Mobile Ecosystems: Competition and Transparency

This article presents propositions about competition and transparency in the mobile ecosystem consisting of various submarkets. Facilitating competition is a major goal of competition policy. The view is stated herein not only for competition within individual submarkets of the mobile ecosystem, but also for competition across multiple submarkets. Moreover, the author insists on the importance of transparency in the ecosystem for better decision-making by involved parties therein, leading to the remarkable conclusion that enhancing transparency matters also in terms of cross-market competition. Transparency can facilitate cross-market competition between distinct platforms that have dominant power in their respective submarkets. Discussions are devoted mainly to two submarkets of the mobile ecosystem: the application (app) stores market and the mobile advertising market.

By Yusuke Zennyo[1]

I. INTRODUCTION

Mobile ecosystems have become increasingly complicated, consisting of various submarkets such as mobile telecommunication, operating systems, device manufacturing, app stores, and digital advertising. These submarkets are closely connected because major players are active in several submarkets. Both Google and Apple are engaged in the development of mobile operating systems (Android OS and iOS), sales of smartphone devices (Pixel and iPhone), and operation of app stores (Play Store and App Store). Additionally, Google runs advertising intermediaries such as Ad