Estimating Demand for Mobile Applications in the New Economy

Anindya Ghose () and Sang Pil Han ()
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Anindya Ghose: Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University, New York, New York 10012
Sang Pil Han: Department of Information Systems, College of Business, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

Management Science, 2014, vol. 60, issue 6, 1470-1488

Abstract: In 2013, the global mobile app market was estimated at over US$50 billion and is expected to grow to $150 billion in the next two years. In this paper, we build a structural econometric model to quantify the vibrant platform competition between mobile (smartphone and tablet) apps on the Apple iOS and Google Android platforms and estimate consumer preferences toward different mobile app characteristics. We find that app demand increases with the in-app purchase option wherein a user can complete transactions within the app. On the contrary, app demand decreases with the in-app advertisement option where consumers are shown ads while they are engaging with the app. The direct effects on app revenue from the inclusion of an in-app purchase option and an in-app advertisement option are equivalent to offering a 28% price discount and increasing the price by 8%, respectively. We also find that a price discount strategy results in a greater increase of app demand in Google Play compared with Apple App Store, and app developers can maximize their revenue by providing a 50% discount on their paid apps. Using the estimated demand function, we find that mobile apps have enhanced consumer surplus by approximately $33.6 billion annually in the United States, and we discuss various implications for mobile marketing analytics, app pricing, and app design strategies. This paper was accepted by Alok Gupta, special issue on business analytics .

Keywords: mobile apps; demand estimation; Apple; Google; app characteristics; in-app purchases; in-app advertising; mobile analytics; mobile marketing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (93)

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