The Internet and its "Information Rules" has dramatically influenced how many industries co-operate and exchange goods and services today. It has changed our thinking about feasible business models. It is disrupting major industries such as the media business. Old industry giants (such as publishing houses) are trying to find their way around in this new era of commerce and attempt to fight off young competitors. The newbies that rapidly grew to dominate the IT industry (i.e. Amazon, Google, Apple, etc.) are fiercely competing with each other, merging rapidly on and off their core competencies. For example, Google starts to sell its own operating system and even phones (Android, Motorola), Apple becomes an application service provider,Amazon sells Labor (Amazon Turk) and Cloud Computing Services.

After attending this course, students will have learned about the particular dynamics underlying Internet Economics, including Price Differentiation, Switching Cost and Lock-in, Supply-side economics in hightech markets (and winner-takes-all phenomena), Network effects, Standardization dynamics, Free business models and their importance in 2-sided markets, Revenue sharing and new forms of contract.