國立政治大學資訊管理學系 碩士學位論文 指導教授:尚孝純博士 治 政 大 立 學 國 An Understanding of First-mover‧ ‧ N a y t Advantagest of App Developmenti i s o r n e 行動應用之商業模式分析a i v l C n hengchi U 研究生:梁凱智 中華民國 103 年 6 月 Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Shari Shang, who guide me throughout my project, inspired me with valuable ideas and allowed me the room to explore my own interests. Secondly, I would like to thank my classmates, without whom I would not be able to finish and release my essay on the International Conference on Advances in Computing, Communication and Information Technology (CCIT). Thirdly, I would like to thank those who replied to the questionnaire, which greatly contributed to my research. Finally, I would also take the opportunity to thank my friends and family for their understanding and timely encouragement. I am lucky to have you all. 治 政 大 立 學 國 ‧ ‧ N a y t t i i s o r n e a i v l C n hengchi U 1 摘要 近幾年來，智慧型手機靠著其方便多元的功能，已經成為大部份消費者生 活中不可或缺的一部分。App Store 的出現使行動應用程式開發的市場較傳統應 用程式開發市場容易進入。透過 App Store，開發者可以直接將軟體賣給位於世 界各地的消費者。本研究想了解在一個發展如此迅速的市場中是否存在著先進 者優勢，以及該如何維持其優勢。 本研究屬於一探索式研究，本研究探討了過去的先進者優勢相關文獻，以 了解傳統產業中的先進者優勢。先進者優勢的來源主要有：技術領導、資源佔 有、轉換成本、網路外部性與定價優勢。為了瞭解在行動應用程式市場中是否 存在先進者優勢以及如何維持優勢，本研究蒐集並分析了過去幾年來的行動應 治 用程式排行榜的相關資訊。發現政在行動應用程式開發市場中存在著上述之先進大 者優勢，本研究也發現這些優勢可立 以透過持續更新、與社群平台整合等策略來 維持。 學 關鍵字: 先進者優勢、應用程式國 ‧ ‧ N a y t t i i s o r n e a i v l C n hengchi U 2 Abstract The applications (apps) on Smartphones exhibit many kinds of innovation. With the powerful features of Smartphones, people can easily access the Internet, social networking, e-mail, and instant messaging. The emergence of app stores has removed the barriers of big investments in hardware and software for software development and has made software development simple and easy, with a few people or even a single person doing the work and quickly reaching users directly around the world. These unique features of app innovation create a need to explore whether first-mover advantages exist in app development and whether these first-mover advantages, if they exist, can be sustained. This exploratory study reviewed the literature about first-mover advantages in products, services, and e-commerce innovation.治 First-mover advantages often arise 政 大 from sources such as technological立 leadership, resource pre-empting, switching costs, network externalities, and pricing advantages. With the objective of understanding 學 whether first-mover advantages exist in app innovation and how first movers can 國 sustain these advantages, this study have collected data about top-ranked apps of different kinds and analyzed their competitiveness, and this ‧ study presented our findings about the situation‧ of first movers in the app market. This study found that N apps enjoy advantagesa such as those mentioned above. This study alsoy discovered that t t i apps may sustain theirio competitive advantages through strategiess such as updating n r regularly to improve servicesa by integrating with social networkse and establishing l i v brand recognition through Facebook C fan pages, Twitter, andn blogs. h i U engch Key Words: First-mover advantage, apps, app store. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTAbstract ................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................ 5 1.1 Research Background ................................................................................................... 5 1.1.1 Compendium of Smartphones .......................................................................... 5 1.2 Research Motivation and Research Objectives .................................................... 6 Chapter 2: Literature Review ............................................................................... 8 2.1 The App Development Market................................................................................... 8 2.1.1 The development of app stores ........................................................................ 8 2.1.2 App innovation and development ................................................................... 9 2.2 First-Mover Advantages ............................................................................................ 10 2.3 Sustaining the Competitive Advantages治 of Being a First Mover ................ 13 Chapter 3: Methodology ................................政 ................................大 ..................... 15 3.1 The Research Process立 ................................................................................................ 15 3.2 Data Collection................................................................................................學 .............. 16 3.3 Data Analysis國 ................................................................................................................. 