This is the second post of a series on Media Ecosystems. The first post draws the outline of the series. Advertising as a complementary good Since George Stigler’s paper on information costs (1961), the issue of advertising is widely discussed among economists. For many of them, advertising is a means to reduce consumer’s transaction costs […]
Tag Archives | Apple
The smartphone patent wars: nothing really surprising…
By 28 November 2013 42
(This is an updated and slightly modified version of this post, published on April 25, 2012.) In April 2012, Lucy Koh, a US District Court Judge, tried to force a truce on one of the fiercest fronts of what is now commonly known as the “Smartphone Patent Wars”. She ordered Tim Cook and Choi Gee-Sung, […]
Nike+ and its competitors: a running battle?
By 6 March 2013 27
For a few years now, Nike has been operating, in collaboration with Tomtom and Apple, a series of devices that allow walkers and runners to record and follow various parameters related to their walk or run history (like distance, speed, burned calories, …). The concept is the following: the runner trains with a GPS sportwatch […]
The smartphone patent wars and competition policy
By 25 April 2012 13
Last Wednesday (April 18, 2012), Lucy Koh, a US District Court Judge, may have paved the way towards a truce on one of the fiercest fronts of what is now commonly known as the “Smartphone Patent Wars”. She ordered Tim Cook and Choi Gee-Sung, the CEOs of Apple and Samsung, to meet and work out […]
What to think of ‘patent trolls’?
By 11 November 2010 0
Early october this year, Apple was condemned by a US court to pay $625.5 million damages to a small company, Mirror Worlds LLC, for infringing three patents related to how files are displayed on several Apple’s products (iPhone, iPod and Macbooks). Apple is currently challenging this verdict (see here for more). A question that has […]
“Party’s over for US music downloads”: what could cheer up the music industry?
By 27 September 2010 0
Today (27 Sept. 2010), the Financial Times, under the title “Party’s over for US music downloads”, reports that the online sale of music during the first half of 2010 is flat compared to the same period last year (in 2009, downloads were increasing at 13% a year, and in 2008, at 28% a year). The […]