Author Description

This book examines the current massive changes in the software product industry on the basis of business model changes affecting six software products, and proposes a generic framework for business model innovation. Due to the combined effects of globalization, new market expectations and IT consumerization, the software industry has been experiencing a period of fundamental and rapid change. Achieving agility and the ability to innovate has now become vital, thus forcing organizations to create immense potential for innovating their business models. Proprietary and open source software (OSS) licensing represent the two extreme ends of the spectrum that could be used to build the business model of a software product. Given the changed face of the software product industry, successful software product vendors are innovating their business models by adopting a variety of combinations of these unilateral and new business models. However, these innovations also pose a number of challenges. The book examines these challenges in the context of several software product case studies in which companies successfully (or in some cases, less successfully) met these challenges and changed their business models. Focusing on the major issues related to business models in the software product industry, the book is targeted for a variety of readers: software entrepreneurs/start-ups, software product industry professionals, academics and students. Though the industry and technologies are changing rapidly, the issues addressed here are fundamental and will remain important ones for the foreseeable future.