Bloatware and Jailbreaking: Strategic Impacts of Consumer-Initiated Modification of Technology Products

Should a firm selling consumer electronics devices, such as smartphones, bundle these devices with bloatware? If consumers can remove bloatware by jailbreaking these devices, how should the firm adjust its prices and even its decision of bloatware inclusion? This research provides managerial insights for firms considering bloatware and policymakers regulating such practices. We show that it is not always optimal for a firm to sell a bloatware-included product. Furthermore, our analysis reveals that even if the firm can make it harder for consumers to jailbreak, the firm is not always better off by doing so. Consumers do not necessarily benefit from the reduced cost of jailbreaking either. Because the firm passes part of the bloatware revenue to consumers in the form of a lower price, whenever bloatware inclusion benefits the firm, consumers actually also benefit.

• 저널Information Systems Research · 31(1) · 240–257
• 토픽Digital Platforms and Economics · Strategy and Management
• DOI10.1287/isre.2019.0883
• 저자Hasan Cavusoglu, Huseyin Cavusoglu, Xianjun Geng