The Dynamics of Digital Platform Innovation: A Study of Apple's Strategy to Control Modular and Architectural Innovation in iOS

Benjamin Eaton, Norwegian School of Information Technology, Oslo, Norway.

Description

Curated platforms provide an architectural basis for platform owners to control the implementation of third party services as innovations. This research identifies strategies that platform owners use to control the innovation of these services. Its relevance to information systems concerns the notion of platforms as digital infrastructures, which affects their capacity for innovation and regulation. This qualitative research uses narrative networks to analyse 45 examples of controlled and contested platform innovation. This approach, informed by empirical data sourced from 4664 blogs, identifies patterned sequences of actions describing tussles across the examples. Mechanisms are then identified to explain how control is asserted and resisted. The principle contribution of this research is to theory. It develops a theory to describe and explain the dynamics of contested innovation of complements on curated digital platforms. In doing so, it identifies strategies that platform owners use to control the innovation of services as platform complements.

 
Dec 15th, 12:00 AM

The Dynamics of Digital Platform Innovation: A Study of Apple's Strategy to Control Modular and Architectural Innovation in iOS

260-051, Owen G. Glenn Building

Curated platforms provide an architectural basis for platform owners to control the implementation of third party services as innovations. This research identifies strategies that platform owners use to control the innovation of these services. Its relevance to information systems concerns the notion of platforms as digital infrastructures, which affects their capacity for innovation and regulation. This qualitative research uses narrative networks to analyse 45 examples of controlled and contested platform innovation. This approach, informed by empirical data sourced from 4664 blogs, identifies patterned sequences of actions describing tussles across the examples. Mechanisms are then identified to explain how control is asserted and resisted. The principle contribution of this research is to theory. It develops a theory to describe and explain the dynamics of contested innovation of complements on curated digital platforms. In doing so, it identifies strategies that platform owners use to control the innovation of services as platform complements.