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Empirical Analysis of Indirect Network Effects in the Market for Personal Digital Assistants

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Author Info
Harikesh Nair ()
Pradeep Chintagunta ()
Jean-Pierre Dubé ()

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Abstract

We present a framework to measure empirically the size of indirect network effects in high-technology markets with competing incompatible technology standards. These indirect network effects arise due to inter-dependence in demand for hardware and compatible software. By modeling the joint determination of hardware sales and software availability in the market, we are able to describe the nature of demand inter-dependence and to measure the size of the indirect network effects. We apply the model to price and sales data from the industry for personal digital assistants (PDAs) along with the availability of software titles compatible with each PDA hardware standard. Our empirical results indicate significant indirect network effects. By July 2002, the network effect explains roughly 22% of the log-odds ratio of the sales of all Palm OS compatible PDA-s to Microsoft OS compatible PDA-s, where the remaining 78% reflects price and model features. We also use our model estimates to study the growth of the installed bases of Palm and Microsoft PDA hardware, with and without the availability of compatible third party software. We find that lack of third party software negatively impacts the evolution of the installed hardware bases of both formats. These results suggest PDA hardware firms would benefit from investing resources in increasing the provision of software for their products. We then compare the benefits of investments in software with investments in the quality of hardware technology. This exercise helps disentangle the potential for incremental hardware sales due to hardware quality improvement from that of positive feedback due to market software provision.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Springer in its journal Quantitative Marketing and Economics.

Volume (Year): 2 (2004)
Issue (Month): 1 (03)
Pages: 23-58
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Handle: RePEc:kap:qmktec:v:2:y:2004:i:1:p:23-58

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Web page: http://www.springerlink.com/link.asp?id=111240

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References listed on IDEAS
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Nicholas Economides & V. Brian Viard, 2005. "Pricing of Complementary Goods and Network Effects," Working Papers 05-12, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Kevin J. Boudreau & Andrei Hagiu, 2008. "Platform Rules: Multi-Sided Platforms as Regulators," Harvard Business School Working Papers 09-061, Harvard Business School. [Downloadable!]
  3. Donald Lehmann & Mercedes Esteban-Bravo, 2006. "When giving some away makes sense to jump-start the diffusion process," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 243-254, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Matthew T. Clements & Hiroshi Ohashi, 2004. "Indirect Network Effects and the Product Cycle: Video Games in the U.S., 1994-2002," Working Papers 04-01, NET Institute, revised Oct 2004. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. repec:bep:eapadv:v:8:y:2008:i:1:p:1731-1731 is not listed on IDEAS
  6. Christopher R. Knittel & Victor Stango, 2004. "Compatibility and Pricing with Indirect Network Effects: Evidence from ATMs," NBER Working Papers 10774, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Bart Bronnenberg & Jean Dubé & Carl Mela & Paulo Albuquerque & Tulin Erdem & Brett Gordon & Dominique Hanssens & Guenter Hitsch & Han Hong & Baohong Sun, 2008. "Measuring long-run marketing effects and their implications for long-run marketing decisions," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 367-382, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Christopher R. Knittel & Victor Stango, 2004. "Incompatibility, Product Attributes and Consumer Welfare: Evidence from ATMs," Working Papers 04-06, NET Institute, revised Oct 2004. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Kenneth S. Corts & Mara Lederman, 2007. "Software Exclusivity and the Scope of Indirect Network Effects in the U.S. Home Video Game Market," Working Papers 07-43, NET Institute, revised Nov 2007. [Downloadable!]
  10. James E. Prieger & Wei-Min Hu, 2006. "An Empirical Analysis of Indirect Network Effects in the Home Video Game Market," Working Papers 06-25, NET Institute, revised Oct 2006. [Downloadable!]
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