Qualitative indicators for smart city business models: The case of mobile services and applications

• We present new qualitative indicators for mobile service business models.
• We present a definition of Smart Cities.
• We present a new mobile service business model framework for public actors.
• We present a simplified business model grid.
• We analyse ten cases from the mobile city services domain.

This article introduces a theoretical framework for the analysis of business models that involve public actors, and city governments in particular, in the value network. It starts from an established business model framework and expands it to include an additional set of indicators required to successfully perform a qualitative analysis of the business models of new (digital) services offered by cities. It then applies this framework to several divergent cases from the mobile services sector in which city governments are involved as part of their efforts in becoming “smarter cities”. By weighing the indicators for each case study, we can create a grid that allows for their direct comparison and gives an indication of diverging strategies. The newly introduced structured framework and its qualitative indicators are the main contribution of this work and can be used to set out or evaluate smart city strategies on a meso-level, as part of a broader policy exercise within cities.