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Title: Application Bundling in System Markets

Author(s): Alexandre de Cornière and Greg Taylor

Publication Date: July 2017

Keyword(s): Antitrust, Bundling and Mobile telecommunications

Programme Area(s): Industrial Organization

Abstract: Motivated by recent investigations over Google's practices in the smartphone industry, we study bundling in markets for devices that allow consumers to use applications. The presence of applications on a device increases demand for it, and application developers earn revenues by interacting with consumers. A firm that controls multiple applications can offer them to device manufacturers either individually or as a bundle. We present a novel mechanism through which anticompetitive bundling can be profitable: Bundling reduces rival application developers' willingness to pay manufacturers for inclusion on their devices, and allows a multiapplication developer to capture a larger share of industry profit. Bundling can also strengthen competition between manufacturers and thereby increase consumer surplus, even if it leads to foreclosure of application developers and a loss in product variety.

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Bibliographic Reference

de Cornière, A and Taylor, G. 2017. 'Application Bundling in System Markets'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=12129