Platforms

Platforms

Platform business models have been extremely successful. From AirBnB to Amazon and Apple, they have disrupted many industries, from travel to retail and music. The basic concept of a multi-sided business platform has been well described by G. Parker et. al. in Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets Are Transforming the Economy. The platform provides the infrastructure (e.g. an appstore) and brings together producers and consumers. The producers are creating the platform content (e.g. apps in the appstore), while the consumers are buying or using it (e.g. by downloading apps to their smart phones).

AIoT-enabled platforms interact with physical assets which can be owned by other companies. For example, platforms like Caruso are integrating vehicle data from multiple OEMs and making it accessible to their customers. In the case of a car app store, the platform owner can also be the manufacturer of the cars. Even if the cars are sold and not any longer on the OEMs balance sheet, he will still operate the car fleet backend, which includes the app store.

Example: Parking Spot Detection (Multi-Sided Business Platform)

This is an example of a multi-sided business platform enabled by AIoT: cars equipped with ultra-sound sensors can detect available parking spots as they are passing by them. This data is collected in a centralized platform and monetized, e.g. via a find-a-free-parking-spot app. Multiple OEMs might provide parking data to the platform operator, which integrates, consolidates and markets the data.