Publications

Article

Health App Policy: International Comparison of Nine Countries' Approaches

By: Anna Essén, Ariel Dora Stern, Christoffer Bjerre Haase, Josip Car, Felix Greaves, Dragana Paparova, Steven Vandeput, Rik Wehrens and David W. Bates

An abundant and growing supply of digital health applications (apps) exists in the commercial tech-sector, which can be bewildering for clinicians, patients, and payers. A growing challenge for the health care system is therefore to facilitate the identification of... View Details

Keywords: Digital Health; Apps; Health Care and Treatment; Internet and the Web; Policy; Global Range; Applications and Software

TeachingInterests

aMaze app

By: Ethan S. Bernstein

The aMaze app is designed to enable automated facilitation of the "Management Maze" or "Electric Maze" exercise by Amy Edmondson and Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar (see View Details

February 2022 (Revised February 2023)
Case

TikTok in 2020: Super App or Supernova? (Abridged)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Dan Maher and Dan O'Brien

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, was launched in 2012 around a simple idea—helping users entertain themselves on their smartphones while on the Beijing Subway. In less than a decade, it had become one of the world’s most valuable private companies, with investors... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platform; Artificial Intelligence; AI; Mobile App; Mobile App Industry; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Brands and Branding; Growth and Development Strategy; China

July 15, 2020
Article

How to Get People to Actually Use Contact-Tracing Apps

By: Chiara Farronato, Marco Iansiti, Marcin Bartosiak, Stefano Denicolai, Luca Ferretti and Roberto Fontana

The broad adoption of contact-tracing apps would greatly help combat the spread of COVID-19. But a number of barriers—especially privacy concerns—have hindered progress in many countries that can’t or won’t mandate adoption. A solution is to start with small... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Contact Tracing; Apps; Privacy; Health Pandemics; Behavior; Technology Adoption; Applications and Software

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BYJU’S The Learning App (BYJU’s) is India’s largest K-12 education app with approximately 300,000 annual paid subscribers. The mobile app uses a mix of video lessons and interactive tools to personalize learning for every student. Although there is room to grow... View Details

2018
Article

Threat of Platform-Owner Entry and Complementor Responses: Evidence from the Mobile App Market

By: Wen Wen and Feng Zhu

We examine how app developers on the Android mobile platform adjust their innovation efforts (rate and direction) and value-capture strategies in response to Google’s entry threat and actual entry into their markets. We find that, after Google’s entry threat increases,... View Details

Keywords: Platform-owner Entry; Entry Threat; Innovation; Complementors; Mobile App Industry; Digital Platforms; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Market Entry and Exit; Price; Innovation and Invention; Applications and Software

Find at Harvard

2017
Working Paper

Threat of Platform-Owner Entry and Complementor Responses: Evidence from the Mobile App Market

By: Feng Zhu

We examine how app developers on the Android mobile platform adjust their innovation efforts (rate and direction) and value-capture strategies in response to Google’s entry threat and actual entry into their markets. We find that, after Google’s entry threat increases,... View Details

Keywords: Platform-owner Entry; Entry Threat; Innovation; Complementors; Mobile App Industry; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Innovation Strategy; Market Entry and Exit

30 Nov 2021
Cold Call Podcast

TikTok: Super App or Supernova?

Keywords: Re: Jeffrey F. Rayport; Technology

11 Dec 2018
News

How Apple Gamed the App Business

16 Dec 2009
News

Apps for Daily Living

Keywords: News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information; Computer Systems Design and Related Services; Professional Services

August 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

Paktor: Designing a Dating App

By: Michael Luca, Stephanie Chan and Essie Alamsyah

Paktor is a popular mobile-based online dating app from Singapore, where a user can swipe right or left on a profile to indicate her interest in a potential match. The case is designed to explore issues related to pricing, market design, and launch strategies in the... View Details

Keywords: Mobile and Wireless Technology; Design; Price; Product Launch; Global Strategy

10 Jul 2017
News

Uber threatens to shut down price-comparison app

30 Nov 2021
News

TikTok: Super App or Supernova?

Article

How Apple Gamed App Pricing

By: Scott Duke Kominers

January 2015 (Revised May 2018)
Case

$19B 4 txt app WhatsApp...omg!

By: David Collis, Ashley Hartman and Aakash Mehta

In February 2014, Facebook announced the acquisition of WhatsApp for $19 billion. WhatsApp, founded in 2009, was a relatively young company that employed only 50 people and earned merely $10 million in revenue in 2013. It was one of many mobile messaging services that... View Details

January 2016
Background Note

Designing a Dating App

By: Michael Luca

Article

Why Apps for Managing Chronic Disease Haven't Been Widely Used, and How to Fix It

By: Robert S. Huckman and Ariel Dora Stern

Keywords: Health Care; Digital Health; Chronic Disease; App; Health Information Technology; Information Technology; Health Industry; United States

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Article

Unregulated Emotional Risks of AI Wellness Apps

By: Julian De Freitas and Glenn Cohen

We propose that AI-driven wellness apps powered by large language models can foster extreme emotional attachments and dependencies akin to human relationships—posing risks like ambiguous loss and dysfunctional dependence—that challenge current regulatory frameworks and... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Well-being; Emotions; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

May 2024
Article

The Health Risks of Generative AI-Based Wellness Apps

By: Julian De Freitas and G. Cohen

Artifcial intelligence (AI)-enabled chatbots are increasingly being used to help people manage their mental health. Chatbots for mental health and particularly ‘wellness’ applications currently exist in a regulatory ‘gray area’. Indeed, most generative AI-powered... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Well-being; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Applications and Software