Business Models for M-Services: Exploring the E-Newspaper Case from a Consumer View

Abstract

This article presents the consumer view of an innovative m-service, that is, the e-newspaper, which is published for a mobile reading device equipped with an e-paper display. The research question of this article is: What are the implications of the consumer view of future m-service innovation on business models? In this article, we present empirical results from an online survey with 3,626 respondents representing the consumer view. The factor analysis revealed three aspects of consumer preferences, that is, Ubiquitous access, Prestige of news source and Local anchorage and advertising. These were then correlated with media behavior and e-newspaper preferences to indicate three possible market segments. We then discuss the implications that these consumer views could have on developing new business models, followed by a comparison to earlier research. Finally, we propose an integrated e-newspaper business model framework consisting of three models, ubiquitous, local, and prestige.