The mobile market is frequently described as an ecosystem where powerful companies
generate value from continuously harvesting and distributing data. In this article, we
advance the ecological metaphor through both theoretical conceptualizations and
empirical explorations of the contemporary app ecosystem. We thereby contribute to the
emergent field of app studies by critically scrutinizing the political economy of mobile
communication. The article identifies the prime infrastructural resources that ground appbased communication (devices, operating systems, app stores, apps, third-party services,
and data accesses) and their ownership structures to discuss how power is obtained,
exercised, and amplified in the app ecosystem. To illustrate the value of the theoretical
approach, we provide a critical asset analysis of Google LLC (Alphabet, Inc.) and discuss
its position as an invasive species in the app ecosystem.