Platform Battle with Lock-in

Many services and applications run on platforms, such as operating systems, Web service platforms, and video game consoles. “Lock-in customers and locking-out competitors” is an important strategy for platform providers, who can lock in adopters by creating substantial cross- platform switching costs (e.g. by creating incompatibility and reducing interoperability). This paper examines whether such lock-in strategy benefits proprietary platform providers. Using a two-period duopoly model in which platform adopters are heterogeneous in their tastes and willingness-to-pay, we give conditions under which the lock-in strategy benefits or hurts platform providers. When a proprietary platform competes against an open-source-based platform, the proprietary platform should not lock-in its adopters. But if the platform battle is between two proprietary platforms, platform providers should lock-in adopters if the following two parameters are sufficiently large: (i) the adopter’s lowest willingness-to-pay and (ii) the relative dispersion of adopter willingness-to-pay. Lastly, this paper shows how naïve adopter expectations affect the platform provider’s incentives to lock-in adopters

Nomad, a naval message understanding system

We are building systems to automatically analyze Navy messages. Such messages typically are terse and use many abbreviations and Navy jargon. As a result, they are more difficult to understand than everyday English.The NOMAD system interacts with a message sender to ensure that only unambiguous and reasonably correct messages are generated. The VOX system will allow a human tutor to interactively extend the knowledge base of NOMAD

Back from the brink: Microsoft and the strategic use of standards in the Browser Wars

The browser wars are probably the best-chronicled standards competition in recent history. Yet the standard lock-in model does not readily account for the dramatic change in fortunes of Microsoft. At one time it seemed that Microsoft would be go the way of IBM before it and fail to catch the next technological wave in the computer industry. However Microsoft managed to capture the browser market, overturning Netscape''s initial domination of the market. In seeking to understand this dramatic return of events, the paper begins by outlining the key elements of the Arthur model. This is followed by a historical narrative of the browser wars that highlights three aspects of this technological competition; firms'' strategic use of standards, users'' considerations of initial set-up costs, and the degree of interconnectivity between product markets. The paper finally considers how the standard lock-in model may be extended in order to encompass these dimensions.economics of technology ;

“Why the Anomaly that is Super Bowl Marketing is a Justifiable Investment”

By now, we have well established that the Super Bowl is the holy grail of marketing, the championship for the battle of the brands, and the ultimate showcase of creative prowess which determines bragging rights. This American phenomenon is the exception, because it’s the one time on the calendar where viewers are mesmerized by commercials instead of tuning them out as noise. There are critical strategic objectives which can be satisfied, revolutionizing the brand in the eyes of the consumer and drastically expanding brand awareness. We know the vast benefits that well-executed marketing schemes can have for companies, especially during the Super Bowl, which initiate significant implications. The proof of effectiveness is obvious when observing statistics for the 2018 Super Bowl: • An average viewership of 103.4 million, escalating to 112.3 million at the end of the game. (Nielsen 2018) • 68% of homes with functioning T.V’s were tuned into the Super Bowl broadcast. (Nielsen 2018) • 170.7 million social media interactions across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. (Nielsen 2018) • Digital viewership of 2.02 million viewers a minute, a streaming record. (Nielsen 2018) • Price of 30 second advertisement maximized at $5.2 million (American Marketing Association) • Aggregate Super Bowl ad spending over 52 year history (1967-2018):$6.9 billion adjusted for inflation. (AdAge 2018) Granted, there are some viable concerns associated with Super Bowl advertising. Because of immense scrutiny, marketers need to be conscious of the impact repercussions of attempting to make a statement which backfires can have. Attending to and reconciling public backlash can be difficult and can severely damage brand perception. Negative news surrounding the NFL have also been hot topics of debate recently. However, while some of these issues may erode some viewership in the short run, as 2018 statistics minimally decreased from 2017, the future trajectory of the Super Bowl is not truly threatened. Actually, the New York Times (Maheshwari, 2018) explains how “In an era of cord-cutting and ad-skipping, the Super Bowl is a sweet salve for the nation’s marketers.” Because of the evolution of on-demand, marketers are forced to deliberate if T.V. advertisements are worth it, with one exception: live sports. The Atlantic (Thompson, 2013) portrays this concept perfectly, stating “But in a time-delayed video world, the biggest games still drive dependable live audiences, making sports rights the most valuable resource in the whole TV ecosystem.” The consequence of this reality: almost no one records on-demand sports to skip the commercials because we can’t avoid the social media buzz which chronicles how games develop. Because the love for sports will never expire, the Super Bowl will never become obsolete for marketers. At the end of the day, the Super Bowl is the marketing anomaly that has solidified its stranglehold as the pinnacle of advertising. The big game is so rooted into American culture that Super Bowl Sunday has become a holiday for millions across our great nation. As CNN Money (Disis, 2018) explains, “It\u27s simple. The NFL\u27s marquee event is TV\u27s biggest game in town, and nothing else even comes close.” Marketers who need to distinguish their brand as a supreme offering to secure competitive advantage over competitors (ahem, everyone) need to seize the moment. The habitual winners of Super Bowl advertising significantly elevate their status in the hearts and minds of the American people. My declared Super Bowl advertising champion, Anheuser-Busch InBev (responsible for Budweiser and Bud Light), absolutely dominates the American beer market. Super Bowl regulars undoubtedly think of Budweiser’s “Puppy Love” (2014) spot with the legendary Clydesdales or the dramatic “Bud Bowl” (1989-91) series when they crack a cold brew. My theory: it’s no mistake that the best in the Super Bowl advertising realm is also the “King of Beers” because of their supreme strategy and execution on the marketing gridiron’s biggest stage

