行動應用程式開發者的開發策略

Abstract

過去的多通路模型允許賣方和買方透過不同通路銷售與購買。然而當買方加入任一行動平台後，因為應用程式只能運行於特定平台，買方只能從特定平台購買應用程式，另外，如果開發者採用混合方式來開發應用程式，重製應用程式到其他平台的成本近乎於零。因此，本研究模型探討應用程式開發者如何選擇最佳的開發策略，並考量市占率、框架相容性、平台偏好、銷售抽成以及品質成本對開發策略的影響。我們的模型不僅能找出各個開發策略最有利的區域，且討論對平台和框架提供者的策略意涵。它也顯示，儘管市佔率小平台有很高的顧客偏好，開發者只會在市佔率足夠大的平台，而非在兩個平台上開發應用程式。本研究成果可幫助開發者根據市場情況尋求最佳的開發策略，亦可提供平台和框架供應者更深入的洞察力。

Many previous multichannel models allow sellers to sell products through multiple channels and every consumer to purchase them from various channels. However, in mobile app market, once a consumer joins a mobile platform, the consumer only purchases apps from the platform since the apps can only be run on it. Moreover, if developers adopt the hybrid approach to develop an app, it is almost free to reproduce the app for another platform. Therefore, in this thesis, we propose a model to investigate how to select the optimal development strategy for app developers, where the model takes the market share of the platforms, platform preferences, framework compatibility, commissions and degree of cost of quality into considerations. Our proposed model can find not only the most profitable region for each development strategy but also discuss the implications for platform and framework providers under various market conditions. It also shows that developers will develop apps for the platform of a large enough market share, not for both platforms even though consumers have very strong preferences to the platform of a smaller market share. Therefore, the analytical results can help developers adopt the appropriate strategy based on the characteristics of the mobile app market, and provide valuable insights for platform and framework providers.