User Service Innovation on Mobile Phone Platforms: Investigating Impacts of Lead Userness, Toolkit Support, and Design Autonomy

Study Term Definition Boudreau and Hagiu (2009) Multisided platform, e.g. App store Platforms are products, services, or technologies that serve as foundations upon which other parties can build complementary products, services, or technologies A multisided platform is both a platform and a market intermediary. Distinct groups of consumers and “complementors” interact through multisided platforms. Boudreau (2012) Handheld computer platforms Computer platforms are a particular type of multisided platforms, which support interactions across multiple sets of actors and can facilitate technical development. Network effects result from a large number of independent software producers creating applications. Ceccagnoli et al. (2012) Platform A platform refers to the components used in common across a product family whose functionality can be extended by applications Fichman (2004) IT platform An IT platform is broadly defined as a general-purpose technology that enables a family of applications and related business opportunities. This includes computing platforms (e.g., Palm OS), infrastructure platforms (e.g., wireless networking), software development platforms (e.g., Java), and enterprise application platforms (e.g., ERP). Tiwana et al. (2010) Software based platform Software based platform is the extensible codebase of a software-based system that provides core functionality shared by the modules that interoperate with it and the interfaces through which they interoperate. Module is an add-on software subsystem that connects to the platform to add functionality to it (e.g., iOS apps, modular innovation). the collection of the platform and the modules specific to that platform as that platform’s ecosystem .