Free trials · Empirical comparative analysis of product sales/revenues around an Apple App Store policy that strengthened network effects, contrasting freemium and non-freemium products and market leaders versus followers; the publisher identifies Apple daily prod
Competing on freemium: Digital competition with network effects
Strategic Management Journal · 2022
Summary
Stronger network effects alone did not increase market leaders' revenues relative to followers. Where freemium was used, however, network effects greatly amplified leaders' advantage; the publisher describes this as increased revenue/market dominance for leaders only under freemium.
For your marketing
Possible founder application
Use this as a pricing or packaging hypothesis and define outcomes to measure; estimate effects with your own customer mix and willingness-to-pay evidence.
Reported result
What the study found
Stronger network effects alone did not increase market leaders' revenues relative to followers. Where freemium was used, however, network effects greatly amplified leaders' advantage; the publisher describes this as increased revenue/market dominance for leaders only under freemium.
Research question
What the authors investigated
When network effects strengthen in a competitive digital market, how do freemium strategies affect the revenue advantage of market leaders versus followers?
Design
Empirical comparative analysis of product sales/revenues around an Apple App Store policy that strengthened network effects, contrasting freemium and non-freemium products and market leaders versus followers; the publisher identifies Apple daily product-ranking data as the data source.
Sample and setting
Competing products on Apple's App Store, classified by freemium strategy and market-leader/follower position; product rankings were collected daily, with app categorization supplied by Priori LLC.
Scope and transfer
Limitations to keep in view
The publisher page does not state a limitations section; this is therefore not stated by the publisher page fetched in this run.
Research sources
The publisher research summary states that the study empirically investigates how strengthened Apple App Store network effects influenced sales of firms using freemium strategies and reports that freemium plus stronger network effects amplified leaders' advantage. Direct publisher-page retrieval was recorded on 2026-10-09; profile summarizes the accessible record and does not claim independent review of inaccessible full text.