3G時代的到來使得行動通訊產業產生劇烈的變動，過去上下游緊密連結的垂直體系日趨模糊，逐漸形成所謂的資訊通訊科技(Information and Communication Technology；ICT)產業，廠商間的網絡關係錯綜複雜，具有整合性概念的智慧型行動電話於此崛起，其系統的開放性也為第三方應用軟體廠商(Third Party Application)提供了一個發揮的舞台。是以本研究目的在於釐清智慧型行動電話整體產業之網絡關係，並自第三方應用軟體廠商的角度出發，探討影響其進行網絡連結對象決策之因素，亦即如何決定發行適用於何種作業系統的應用軟體。 本研究以便利抽樣選取美國地區的五十家第三方應用軟體廠商，蒐集其自2004年11月至2007年1月所發行之800筆應用軟體為樣本，以條件式邏輯特模型(Conditional Logit Model)進行實證分析，探討網絡關係之結構特性(鑲嵌程度)以及作業系統之特性(網路效果與市場新穎程度)對於第三方應用軟體廠商之網絡連結對象決策的影響。 而本研究結果如下： 一、 鑲嵌程度對於第三方應用軟體廠商之網絡連結對象決策呈現顯著的負向影響，與假說相符。第三方應用軟體廠商於發行應用軟體時，不傾向選擇開發適用於鑲嵌程度高的智慧型行動電話作業系統。 二、 網路效果對於第三方應用軟體廠商之網絡連結對象決策呈現顯著的正向影響，與假說相符。第三方應用軟體廠商於發行應用軟體時，傾向研發選擇適用於網路效果高的智慧型行動電話作業系統。 三、 市場新穎程度對於第三方應用軟體廠商之網絡連結對象決策呈現顯著的正向影響，與假說不符。 With the coming of 3G era, the mobile communication industry has been undergoing a fierce vibration, the former tightly-connected vertical system blurring, and gradually becoming the so-called information and communication technology industry. The integral conception-bearing smartphone sprang up from the complexity of network relationship, and the openness of its operating system offered third party application developers a stage to compete on. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to clarify the network relationship of the smartphone industry, and explore influential factors on the decision of preferential linkage from third party application developers’ perspectives, that is to say, to explain third party application developers’ decisions to launch new applications for specific operating systems. This study chose 50 third party application developers in the United States by convenience sampling, and collected as the sample 800 applications launched from November 2004 to January 2007. Conditional logit model was used to empirically analyze the data, to investigate the effects of the structural attribute of network relationship (embeddedness) and attributes of operating systems (network effect and newness) on third party application developers’ decisions of preferential linkage. The results of this study are as following： 1. Embeddedness has a significant negative effect on third party application developers’ decisions of preferential linkage, which supports the hypothesis. Third party application developers do not tend to launch applications for smartphone operating systems which possess high embeddedness. 2. Network effect has a significant positive effect on third party application developers’ decisions of preferential linkage, which supports the hypothesis. Third party application developers tend to launch applications for smartphone operating systems which possess high network effects. 3. Newness has a significant positive effect on third party application developers’ decisions of preferential linkage, which does not support the hypothesis.
