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Appendix C: Case Study Index

Platform Economics Cases

Apple App Store

  • Chapter Coverage: 1, 8, 9
  • Key Insights: Platform governance, developer ecosystem economics, 30% commission model
  • Financial Impact: $85B+ annual services revenue, 1.8M apps
  • Economic Model: Two-sided market with network effects

Amazon Web Services

  • Chapter Coverage: 2, 5, 6, 8
  • Key Insights: Infrastructure commoditization, cloud platform dominance
  • Financial Impact: $90B annual revenue, 30% operating margins
  • Economic Model: Usage-based pricing with scale advantages

Microsoft Evolution

  • Chapter Coverage: 1, 3, 5, 8
  • Key Insights: Platform strategy evolution, subscription transformation
  • Financial Impact: $3T market cap, 70% recurring revenue
  • Economic Model: Integrated platform with bundling strategy

Network Effects Cases

Facebook/Meta

  • Chapter Coverage: 1, 8, 10
  • Key Insights: Social network effects, data monetization
  • Financial Impact: 3B+ users, $117B annual revenue
  • Economic Model: Attention-based advertising with network effects

LinkedIn Professional Network

  • Chapter Coverage: 10
  • Key Insights: Professional networking moats, B2B monetization
  • Financial Impact: 950M users, $15B annual revenue
  • Economic Model: Freemium with premium subscriptions

Business Model Innovation

Netflix Content Strategy

  • Chapter Coverage: 1, 8
  • Key Insights: Content investment, global expansion, data-driven decisions
  • Financial Impact: 230M subscribers, $17B content budget
  • Economic Model: Subscription with original content differentiation

Stripe Payment Platform

  • Chapter Coverage: 3, 7
  • Key Insights: API-first business model, developer-friendly integration
  • Financial Impact: 95B valuation
  • Economic Model: Transaction-based fees with platform services

Salesforce Ecosystem

  • Chapter Coverage: 3, 7, 9
  • Key Insights: SaaS pioneer, platform expansion, partner ecosystem
  • Financial Impact: $31B revenue, 4,000+ AppExchange apps
  • Economic Model: Subscription SaaS with platform marketplace

AI and Automation Cases

OpenAI/ChatGPT

  • Chapter Coverage: 11, 12
  • Key Insights: AI model economics, consumer AI adoption
  • Financial Impact: $1.6B ARR, 100M weekly users
  • Economic Model: API pricing with consumer subscriptions

GitHub Copilot

  • Chapter Coverage: 11, 12
  • Key Insights: AI code generation, developer productivity
  • Financial Impact: 40% productivity improvement, high developer adoption
  • Economic Model: AI augmentation tool with subscription pricing

Transformation Cases

Adobe Creative Cloud

  • Chapter Coverage: 1, 4
  • Key Insights: License to subscription transformation
  • Financial Impact: 19.4B revenue growth, 95% recurring revenue
  • Economic Model: Subscription software with continuous updates

Unity Runtime Fee Crisis

  • Chapter Coverage: 8
  • Key Insights: Platform power limits, developer ecosystem management
  • Financial Impact: CEO resignation, policy reversal
  • Economic Model: Platform dependency and governance challenges