Abstract
In the last years, store-oriented software ecosystems are gaining more and more attention from a business perspective. In these ecosystems, third-party developers upload extensions to a store which can be downloaded by end users. While the functional scope of such ecosystems is relatively similar, the underlying business models differ greatly in and between their different product domains (e.g. Mobile Phone, Smart TV). This variability, in turn, makes it challenging for store providers to find a business model that fits their own needs.
To handle this variability, we introduce the Business Variability Model (BVM) for modeling business model decisions. The basis of these decisions is the analysis of 60 store-oriented software ecosystems in eight different product domains. We map their business model decisions to the Business Model Canvas, condense them to a variability model and discuss particular variants and their dependencies. Our work provides store providers a new approach for modeling business model decisions together with insights of existing business models. This, in turn, supports them in creating new and improving existing business models.
Keywords
This work was partially supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) within the Collaborative Research Center “On-The-Fly Computing” (CRC 901).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
References
Bosch, J., Bosch-Sijtsema, P.: From integration to composition: on the impact of software product lines, global development and ecosystems. J. Syst. Softw. 83(1), 67–76 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2009.06.051
Bouwman, H., Carlsson, C., Carlsson, J., Nikou, S., Sell, A., Walden, P.: How nokia failed to nail the smartphone market. In: 25th European Regional Conference of the International Telecommunications Society (ITS) (2014)
Chesbrough, H.: Business model innovation: it’s not just about technology anymore. Strategy Leadership. 35(6), 12–17 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1108/10878570710833714
Porter, M.E., Heppelmann, J.E.: How smart, connected products are transforming competition. Harvard Bus. Rev. 92(11), 64–88 (2014)
Gonçalves, V., Walravens, N., Ballon, P.: How about an app store? Enablers and constraints in platform strategies for mobile network operators. In: Ninth International Conference on Mobile Business and Ninth Global Mobility Roundtable (ICMB-GMR), pp. 66–73. IEEE (2010). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICMB-GMR.2010.41
Holzer, A., Ondrus, J.: Mobile application market: a developer’s perspective. Telematics Inform. 28(1), 22–31 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2010.05.006
Jansen, S.: Measuring the health of open source software ecosystems: moving beyond the scope of project health. Inf. Softw. Technol. 56(11), 1508–1519 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2014.04.006
Jansen, S., Bloemendal, E.: Defining app stores: the role of curated marketplaces in software ecosystems. In: Herzwurm, G., Margaria, T. (eds.) ICSOB 2013. LNBIP, vol. 150, pp. 195–206. Springer, Heidelberg (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39336-5_19
Jazayeri, B., Platenius, M.C., Engels, G., Kundisch, D.: Features of IT service markets: a systematic literature review. In: Sheng, Q.Z., Stroulia, E., Tata, S., Bhiri, S. (eds.) ICSOC 2016. LNCS, vol. 9936, pp. 301–316. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46295-0_19
Jazayeri, B., Zimmermann, O., Engels, G., Kundisch, D.: A variability model for store-oriented software ecosystems: an enterprise perspective. In: Maximilien, M., Vallecillo, A., Wang, J., Oriol, M. (eds.) ICSOC 2017. LNCS, vol. 10601, pp. 573–588. Springer, Cham (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69035-3_42
Jazayeri, B., Zimmermann, O., Engels, G., Küster, J., Kundisch, D., Szopinski, D.: Design options of store-oriented software ecosystems: an investigation of business decisions. In: Shishkov, B. (ed.) BMSD 2018. LNBIP, vol. 319, pp. 390–400. Springer, Cham (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94214-8_30
La Rosa, M., van der Aalst, W.M.P., Dumas, M., Milani, F.P.: Business process variability modeling. ACM Comput. Surv. 50(1), 1–45 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1145/3041957
Lee, S.M., Kim, N.R., Hong, S.G.: Key success factors for mobile app platform activation. Serv. Bus. 11(1), 207–227 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11628-016-0329-y
Manikas, K., Hansen, K.M.: Software ecosystems - a systematic literature review. J. Syst. Softw. 86(5), 1294–1306 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2012.12.026
Menychtas, A., et al.: 4CaaSt marketplace: an advanced business environment for trading cloud services. Future Gener. Comput. Syst. 41, 104–120 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2014.02.020
Metzger, A., Pohl, K., Heymans, P., Schobbens, P.Y., Saval, G.: Disambiguating the documentation of variability in software product lines: a separation of concerns, formalization and automated analysis. In: International Requirements Engineering Conference (RE), pp. 243–253. IEEE (2007). https://doi.org/10.1109/RE.2007.61
Müller, R.M., Kijl, B., Martens, J.K.J.: A comparison of inter-organizational business models of mobile app stores: there is more than open vs. closed. J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res. 6(2), 13–14 (2011). https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-18762011000200007
Nickerson, R.C., Varshney, U., Muntermann, J.: A method for taxonomy development and its application in information systems. Eur. J. Inf. Syst. 22(3), 336–359 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2012.26
Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y.: Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers. Wiley, Hoboken (2010)
Parker, G., van Alstyne, M., Choudary, S.P.: Platform revolution: Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets Are Transforming the Economy - and How to Make Them Work for You. W.W. Norton & Company, New York and London (2016)
Roma, P., Ragaglia, D.: Revenue models, in-app purchase, and the app performance: evidence from Apple’s app store and google play. Electron. Commer. Res. Appl. 17, 173–190 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elerap.2016.04.007
Tuunainen, V.K., Tuunanen, T., Piispanen, J.: Mobile service platforms: comparing Nokia OVI and Apple app store with the IISIn model. In: International Conference on Mobile Business (ICMB), pp. 74–83. IEEE (2011). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICMB.2011.42
van Gurp, J., Bosch, J., Svahnberg, M.: On the notion of variability in software product lines. In: Conference on Software Architecture (CSA), pp. 45–54. IEEE (2001). https://doi.org/10.1109/WICSA.2001.948406
Zhang, B., Becker, M., Patzke, T., Sierszecki, K., Savolainen, J.E.: Variability evolution and erosion in industrial product lines. In: 17th International Software Product Line Conference (SPLC), pp. 168–177. ACM (2013). https://doi.org/10.1145/2491627.2491645
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Gottschalk, S., Rittmeier, F., Engels, G. (2019). Business Models of Store-Oriented Software Ecosystems: A Variability Modeling Approach. In: Shishkov, B. (eds) Business Modeling and Software Design. BMSD 2019. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 356. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24854-3_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24854-3_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-24853-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-24854-3
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)