Mobiilipelien monetisaatio: pelaajien ostopäätöksiin vaikuttaminen

This study investigated how mobile game companies influence gamer purchase behaviour when monetising their premium and free-to-play games. These approaches include methods and strategies that aim to acquire, retain, and then finally monetise players. Videography was used as the method to investigate and illustrate how iOS-based mobile games are monetised. The 40-minute videography part of this study (found at https://youtu.be/VS48tO2n0ow or https://vimeo.com/217374348) is comprised of interview footage with three mobile game professionals from two Helsinki-based companies and gameplay footage from 13 mobile games to illustrate topics discussed. This study found that the interviewed mobile game companies emphasise, firstly, the role of game design in monetising players, especially in free-to-play games. For monetisation, virtual goods and advertising are employed and designed as a part of the core game experience. Secondly, game companies care for their player community and design social game mechanics to acquire new players and retain existing ones. These activities include social media presence, managing an in-game community, and designing game mechanics that encourage players to play with their friends. Lastly, promotion and pricing strategies persuade players to increase purchase intention. These strategies include becoming featured on the App Store and in game media, promotion methods, such as time and placement-limited special offers, and psychological pricing methods, such as odd pricing and price anchoring. The findings illustrated the range of influence approaches that game companies consider. However, a small, non-diverse sample size of interviewed game professionals and their local, Nordic point of view limit the conclusions from this study. Nevertheless, this study observed new ideas for literature and recommended further research based on these findings, regarding advertising and game design, the importance of the App Store in mobile game development, and the effect of the relationship between players and game companies on player retention and monetisation.Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin, kuinka mobiilipeliyritykset vaikuttavat pelaajien ostopäätöksiin monetisoidessaan premium- ja free-to-play-pelejään. Nämä lähestymistavat sisältävät metodeita ja strategioita, joilla pyritään hankkimaan, säilyttämään ja lopulta monetisoimaan pelaajia. Tutkimusmetodina käytettiin videografiaa selvittämään ja havainnollistamaan, kuinka iOS-mobiilipelejä monetisoidaan. 40-minuuttinen videografiaosuus tutkimuksesta (https://youtu.be/VS48tO2n0ow tai https://vimeo.com/217374348) sisältää kuvamateriaalia haastatteluista kolmen mobiilipelialan ammattilaisen kanssa kahdesta eri peliyrityksestä. Lisäksi videografiassa esitetään kuvamateriaalia 13 mobiilipelistä havainnollistamaan haastatteluissa käsiteltyjä aiheita. Tutkimuksen perusteella haastatellut mobiilipeliyritykset korostavat ensinnäkin pelisuunnittelun roolia pelaajien monetisoinnissa – etenkin free-to-play-peleissä. Tällöin monetisoinnissa käytetään virtuaalihyödykkeitä ja mainostusta osana pelikokemusta. Toiseksi peliyritykset huolehtivat pelaajayhteisöstään ja suunnittelevat sosiaalisia pelimekaniikkoja uusien pelaajien hankkimiseksi ja vanhojen säilyttämiseksi. Tällainen toiminta sisältää läsnäolon sosiaalisessa mediassa, pelin sisäisen pelaajayhteisön hallinnoimista ja pelimekaniikkoja, jotka kannustavat pelaajia pelaamaan ystäviensä kanssa. Viimeiseksi pelaajia suostutellaan ostopäätöksiin mainostus- ja hinnoittelustrategioiden avulla. Näihin strategioihin sisältyvät promootio App Store -kauppapaikassa ja pelimedioissa, aika- ja paikkarajoitteiset erikoistarjoukset sekä psykologiset hinnoittelumetodit, kuten parittomat hinnat ja hinta-ankkurit. Tutkimustulokset havainnollistivat eri vaikuttamiskeinojen määrää, vaikka pieni, yhdenmukainen otanta haastateltavia peliammattilaisia ja näiden paikallinen, pohjoismaalainen näkökulma rajoitti tutkimuksesta tehtävien johtopäätösten vaikuttavuutta. Tästä huolimatta tutkimus havainnoi kirjallisuudelle uusia ilmiöitä ja suositteli näiden perusteella uusia selvityksiä. Tällaisia tutkimuksessa suositeltuja tutkimusaiheita ovat mainostamisen ja pelisuunnittelun yhteys, App Storen merkittävyys mobiilipelien kehittämiselle ja pelaajien sekä peliyrityksen välisen suhteen vaikutus pelaajien säilyttämiselle ja monetisoinnille

Exploring the Success Factors of Mobile Business Ecosystems

Mobile business ecosystems are based on product innovations and complements created on platforms facilitating transactions between groups of users in a multi-sided market. The purpose of this research is to present a model of success factors of mobile ecosystems. This research establishes an empirical framework based on the Android ecosystem, which has been analyzed in-depth on firm and ecosystem level, identifying 16 success factors. The model advances research in innovation platforms, through an in-depth analysis at firm and ecosystem levels. The main theoretical contribution is a model that identifies success factors of platforms, which are related to the identification of the role of users and complementors in increasing innovation success

