Invisible Engines

It is about software and the impact of software platforms on economy and how they create multi-sided markets.

Think of software platforms as ring leaders of ecosystems in which a few or many companies can participate to reach users.

multi-sided markets as platforms that serve two or more distinct groups of customers who value each other’s participation. Examples: EBay provides markets for both buyers and sellers, dating club clients are both men and women, shopping malls serve both retailers and shoppers, and operating system companies need both end-users and application developers. Increasingly, thanks in large part to technology and the Internet, multi-sided markets are becoming more common.

An interesting article on How Software Platforms Revolutionize Business.