Does diversification pay in the app market? Evidence from Apple's App Store and Google Play

In this paper we address the study of the effects of product line diversification on firm performance in the mobile application market. Specifically, we shed light on whether the distribution platform ecosystem where developers commercialize their apps influence the effect of product line diversification, i.e., diversification across different app categories, on developer sales performance. To these purposes, we compare the sales performance of diversified developers with that of category-specialized developers in the two major app stores (namely, Apple’s App Store and Google Play). Our results show that the diversification strategy has a positive impact on developer sales in Google Play, while no significant impact emerges in the Apple’s App Store. The cross-platform differences in consumer willingness to pay are the rationale behind the different effect of diversification on sales performance across platform ecosystems. Our results have an important implication for developers as they suggest that developers should factor in the app ecosystem where they operate when making the decision on whether to diversify or not

Understanding the price drivers of successful apps in the mobile app market

In this paper, we take the perspective of app developers. Specifically, based on a sample of top paid apps from three major app stores, i.e., App Store, Google Play, and Blackberry World, we construct a hedonic price model to examine the role of relevant factors in price formation in the app market. Our results suggest a strong evidence of two-sided market effects. In fact, the lower price charged for apps operating as two-sided markets reflect the strategy of subsidising users, due to the positive cross-side externalities they exert on valuable third parties. Surprisingly, the effects of trialability, in-app purchase and mechanisms to build reputation are not significant in the context of successful apps. Finally, we find weak evidence that developers of top paid apps prefer price skimming to penetration price strategies

Cooperation among competitors: A comparison of cost-sharing mechanisms

In this paper, we investigate the consequences of using outcome-based versus ex ante-based cost-sharing mechanisms in terms of competing firms' profitability and total welfare. We consider two firms making a joint expenditure, which can positively affect firms' demand and/or unit operating costs, while competing in the final market by setting either price or quantity. We compare two outcome-based cost-sharing mechanisms, i.e., Quantity Proportional (QP) and Total Margin proportional (TM), with the more competitive Fixed Share (FS) mechanism where cost-sharing is set up on an ex ante basis. We show that outcome-based mechanisms, and even a fully collusive behavior induced by the optimal cost-sharing mechanism, might actually enhance total welfare as compared with the more competitive FS mechanism. We also find that, although the FS mechanism is never more preferable than the TM mechanism, it can lead to higher profits than the QP mechanism when competition is mild. These results can support firms cooperating with competitors in the choice of the cost-sharing mechanism as well as provide important implications to policy makers

Revenue models, in-app purchase, and the app performance: Evidence from Apple's App Store and Google Play

In this paper, we empirically examine how the revenue model (paid, free, or freemium) adopted for a given app affects the app revenue performance as measured by the app daily revenue rank. We also study the impact of in-app purchase on this measure of performance. Moreover, we study how such relation- ships are contingent upon the distribution platform where the app is marketed as well as the type of category to which the app belongs. We test our hypotheses relying on a large sample of top grossing apps from the two major app stores, namely Apple’s App Store and Google Play. Our findings reveal that in the Apple’s App Store, paid and freemium models are equivalent and both are more effective than the free model in terms of app revenue performance. On the other hand, in Google Play no significant differences between paid and free revenue models emerge, whereas the freemium model is shown to be less effective even than the free model. Moreover, while in-app purchase is shown to positively influence the app revenue performance in Apple’s App Store, this effect is reversed in Google Play. Finally, the type of category is also shown to influence the effects of the revenue model and in-app purchase (the latter to a lesser extent) on the app performance

An empirical analysis of online price dispersion in the Italian airline industry

Firms operating in the electronic marketplace set and adjust prices to affect demand and profitability. In service markets, such as airline markets, different prices are commonly offered by diverse firms to accommodate to a variety of market segments having particular sets of consumer attitudes. This variation in prices is the price dispersion and is based on market distinctiveness deriving from customer heterogeneity as well as the peculiar competition in the specific market arena. In this paper we use a panel dataset from the Italian airline market to investigate the role of competition and different online channels in the emergence of price dispersion. Specifically, we examine the unclear role of competition in price dispersion with novel data collected from different online channels, namely direct and Online Travel Agency (OTA) channels. We find that price dispersion is higher in routes where competition is higher even in presence of only one segment, namely the business segment. Our results also show that price dispersion significantly differs across different types of online channels

The role of the distribution platform in price formation of paid apps

In this paper we study the role of the distribution platform as an important determinant of price of paid apps. We also examine how the distribution platform influences the price implications of important developers' app-level decisions. To these purposes, we construct a hierarchical model of price formation by using an ad-hoc panel dataset consisting of top paid apps from the two major app stores, namely Apple's App Store and Google Play. Our findings show that prices of paid apps strongly depend on the platform where the apps are marketed. Specifically, the App Store is associated with lower prices for paid apps than Google Play. We find evidence that this is because the impact of cross-store differences in developer competition prevails over the impact of cross-store differences in average consumer willingness to pay. We also find that the price premiums as a return to trialability are more likely to emerge in Google Play than in the App Store, and that developers are more likely to adopt a penetration price policy in Google Play, thus implying an influence of the distribution platform on the price implications of these app-level decisions. Finally, our evidence does not confirm the argument that a more marked price reduction for paid apps embedding ads or generating revenues from other interested third parties should be observed in Google Play