Meu rebanho : uma aplicação móvel para o manejo de rebanhos em mini e pequenas propriedades rurais

Monografia (graduação)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Ciências Exatas, Departamento de Ciência da Computação, 2015.Este trabalho apresenta o software Meu Rebanho e seu processo de implementação. O software se destina a auxiliar o mini e o pequeno pecuarista na atividade de gestão de manejo de seu rebanho, visando torná-lo o mais rentável possível. O software apresenta inicialmente a possibilidade de cadastro dos animais da propriedade e inclusão de eventos relacionados a um animal, como por exemplo: aquisições, vendas, tratamentos e pesagens. Permite também a visualização destas informações sob a forma de relatórios e gráficos. _____________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTThis work is dedicated to present the software Meu Rebanho and its implementation process. The software is designed to assist the mini and small farmer in handling management activity of their herd in order to make it as profitable as possible. The software initially presents the possibility of registration of the animals from the property and include events related to an animal, such as: acquisitions, sales, treatments and weighing. It also allows the display of this information in the form of reports and graphs

Impact of switching costs and network effects on adoption of mobile platforms

Objectives of the Study: The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the switching costs while adopting a new mobile platform and examine the network effects on the user switching behavior of the mobile platforms. In addition, this thesis examines whether it is more difficult to shift to a new cloud service provider or mobile platform. Windows, Android and iOS are the three platforms that are analyzed in this study. Academic background and methodology: To achieve the purpose of this study the qualitative research technique involving focus group interviews was utilized. The background literature outlined current understanding of the switching costs and divided them into five categories: search costs, costs of transaction, learning costs, complementary investments and brand relationship costs. Additional concepts were defined to get better understanding of the network effects, cloud services and mobile platforms. Three largest mobile platform providers, Microsoft, Apple and Google were analyzed using the (IISIn) model. The impact of the switching costs and network effects was analyzed from the user's perspective through four different focus groups with participants from different professional occupations. Thereafter the interviews were transcribed and qualitatively analyzed. The results of this study are presented in the form of propositions that can be tested in the future research. Findings and conclusions: The research shows that the most prominent barriers when adopting new mobile platforms are: time and effort required to learn how to use the new platform, loss of non-transferable goods and services, and emotional attachments to the brand. Furthermore, user's social circle, for example family and friends, play an important role in pre-adoption decision because of recommendations through word of mouth. Members that live in the same household might adopt the same mobile platform due to greater product compatibility. The high number of application developers in a platform is crucial to retain consumers in the post-adoption phase. Specifically, lack of available applications is one of the primary causes for negative user experience that can lead to switching. Finally, there is no consensus among users if switching mobile platform is harder than switching cloud service provider. There are multiple user characteristics that determine the outcome: extent of use of the cloud services, knowledge about converters to transfer data between cloud providers and monetary investments made into a mobile platform

Letters from the War of Ecosystems – An Analysis of Independent Software Vendors in Mobile Application Marketplaces

The recent emergence of a new generation of mobile application marketplaces has changed the business in the mobile ecosystems. The marketplaces have gathered over a million applications by hundreds of thousands of application developers and publishers. Thus, software ecosystems—consisting of developers, consumers and the orchestrator—have emerged as a part of the mobile ecosystem. This dissertation addresses the new challenges faced by mobile application developers in the new ecosystems through empirical methods. By using the theories of two-sided markets and business ecosystems as the basis, the thesis assesses monetization and value creation in the market as well as the impact of electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) and developer multihoming— i. e. contributing for more than one platform—in the ecosystems. The data for the study was collected with web crawling from the three biggest marketplaces: Apple App Store, Google Play and Windows Phone Store. The dissertation consists of six individual articles. The results of the studies show a gap in monetization among the studied applications, while a majority of applications are produced by small or micro-enterprises. The study finds only weak support for the impact of eWOM on the sales of an application in the studied ecosystem. Finally, the study reveals a clear difference in the multi-homing rates between the top application developers and the rest. This has, as discussed in the thesis, an impact on the future market analyses—it seems that the smart device market can sustain several parallel application marketplaces.Muutama vuosi sitten julkistetut uuden sukupolven mobiilisovellusten kauppapaikat ovat muuttaneet mobiiliekosysteemien liiketoimintadynamiikkaa. Nämä uudet markkinapaikat ovat jo onnistuneet houkuttelemaan yli miljoona sovellusta sadoilta tuhansilta ohjelmistokehittäjiltä. Nämä kehittäjät yhdessä markkinapaikan organisoijan sekä loppukäyttäjien kanssa ovat muodostaneet ohjelmistoekosysteemin osaksi laajempaa mobiiliekosysteemiä. Tässä väitöskirjassa tarkastellaan mobiilisovellusten kehittäjien uudenlaisilla kauppapaikoilla kohtaamia haasteita empiiristen tutkimusmenetelmien kautta. Väitöskirjassa arvioidaan sovellusten monetisaatiota ja arvonluontia sekä verkon asiakasarviointien (engl. electronicWord-of-Mouth, eWOM) ja kehittäjien moniliittymisen (engl. multi-homing) — kehittäjä on sitoutunut useammalle kuin yhdelle ekosysteemille — vaikutuksia ekosysteemissä. Työn teoreettinen tausta rakentuu kaksipuolisten markkinapaikkojen ja liiketoimintaekosysteemien päälle. Tutkimuksen aineisto on kerätty kolmelta suurimmalta mobiilisovellusmarkkinapaikalta: Apple App Storesta, Google Playstä ja Windows Phone Storesta. Tämä artikkeliväitöskirja koostuu kuudesta itsenäisestä tutkimuskäsikirjoituksesta. Artikkelien tulokset osoittavat puutteita monetisaatiossa tutkittujen sovellusten joukossa. Merkittävä osa tarkastelluista sovelluksista on pienten yritysten tai yksittäisten kehittäjien julkaisemia. Tutkimuksessa löydettiin vain heikkoa tukea eWOM:in positiiviselle vaikutukselle sovellusten myyntimäärissä. Työssä myös osoitetaan merkittävä ero menestyneimpien sovelluskehittäjien sekä muiden kehittäjien moniliittymiskäyttäytymisen välillä. Tällä havainnolla on merkitystä tuleville markkina-analyyseille ja sen vaikutuksia on käsitelty työssä. Tulokset esimerkiksi viittaavat siihen, että markkinat pystyisivät ylläpitämään useita kilpailevia kauppapaikkoja.Siirretty Doriast

