Introduction: Advancing understanding of mobile applications in marketing

This special issue of JBR includes seven articles about mobile applications in marketing that were selected through a blind review process. Topics include the relationship between pricing of app downloads and in-app purchases, the effects of developers switching between paid and free download pricing, how embedded sounds in apps affect behavioral intentions, motivations for use of branded apps, factors influencing the effect of mobile “check-ins” to retail locations on shopper satisfaction, how physical proximity to—and social tie strength with—others affect reactions to mobile promotions, and drivers of app downloads. Methods employed in these studies are diverse and include empirical modeling, natural field experiments, experiments, and surveys.