Many markets are structured as platform ecosystems, they can be open or closed platforms, where a stable core (such as a smartphone operating system or a music streaming service) mediates the relationship between a wide range of complements (like apps, games or songs) and prospective end-users.
Platforms and their complements often invest in co-specialization or sign exclusivity agreements that bind them into stickier, longer-term relationships than the market contracts used in typical reseller arrangements.
A platform ecosystem is thus characterized by relationships that are neither as independent as arms-length market contracts, nor as dependent as those within a hierarchical organization.
Platform, ecosystem, and particularly "platform ecosystem" is a disputed term in information systems, organizational management, and technology and innovation research Jochem Hummel said on 21 February 2020 in a lecture of the Digital Business Strategy postgraduate module at Warwick Business School.
Similar comments were raised by Melissa Schilling on 30 November 2017 in a symposium titled 'A Multi-Disciplinary Perspective on Platform Ecosystems Research.
'[7] Melissa argued that almost every website was nowadays called a platform, with an ecosystem where users could choose between buying products or services from different vendors.
The "Big Five" companies, including Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, are prime examples of digital platform ecosystems.
Put it differently, the platform sponsor plays a critical role in designing digital platforms' algorithms, taking into account four essential factors from a structural perspective: shared standards, rules of participation, degree of openness, and direct and indirect network effects.
Shared standards are the first critical element that offers clarity for how digital platform components interact.
[17] Examples of innovation platforms are Xiaomi Miui, Apple iOS, Google Android, Nintendo, Sony PlayStation, and Amazon Web Services.