Demand Projects