Three Winning AI Strategies
Mobile data on AI assistants (2023-2025) show three strategies coexisting and growing: scale, adjacency and premium specialisation.
Summary
Using global mobile app usage data through December 2025, the study finds very uneven user share (ChatGPT 78.4% of mobile daily active users, Gemini 12.5%, Claude 0.5%) but very different revenue per user (Claude roughly 3x ChatGPT and over 40x Gemini). The authors read this as three coexisting strategies: scale (ChatGPT), adjacency/ecosystem (Gemini) and premium specialisation (Claude). Across 15 major model launches (May 2023 to December 2025) the launcher's usage rose about 7% on average while competitors' barely moved (about -0.1%), so launches expanded the market rather than redistributing it. Managers should pick the strategy their distribution, economics and customers can sustain.
Editor's opinion
In AI assistants, market share and value capture have come apart. The leader on users earns a fraction of what the smallest, premium-positioned player earns per user, and product launches grow the pie for the launcher without visibly hurting rivals. The strategic question is which of three positions a firm can credibly sustain (scale, ecosystem or premium), not how to overtake the share leader.
Key concepts
AI assistants · winner-take-all · strategy archetypes · competitive dynamics