Mobslinger: The Fastest Mobile in the West.

Whilst there is a number of location sensing games emerging for mobile phones, from both commercial and academic sectors, there are few examples of social proximity based games that are effectively position independent. Bluetooth would seem an obvious choice for proximity based games, although the majority of games produced to-date simply uses it to provide a quasi peer to peer connection between users of multiplayer games. This is no-doubt due to the fact that proximity can often be implied from other location sensing technologies and that Bluetooth is often perceived as difficult to employ. In this paper we will show that Bluetooth can provide exciting game scenarios that can enable spontaneous stimulated social interaction using only proximity information. We illustrate this through the design rationale and subsequent implementation of ‘mobslinger’ which is a wild west, quick draw, ‘shoot-em-up’ game using mobile phones

Mobile Paving System (MPS): A New Large Scale Freeform Fabrication Method

In the last decade, significant opportunities for automation have been identified in the area of construction. Soaring labor and material costs have driven multiple research efforts in construction automation. In this paper, we present a novel means for construction automation that involves the fusion of the rapid prototyping, controls and mechatronics technologies. The resultant autonomous construction mechanism has been designed for commercial applications. Mobile Paving System (MPS) is a new freeform fabrication process which is capable of rapidly producing variable profiles such as curbs and sidewalks out of materials like cement and asphalt. Path generation and guidance of the construction operation is controlled by a mobile robot. This article presents an overview of research and development efforts that are aimed at establishing the feasibility and the potential of the process.Mechanical Engineerin

Law and economics of Microsoft vs. U.S. Department of Justice - New paradigm for antitrust in network markets or inefficient lock-in of antitrust policy?

This paper contains an economic and legal analysis of the lawsuit Microsoft vs. U.S. Department of Justice beginning with the District Court's decision on June 7, 2000 up to the Proposed Final Judgement on November 6, 2001. I found that the courts' underlying economic paradigm regarding the assessment of monopoly power in 'New Economy Network Markets' was strongly influenced by BRIAN W. ARTHUR's theory of path dependence claiming (1) that high-technology markets being subject to network effects generally involve a danger of being locked-in to an inferior technology since winning or losing in a technology race is determined by small early random historical events and not by economic efficiency and (2) that there is almost no possibility to overcome inferior lock-in positions since network (compatibility) effects create insurmountable switching costs protecting the lock-in monopolist. As to Microsoft, it was often claimed that Macintosh would have been the better solution than Windows. The U.S. courts are convinced that rivals such as Linux wouldn't have any chance to overcome Microsoft's lock-in position without any antitrust intervention. However, I argue in accordance with opponents of ARTHUR's work that path dependence theory is only a theoretical curiosity that lacks empirical evidence. The predominance of a certain technology and especially the predominance of Windows in the operating system market is determined by economic efficiency and dominant market positions can be eroded very quickly by providing better quality. There is no empirical indication that network effects protect Microsoft's monopoly as it was claimed by the courts within their 'applications barrier to entry' theory. I claim that current interpretations of the U.S. antitrust law don't meet the requirements of fair competition rules in the 'New Economy'. If plaintiffs and the U.S. Department of Justice are victorious over Microsoft and lock-in theories become generally accepted by courts and market participants, further antitrust lawsuits are going to follow since most markets in the 'New Economy' are subject to network effects and high seller concentration. Strict antitrust policy could dampen economic growth due to investor uncertainty and the impossibility to take advantage of scale-based productivity effects. --Microsoft,antitrust,network effects,path dependence

Empowering protest through social media

Advances in personal communications devices including smartphones, are enabling individuals to establish and form virtual communities in cyberspace. Such platforms now allow users to be in continuous contact, enabling them to receive information in real time, which allows them to act in support of other members of their network. This paper will discuss some of the capabilities afforded by social media to protest groups focused on civil disobedience. Direct action protests are now a common sight at gatherings of world leaders, most notably the meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Seattle in 1999, the G20 meetings in Melbourne in 2006 and Toronto in 2010. Facebook and Twitter are becoming recognised as key mediums from which to drive change, exert influence and strategically and tactically outmaneuver conventional police deployments at protests. Police charged with managing protest activity now need to operate in both the physical and cyber worlds simultaneously