Suchergebnisse

The article is based on the research in mobile applications markets. The distribution of market power in these markets depends on the ability of a digital ecosystem's owner to control the handling of mobile applications inside the ecosystem. The degree of this control is determined by the substitutability of different application stores as necessary facilities for the access to mobile applications. The authors provide the survey-based empirical estimates of such substitutability for Apple's mobile application store — App Store. The results of further tests for market boundaries delineation confirm the embeddedness of final users in Apple's ecosystem in absence of feasible opportunities to change the operating system and, consequently, the application store. The findings explain the degree of Apple's market power and provide grounds for antitrust intervention.

The article analyses the main features of the intellectual activity results market through the lens of the product boundaries definition. Frequently the pirated copy is not considered as a substitute for original products in legal cases. However, unlicensed computer programs should be included in the product market boundaries regardless of its legal status if the consumer considers them as substitutes. The difference between these types of products (original and pirated) are hidden not in transformation but in transaction characteristics. It is also important to take into consideration the possible complementarity between pirated and original products expressed in the information and network effects. In order to assess the buyers' choice it is necessary to adjust the methods evaluating product market boundaries prescribed by «The Procedure of market competition analysis» of the Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service.