The semicircular flow of the data economy

This paper revisits the traditional ‘circular flow’ of the macroeconomy (Samuelson, 1948) and reworks it to capture the use of big data and artificial intelligence in the economy. The characterisation builds on the multifaceted role of data to conceptualise markets and differentiate them depending on whether data is an output, a means of payment, or an input in knowledge extraction processes. After this, the main differences between the circular flow economy and the data economy are described, identifying the new flows and agents and the circular flow assumptions that do not seem to be as relevant to the workings of the data economy. The result is a ‘semicircular’ flow diagram: unprocessed data flow from individuals, families, and firms to data holders. Only data processed in the form of digital services flows back to families and firms. The new model is used to explore the potential for market failures. Knowledge extraction to generate digital services occurs within a ‘black box’ that displays natural monopoly characteristics. Data holders operate simultaneously in the markets for data generation and knowledge extraction. They generate the amount of knowledge that maximises their profit. This creates data underutilisation and asymmetries between data holders and other agents in the economy such as anti-trust authorities, central banks, scientific communities, consumers, and firms. Public intervention should facilitate additional generation of knowledge by developing additional merit and non-rival uses of data in such a way that knowledge generation maximises the social gain from digitalisation. The semicircular model can incorporate data leakages and knowledge injections activated by data taxation. Data taxes should be paid with data respecting existing legislation, privacy concerns, and preserve the incentives of the data holder to innovate in competitive data generation markets. A centralised data authority, as initially proposed by Martens (2016) and more recently by Scott Morton et al. (2019), would be responsible for knowledge generation and aim to achieve better regulation, standards, and transparency, and maximise common good. Our conclusions are in line with an extensive user-centric approach to data portability (De Hert et al., 2018). This paper contributes to the digital economy discussion by developing a simple theoretical motivation for increased access to data for the public good, which will stimulate further theoretical and empirical exercises and lead to policy actions.JRC.I.1-Monitoring, Indicators & Impact Evaluatio

Demand modeling for mobile app stores

Smartphones have reached a relatively high market share of the mobile market, creating new market opportunities. As a result, different stakeholders are investing in the mobile industry attempting to generate a higher revenue share. Hence, competition between various mobile device manufacturers has increased, as they compete for customers. These device manufacturers have created their own ecosystems, trying to lock-in their customers. These ecosystems include the application (app) stores providing services for mobile users. Currently, the two leading app stores are the Apple App Store and Google Play. Similarly, the competition exists among app developers of both stores. Therefore, it is vital to understand the user demands to design a successful app is popular in these stores. This thesis identifies successful app categories for both app stores from the perspective of an app developer. It adopts basic descriptive analysis for the dataset provided during September and October 2013 regarding the US and Finnish markets. Furthermore, it introduces a probabilistic graphical model based on Bayesian Network, aiming to understand the dynamics of mobile app stores. The thesis defines the success indicator for each category of apps, and then compares the results of both app stores. The top successful app categories in the US market include Social Networking, Productivity, Music, Finance, Education, Sports, Entertainment, and Travel. The corresponding app categories in Finland include Social Networking, Finance, Education, Music, Productivity, Entertainment, Photos and Video, Lifestyle, Games, and News. The thesis concludes that Google Play has higher success indicators than Apple App Store both in US and Finnish markets. Additionally, the success indicator is higher for free apps compared to paid apps. The results of this research contribute to recommendations for developers, during the development and publishing stages of an app, as well as building marketing strategies for mobile apps. Furthermore, it suggests a framework to identify successful apps in mobile app stores