IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/33642.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Non-User Utility and Market Power: The Case of Smartphones

Author

Listed:
  • Leonardo Bursztyn
  • Rafael Jiménez-Durán
  • Aaron Leonard
  • Filip Milojević
  • Christopher Roth

Abstract

Firms can increase the demand for their products and consolidate their market power not only by increasing user utility but also by decreasing non-user utility. In this paper, we examine this mechanism by considering the case of smartphones. In particular, Apple has faced criticism for allegedly degrading the Android user experience by making messages to Android devices appear as green bubbles on iPhones—a salient signal often perceived as reflecting a lower socioeconomic status. Using samples of US college students, we show that green bubbles are widely stigmatized and that a majority of both iPhone and Android users would prefer green bubbles to no longer exist. We then conduct an incentivized deactivation experiment, revealing that iPhone users have a significant willingness to pay to prevent their messages from appearing as green bubbles on other iPhones. Next, we examine the market implications of non-user utility and find that respondents are substantially more likely to choose an Android over an iPhone when green bubbles are removed. We conclude by presenting case studies that illustrate how companies use product features to reduce non-user utility in various markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Leonardo Bursztyn & Rafael Jiménez-Durán & Aaron Leonard & Filip Milojević & Christopher Roth, 2025. "Non-User Utility and Market Power: The Case of Smartphones," NBER Working Papers 33642, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33642
    Note: IO POL
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w33642.pdf
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text is generally limited to series subscribers, however if the top level domain of the client browser is in a developing country or transition economy free access is provided. More information about subscriptions and free access is available at http://www.nber.org/wwphelp.html. Free access is also available to older working papers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Whinston, Michael D, 1990. "Tying, Foreclosure, and Exclusion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(4), pages 837-859, September.
    2. Clark, Andrew E. & Oswald, Andrew J., 1996. "Satisfaction and comparison income," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 359-381, September.
    3. Pesendorfer, Wolfgang, 1995. "Design Innovation and Fashion Cycles," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(4), pages 771-792, September.
    4. Farrell, Joseph & Klemperer, Paul, 2007. "Coordination and Lock-In: Competition with Switching Costs and Network Effects," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 31, pages 1967-2072, Elsevier.
    5. Leonardo Bursztyn & Benjamin Handel & Rafael Jiménez-Durán & Christopher Roth, 2025. "When Product Markets Become Collective Traps: The Case of Social Media," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 115(12), pages 4105-4136, December.
    6. Ingar Haaland & Christopher Roth & Stefanie Stantcheva & Johannes Wohlfart, 2024. "Measuring What Is Top of Mind," CEBI working paper series 24-10, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. The Center for Economic Behavior and Inequality (CEBI).
    7. Jacques Crémer & Amelia Fletcher & Gregory Crawford & David Dinielli, 2023. "Consumer Protection for Online Markets and Large Digital Platforms," Post-Print hal-04774140, HAL.
    8. Bagwell, Laurie Simon & Bernheim, B Douglas, 1996. "Veblen Effects in a Theory of Conspicuous Consumption," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 349-373, June.
    9. Gorkem Bostanci & Pinar Yildirim & Kinshuk Jerath, 2023. "Negative Advertising and Competitive Positioning," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(4), pages 2361-2382, April.
    10. Eeckhout, Jan & De loecker, Jan, 2018. "Global Market Power," CEPR Discussion Papers 13009, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leonardo Bursztyn & Benjamin Handel & Rafael Jiménez-Durán & Christopher Roth, 2025. "When Product Markets Become Collective Traps: The Case of Social Media," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 115(12), pages 4105-4136, December.
    2. Fabio Maccheroni & Massimo Marinacci & Aldo Rustichini, 2012. "Social Decision Theory: Choosing within and between Groups," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(4), pages 1591-1636.
    3. Corneo, Giacomo & Jeanne, Olivier, 1999. "Segmented communication and fashionable behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 371-385, July.
    4. Friedrichsen, Jana, 2013. "Image concerns and the provision of quality," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Market Behavior SP II 2013-211, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    5. Robin Cowan & William Cowan & G.M. Peter Swann, 2004. "Waves in consumption with interdependence among consumers," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(1), pages 149-177, February.
    6. Stefan Buehler & Daniel Halbheer, 2011. "Selling when Brand Image Matters," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 167(1), pages 102-118, March.
    7. Kerwin Kofi Charles & Erik Hurst & Nikolai Roussanov, 2009. "Conspicuous Consumption and Race," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(2), pages 425-467.
    8. Gastón Llanes & Andrea Mantovani & Francisco Ruiz-Aliseda, 2019. "Entry into Complementary Good Markets with Network Effects," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(4), pages 262-282, December.
    9. Karine Lamiraud & Pierre Stadelmann, 2020. "Switching costs in competitive health insurance markets: The role of insurers' pricing strategies," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(9), pages 992-1012, September.
    10. Samuel Bowles & Yongjin Park, 2005. "Emulation, Inequality, and Work Hours: Was Thorsten Veblen Right?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(507), pages 397-412, November.
    11. repec:zbw:bofrdp:urn:nbn:fi:bof-201511261452 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Christopher P. Roth, 2014. "Conspicuous Consumption and Peer Effects among the Poor: Evidence From a Field Experiment," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/2014-29, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    13. Jean Tirole & Roland Bénabou, 2006. "Incentives and Prosocial Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1652-1678, December.
    14. Frijters, Paul, 1998. "A model of fashions and status," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 501-517, October.
    15. Friedrichsen, Jana, 2018. "Signals Sell: Product Lines when Consumers Differ Both in Taste for Quality and Image Concern," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 70, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    16. Dmitri Kuksov & Kangkang Wang, 2013. "A Model of the "It" Products in Fashion," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(1), pages 51-69, July.
    17. Jullien, Bruno & Pavan, Alessandro, 2013. "Platform Pricing under Dispersed Information," IDEI Working Papers 793, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse.
    18. Leonardo Bursztyn & Robert Jensen, 2017. "Social Image and Economic Behavior in the Field: Identifying, Understanding, and Shaping Social Pressure," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 9(1), pages 131-153, September.
    19. Jay Pil Choi, 2010. "Tying In Two‐Sided Markets With Multi‐Homing," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 607-626, September.
    20. Leonardo Bursztyn & Bruno Ferman & Stefano Fiorin & Martin Kanz & Gautam Rao, 2018. "Status Goods: Experimental Evidence from Platinum Credit Cards," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(3), pages 1561-1595.
    21. Guido Cozzi, 2004. "Rat Race, Redistribution, and Growth," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 7(4), pages 900-915, October.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33642. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.