Group psychotherapy for HIV patients. A different approach

HIV is often related to psychological distress, after the diagnosis and the beginning of HAART. Brief Psychological approaches are important but they give only support, enhancing the relationships of the patients. In many cases these relationships are disfunctional too.Psychotherapies don´t focus on the indidvidual´s autonomy but on the support from the others. A brief-grouppsychotherapy focused on major objectives of each person but with the main common objective to enhance the psychological individual indipendence and to promove a self- maturation; understanding the disfunctional dynamics realized in the past that are enhanced by the HIV-status, to promove individual indipendence with the objective of focusing the good and valid relationships and change the disfunctional ones and to allow the person to be able to open to the world again. A brief group psychotherapy, supportive but mostly expressive. a small group 3 male, 1 female: were choosen for group psychotherapy after 2-3 individual meetings. 16 psychotherapy meetings, weekly, lenghth 1 hour, 40-45 minutes. Results First time patients worked on their disfunctional affective part, that was pre-hiv. In a second time they worked promoting their possibility of indipendence to find their lost self esteem. in the last time they focused to improve their relationships where possible but mostly to think that they can go out alone from the darkness after HIV diagnosis. Quality of life of HIV patients can be focused on changing their disfunctional parts, first enhancing the process of indipendence and individual esteem of the person

The admission experience survey italian version (I-AES). a factor analytic study on a sample of 156 acute psychiatric in-patients

Coercive treatments are often regarded as an inevitable and yet highly debated feature of psychiatric care. Perceived coercion is often reported by patients involuntarily committed as well as their voluntary counterparts. The Admission Experience Survey (AES) is a reliable tool for measuring perceived coercion in mental hospital admission. We developed the Italian AES (I-AES) through translation back-translation and administered it to 156 acutely hospitalized patients (48% women, 69% voluntarily committed) in two university hospitals in Rome (Policlinico Umberto I, Sant'Andrea Hospital). A principal component analysis (PCA) with equamax rotation was conducted. The I-AES showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.90); Guttmann split-half relia- bility coefficient was 0.90. AES total score significantly differed between voluntary and involuntary committed patients (5.08 ± 4.1 vs. 8.1 ± 4.9, p < .05). PCA disclosed a three-factor solution explaining 59.3 of the variance. Some discrepancies were found between the factor structure of the I-AES and the original version. I- AES total score was positively associated with numbers of previous involuntarily hospitalization (r = 0.20, p < .05) and psychiatric symptoms' severity (r = 0.22, p < .02). I-AES and its proposed new factor structure proved to be reliable to assess perceived coercion in mental hospital admission. Consequently, it may represent a helpful instrument for the study and reduction of patients' levels of perceived coercion

Could time detect a faking-good attitude? A study with the MMPI-2-RF

Background and Purpose: Research on the relationship between response latency (RL) and faking in self-administered testing scenarios have generated contradictory findings. We explored this relationship further, aiming to add further insight into the reliability of self-report measures. We compared RLs and T-scores on the MMPI-2-RF (validity and restructured clinical [RC] scales) in four experimental groups. Our hypotheses were that: the Fake-Good Speeded group would obtain a different completion time; show higher RLs than the Honesty Speeded Group in the validity scales; show higher T-Scores in the L-r and K-r scales and lower T-scores in the F-r and RC scales; and show higher levels of tension and fatigue. Finally, the impact of the speeded condition in malingering was assessed. Materials and Methods: The sample was comprised of 135 subjects (M = 26.64; SD = 1.88 years old), all of whom were graduates (having completed at least 17 years of instruction), male, and Caucasian. Subjects were randomly assigned to four groups: Honesty Speeded, Fake-Good Speeded, Honesty Un-Speeded, and Fake-Good Un-Speeded. A software version of the MMPI-2-RF and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) were administered. To test the hypotheses, MANOVAs and binomial logistic regressions were run. Results: Significant differences were found between the four groups, and particularly between the Honest and Fake-Good groups in terms of test completion time and the L-r and K-r scales. The speeded condition increased T-scores in the L-r and K-r scales but decreased T-scores in some of the RC scales. The Fake groups also scored higher on the VAS Tension subscale. Completion times for the first and second parts of the MMPI-2-RF and T-scores for the K-r scale seemed to predict malingering. Conclusion: The speeded condition seemed to bring out the malingerers. Limitations include the sample size and gender bias