Towards a New Typology for Mobile Platforms : Validation Through Case Study Analysis

In order to make sense of the plethora of platform initiatives being currently introduced in the mobile industry, and with the aim of refining platform theory, this paper proposes and illustrates a typology of mobile service platforms. It demonstrates that (1) real-life examples of the proposed platform types can be identified in the mobile industry today, (2) there are fundamental differences between these platform types in terms of the business model employed, and (3) the gatekeeper roles (making up the platforms themselves) are configured differently across the different platform types