The Role of Platform Boundary Resources in Software Ecosystems: A Case Study

Abstract

The success of software ecosystems highly depends on the variety and quality of end-user applications. Therefore, attracting third-party developers and facilitating application development is crucial. Platform boundary resources enable third-party developers to create the applications. Thus, the platform boundary resources expose and extend the platform architecture. We conducted an industrial case study on third-party developer experience, particularly on the role of platform boundary resources in exposing the platform architecture and facilitating development. The studied ecosystem is centered on managing end-users' content across devices, the ecosystem was in its pre-commercial phase. The results identify the platform boundary resources in the case study and propose a model for classifying the resources. Further, designing the platform boundary resources is not only about opening up the platform architecture. Instead, the platform boundary resources need to account for a rich variety of applications, or at least not limit too much the creativity of third-party developers, while still aiming at the ease of development. We conclude that the platform boundary resources need to be created for the third-party developers, rather than from the platform architecture.