The trillion-dollar platform(s) in your pocket: who really owns your smartphone?

The smartphone is the most successful consumer device in history, and of course it is also one of the most addictive. We spend on average well over 5 hours a day on our smartphones. And it’s no exaggeration to say that the global digital economy is entirely dependent on us spending as much time as possible on the device we have with us wherever we go. From day one smartphones were designed for digital platform monopolies; the business model of building digital services that reach consumers directly, but where they are also the gatekeeper for all other products and services trying to reach the same market. This model gives digital platforms unrivalled power to control markets, to maximise their profits, and to reduce consumer choice. From day one smartphones were designed for digital platform monopolies; the business model of building digital services that reach consumers directly, but where they are also the gatekeeper for all other products and services trying to reach the same market. This model gives digital platforms unrivalled power to control markets, to maximise their profits, and to reduce consumer choice. In this workshop we’ll take apart the smartphone to show why – and how - it is so central to the digital platform economy. We’ll explain exactly how mobile platforms work to extract our data and maximise their market power: We’ll take a detailed look at app “Manifests”; the hidden agreements between developers and mobile platforms that starkly reveal what data can be extracted with and without our knowledge or consent We’ll show what data is collected and how it used in the murky, under-regulated, but astonishingly lucrative world of programmatic advertising. We’ll also explore mobile “SDK”s, the powerful toolkits produced by the tech giants that define how apps talk to devices., and are In effect digital platforms in their own right, albeit platforms hidden from view. Finally we’ll consider recent developments in privacy regulation, why the tech giants are frantically trying to re-invent themselves as privacy champions, and whether we should believe them. This workshop will be hands on and requires no technical knowledge, other than a healthy curiosity in the digital tech in your pocket. The only thing you need to bring is your own mobile phone. (But if you don’t own one, please be assured, you’ll be especially welcome!)