The increasing use of mobile applications (apps) has turned data harvesting, mining, and distribution into commercial as well as functional backbones of mobile communication. Acknowledging that contemporary markets for mobile communication are increasingly datafied, this article maps and discusses how infrastructures for mobile datafication are controlled. It combines perspectives from critical data studies, political economy of communication, and app studies in an empirical analysis of the 500 most downloaded apps in the Google Play store (November 2020). Focusing on control over and ownership in the three interdependent markets for apps, data accesses, and third-party services, the analysis documents, confirms, and explains established power structures and sheds light on the mobile datafication processes that frame the use of apps and commodification of users. As such, it provides an empirical baseline for future monitoring, and ultimately regulation, of mobile app ecosystems.

移动应用程序 (app) 的日益普及已将数据收集、挖掘和分发转变为移动通信的商业和功能骨干。认识到当代移动通信市场越来越数据化，本文绘制并讨论了如何控制移动数据化的基础设施。它结合了关键数据研究、传播政治经济学和应用研究的观点，对 Google Play 商店（2020 年 11 月）中下载次数最多的 500 个应用进行了实证分析。分析文件着重于对应用程序、数据访问和第三方服务这三个相互依赖的市场的控制权和所有权，确认，并解释了既定的权力结构，并阐明了构成应用程序使用和用户商品化的移动数据化流程。因此，它为移动应用生态系统的未来监控和最终监管提供了经验基准。