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The Apple business model: Crowdsourcing mobile applications

Author

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  • Birgitta Bergvall-Kåreborn
  • Debra Howcroft

Abstract

Much to Apple's chagrin, the ‘suicide express’ at the Foxconn manufacturing complex in China has been widely reported. While outsourcing the manufacture of technology components is neither new nor unique, the external sourcing of digital content is integral to the success of Apple's business model. In 2008, Apple opened up their platform to third-party IT developers, leveraging their expertise for the supply of applications. Apple's rapid dominance of the mobile market led to the emergence of a business model that weaves together Internet-enabled mobile devices with digital content, brought together within a closed proprietary platform or ecosystem. Applying a Global Production Network analysis, this paper reports on fieldwork among Apple mobile application developers in Sweden, the UK, and the US. The analysis shows that although some developers experience success, financial returns remain elusive and many encounter intense pressure to generate and market new products in a competitive and saturated market. Crowdsourcing allows Apple to effectively source development to a global base of software developers, capitalizing on the mass production of digital products while simultaneously managing to sidestep the incurred costs and responsibilities associated with directly employing a high-tech workforce.

Suggested Citation

  • Birgitta Bergvall-Kåreborn & Debra Howcroft, 2013. "The Apple business model: Crowdsourcing mobile applications," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(4), pages 280-289, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:accfor:v:37:y:2013:i:4:p:280-289
    DOI: 10.1016/j.accfor.2013.06.001
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Abdulrazak F. Shahatha Al-Mashhadani & Muhammad Imran Qureshi & Sanil S. Hishan & Mohd Shamsuri Md Saad & Yamunah Vaicondam & Nohman Khan, 2021. "Towards the Development of Digital Manufacturing Ecosystems for Sustainable Performance: Learning from the Past Two Decades of Research," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-17, May.
    2. Marcel Papert & Alexander Pflaum, 2017. "Development of an Ecosystem Model for the Realization of Internet of Things (IoT) Services in Supply Chain Management," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 27(2), pages 175-189, May.
    3. Schenk, Eric & Guittard, Claude & Pénin, Julien, 2019. "Open or proprietary? Choosing the right crowdsourcing platform for innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 303-310.
    4. José A. Montenegro & José L. Torres, 2016. "Consumer preferences and implicit prices of smartphone characteristics," Working Papers 2016-04, Universidad de Málaga, Department of Economic Theory, Málaga Economic Theory Research Center.
    5. Julienne Adonajlo Brabet & Laurence Beierlein, 2017. "Taking Global Value Chains seriously. Studying GVCs: Why and How?," Post-Print hal-01709041, HAL.
    6. Romain Gandia & Guy Parmentier, 2020. "La gestion stratégique d'un portefeuille de business models connectés : une application aux secteurs du numérique," Post-Print hal-04809904, HAL.
    7. Lehman, Glen & Haslam, Colin, 2013. "Accounting for the Apple Inc business model: Corporate value capture and dysfunctional economic and social consequences," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 245-248.
    8. Daniel Masini Espíndola & Márcio Lopes Pimenta & Cláudio Heleno Pinto da Silva & Ingridi Vargas Bortolaso, 2023. "Systematic Literature Review in Reshoring Strategies 4.0," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-13, July.
    9. Abhishek Behl & Nirma Jayawardena & Vijay Pereira & Fauzia Jabeen & Kokil Jain & Manish Gupta, 2025. "Engaging and motivating crowd-workers in gamified crowdsourcing mobile apps in the context of logistics and sustainable supply chain management," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 355(2), pages 2279-2309, December.

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