18 Chapter 4: Research Findings ............................................................................ 20 ‧ 4.1 First-Mover Advantages in App Development ................................................. 21 ‧ 4.2 Findings ofN Strategies to Sustain Advantages in App Development ........ 24 a y t Chapter 5: Conclusiont ................................................................i ......................... 28 io s 5.1 Summary ................................n ................................................................r ......................... 28 a e 5.2 Limitations and Future Research ................................i v.......................................... 28 l C n Reference ................................................................hengchi................................ U .................... 30 Appendix 1 - Lists of Apps for Case Analysis .......................................................... 35 Appendix 2 - Questionnaires for Survey .................................................................. 39 Appendix 3 - Questionnaires for Case Analysis ...................................................... 40 4 Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Research Background 1.1.1 Compendium of Smartphones The applications (apps) on Smartphones exhibit many kinds of innovations. With the powerful features of Smartphones, people can easily access the Internet, social networking sites, e-mail, and instant messaging. Gartner’s report on 2013 reveals that about 967 million Smartphones were sold in 2013 (Gartner, 2014). More than one million applications (Apple, 2013) have been released through the various app stores for the different mobile operating systems: e.g., Android, which is on most Smartphones; iOS on iPhones; and RIM on Blackberry. The market shares of Android and Apple are 66.4% and 19.1%, respectively (Gartner,政 治2014) shown in Table 1-1. The rapid development of applications for Smartphones is changing大 how people live. App stores have become a very appealing立 model for thousands of developers to develop innovative apps. 學 Table 1-1. Worldwide國 Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in 2013 (Thousands of Units) ‧ Operating System 2013 Units 2013 Market 2012 Units 2012 Market ‧ N Share (%) Share (%) Android a 758,719.9 78.4 451,621.0y 66.4 t iOS t 150,785.9 15.6 130,133.2i 19.1 i s Microsoft o 30,842.9 3.2 16,940.7r 2.5 n e BlackBerry 18,605.9a 1.9 v 34,210.3 5.0 Other OS 8,821.2l 0.9 i 47,203.0 6.9 C Un Total 967,775.8 hengc100.0hi 680,108.2 100.0 (Data sources: Gartner, 2014) App stores, like the Apple App Store (Apple) or Google Play (Google), have revolutionized the software industry over the last several years. Before Smartphones, only large companies had the ability to develop application software. But the emergence of app stores has overcome the barriers of big investments in hardware and software for software development and has made software development simple and easy, with groups of only a few people or even a single person doing the work and quickly reaching users directly around the world. App developers have the same exposure as large companies but without the huge logistics costs. Further, consumers can now buy apps easily and inexpensively. After an app is downloaded, it can contribute to the 5 revenue stream of the developer in many different ways. Any individual developer has the opportunity to create a world-famous app with innovative ideas. 1.2 Research Motivation and Research Objectives In the booming market for mobile apps, users can find numerous powerful, innovative, and entertaining apps that cost only a few dollars—or are even free—on application platforms such as the numerous app stores and Google Play. As more and more developers wishing to make money through app development enter the market, they are finding a highly-competitive marketplace. For example, on Apple’s app store, more than 300,000 apps were launched in 2012, with more than 25,000 apps being added per month. With millions of apps available to users, gaining visibility in the sea of apps is becoming more difficult. In such a competi治 tive environment, some apps stand 政 大 out for their innovative features立 , with a good example being Angry Bird (Rovio). Two years after its launch in December 2009, the Angry Birds series of apps were 學 downloaded more than 1 billion times (Rovio, 2012). However, even though many apps 國 have successfully achieved market acceptance, most have not been as well accepted by consumers. ‧ With the introduction‧ of the app store, the development of app innovations has N several differences froma innovation patterns in the manufacturing andy service industries.