This Master's degree thesis deals with a specific area of creative industries: development of mobile applications. The aim is to identify and understand the work routines of Czech iOS developers while considering the importance of design as one of the benchmarks of mobile application quality on the Apple App Store. I mainly focus on mapping work routines of selected developers and their thinking about design in the context of Apple devices and iOS platform, assuming that Apple establishes a high standard of visual and functional qualities. I am addressing an issue of application usability not only in terms of design of the user interface, but also its functioning and more aspects of application development within the ecosystem of Czech mobile app industry. The theoretical part of my thesis subjectively describes fundamental concepts from the mobile app development field and theories related to the topic. Empirical part of the study is based on qualitative interviews with 9 Czech mobile app developers and following thematic analysis. This study can serve as an interesting resource of understanding of the work of Czech mobile app developers, how they think about design and Apple as a platform or as a solid foundation for further quantitative investigation to confirm or revise my findings.

Application mobile devient un canal important de l'accès internet mobile. Trois groupes d'utilisateurs finaux affiliés avec deux plates-formes bifaces sur le marché d'applications mobiles ont attiré une attention considérable. App store (App-store) est une plate-forme de distribution de l'application connectée avec les développeurs et les utilisateurs. Plateforme de publicitaire (Ad-store) fournit des services de publicité pour les annonceurs grâce à des applications de développeurs. Sur ce marché, les développeurs, les annonceurs et les utilisateurs sont trois groupes d'utilisateurs finaux. Le marché de l'application mobile est un marché biface compliqué. Il y a des externalités de réseau étendues et interactives. L’étude se concentre sur les stratégies de tarification pour la plate-forme App-store. L'App-store et Ad-store sont les deux plates-formes bifaces. L’App-store partage les revenus des ventes d'applications avec les développeurs. L'Ad-store partage les revenus publicitaires avec les développeurs. La plate-forme App-store met en oeuvre la tarification asymétrique côté développeur et côté utilisateur. Côté développeur est le côté de la subvention ainsi que du côté des recettes pour la plateforme App-store. Le cout d'achat de l'appareil mobile est une déterminante particulière de tarification. Les redevances d'adhésion sont négligeables dans ce marché et les redevances d'utilisation sont réalisables. C'est un duopole sur le marché des applications mobiles. Le modèle des ventes d'appareils mobiles d'Apple et le modèle d'in-app publicité de Google sont extrêmement réussis. App-store, Ad-store et les appareils mobiles sont les trois points de génération de profits. / Mobile app is becoming an important mobile internet access channel. Three groups of end users affiliated with two Two-sided platforms in the mobile app market have attracted considerable attention. App store platform (App-store) is an app distribution platform connected with developers and users. App ad platform (Ad-store) supplies advertising services for advertisers through developers’ apps. Developers, users and advertisers are end users. Mobile app market is a complicated two-sided market. There are widespread and interactive network externalities. The study focuses on the pricing strategies for the app store platform. App-store shares paid app sales and in-app purchase revenues with developers. Ad-store shares in-app advertising revenues with developers. The App-store platform implements asymmetric pricing to developer side and user side. Developer side is the subsidy side as well as the revenue side for App-store platform. Mobile device purchasing cost constitutes a particular App-store platform pricing determinant. Membership fees are negligible in the mobile app market. Usage fee is workable. It is a duopoly in the mobile app market. Apple and Google are the two giants with distinct business models. Both Apple’s mobile device sales model and Google’s in-app advertising model are extremely successful. App-store, Ad-store and mobile devices are the three key profit makers in this market. Vertical integration inside this ecosystem will generate considerable revenues. Chinese users have higher price elasticity of demand and they are particularly sensitive to the app prices when compared with the French.