We analyze and compare fixed-fee and usage-fee software pricing schemes - in fixed-fee pricing, all users pay the same price; in usage-fee pricing, the users' fees depend on the amount that they use the software (e.g., the user of an online-database service might be charged for each data query)....

The introduction of product upgrades in a competitive environment is commonly observed in the software industry. When introducing a new product, a software vendor may employ behavior-based price discrimination (BBPD) by offering a discount over its market price to entice existing customers of...

The computer software industry is an extreme example of rapid new product introduction. However, many consumers are sophisticated enough to anticipate the availability of upgrades in the future. This creates the possibility that consumers might either postpone purchase or buy early on and never...

In this paper, we model competition between two software product vendors, an incumbent and entrant, with specific focus on the role of switching costs. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we find that under certain conditions the switching costs imposed by the incumbent's product could actually...

Upgrades are endemic in the software industry and create the possibility that customers might either postpone purchase or buy early on and never upgrade: When will a customer upgrade? Is it better to upgrade now or to wait for an improved version? When should we release an improved product? How...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Get Us PPE provided a platform aimed at connecting prospective donors of personal protective equipment (PPE) to prospective recipients of PPE. Requests by donors and recipients were collected over time, and periodically, the PPE matching problem was solved in order...