Personal Info The Education System - 1198 Words

Personal Info: I became interested in Education in a Diverse Society because I enjoy diversity and how different people can come together to work or learn as one unit. Volunteering with children is what made me interested in education. Even though I have no plans in becoming a teacher, I would like to keep volunteering at schools and other events such as camps because I enjoy helping children develop their minds and learn various aspects that pertain to life. Attending school in America my whole life and knowing the ins and outs of the system and studying other international systems made me realize the immense differences in the education systems around the world from American school systems. These differences range from student-teacher†¦show more content†¦The punishment system could involve being detained after class, minimizing class activity time, negative points and letters to parents. I feel that students need to be kept in check at all times and that the reward and punishment system s would help the students stay on track because they would want to receive the reward and try to stay away from the punishment. The subjects in school that should be offered to students are several levels of math and science courses, philosophy, language arts including an intensive writing class, mandatory foreign language classes with a range of language preferences and electives such as art, theater, music/voice lessons and other creative forms of expression. Also schools should have a mandatory fitness class, ethics classes and optional cooking classes or other various electives. I believe these classes are a good balance to the student and would provide an enriching and rewarding learning experience. Each school has a different set of needs for their students. These needs may change due to socio-economic levels of the students in that school, whether the school has children with disabilities and many other factors. Therefore I believe that the principal if the school and the school heads should give the teachers the flexibility between what books they want to use and how to set up the classrooms. The school board of directors and the

Essay on Descartes Proof For The Existence Of God

Descartes Proof for the Existence of God The purpose of my essay will be to examine Descartes’ argument for the existence of God. First, I will review Descartes’ proof for the existence of God. Then I will examine the reasons that Descartes has for proving God’s existence. I will also discuss some consequences that appear as a result of God’s existence. Finally, I will point out some complications and problems that exist within the proof. The basic problem with most religions in the world has always been that they presuppose faith; that is one cannot be reasoned into believing in a religion, if such was not the case then we would have seen a huge migration to one religion or another. In any given religion, the main proof of God’s†¦show more content†¦That is to say that an idea cannot originate without a cause. The ideas can be less perfect than their cause, but they cannot be more perfect. He also explains that those ideas in us that apparently do not have formal reality, such as a mermaid, are merely combinations of other formal realities- in this case a woman and a mermaid -- and thus do not invalidate the rule. Descartes also explains the difference between being an idea and being merely an opposite of an idea. He uses heat and cold as his example; whereas heat is an idea, cold is simply non-existence of heat. That is a very important idea that he uses in his argument to exclude a potential critique of his argument. Descartes, after establishing his rules, explains that he knows that he is not perfect. He knows that because he doubts, and he can clearly see that knowing is more perfect than doubting. From that he determines that within him lies this idea of a perfect being, and that he is unable to come to such an idea by himself. Descartes concludes that such an idea must have a formal reality, a cause. This cause, he explains, could not have originated from a less perfect reality or being, since he has already established that ideas can be less perfect than their cause but never more perfect. He then determines that this idea could not have been composed of several ideas or causesShow MoreRelatedDescartes Proof Of The Existence Of God1609 Words   |  7 PagesOne of the most important ideas upon which Descartes’s proof of the existence of God rests is that rational minds face constraints. While God is the absolute infinite, humans and other beings exist with limitations on their actio ns. One of these limitations is human intellect, which Descartes names as one component of the cause of our tendency toward error as humans. The finite nature of human intellect, he argues, combines with an infinite will which causes us to seek an understanding of phenomenaRead MoreDescartes Proof for the Existence of God Essay3414 Words   |  14 PagesDescartes Proof for the Existence of God Many readers follow Descartes with fascination and pleasure as he descends into the pit of skepticism in the first two Meditations, defeats the skeptics by finding the a version of the cogito, his nature, and that of bodies, only to find them selves baffled and repulsed when they come to his proof for the existence of God in Meditation III. In large measure this change of attitude results from a number of factors. One is that the proof is complicatedRead MoreDescartes Proof for the Existence of God Essay example1562 Words   |  7 PagesDescartes Proof for the Existence of God The purpose of my essay will be to examine Descartes argument for the existence of God. First, I will review Descartes proof for the existence of God. Then I will examine the reasons that Descartes has for proving Gods existence. I will also discuss some consequences that appear as a result of Gods existence. Finally, I will point out some complications and problems that exist within the proof. The basic problem with most religions inRead MoreDescartes First Proof of The Existence of God Essays1407 Words   |  6 PagesThe 17th century philosopher Rene Descartes believed that God exists. His proof of an all perfect being’s existence was explained by having an idea of God that had to have been caused by God. But simply having an idea of God is not enough for there to necessarily exist such a being. This paper will critically examine Descartes’s causal argument though its premises and conclusion. Descartes makes an attempt to prove God’s existence throughout his third meditation. In his first premise he statesRead MoreComparing Socrates And Descartes On The Proof Of Existence Of God1759 Words   |  8 PagesComparison between Socrates and Descartes on the proof of existence of God. Socrates is who established ancient philosophy with Plato and Aristotle. His philosophy effects Western system of philosophy. He was born BC 470 in Athens and his father was a sculptor and his mother was midwife. He focuses teaching other people that philosophical argument in his life. He doesn’t want material for teaching because he doesn’t have material greed. His goals are verifying the oracle, question our belief, andRead MoreDescartes Proof of the Existence of God in Meditation Three Essay1026 Words   |  5 PagesDescartes Proof of the Existence of God in Meditation Three This paper is intended to explain and evaluate Descartes proof for the existence of god in Meditation Three. It shall show the weaknesses in the proof, but also give credit to the strengths in his proof. It will give a background of what Descartes has already accepted as what he truly knows. The paper will also state Descartes two major points for the existence of God and why the points can easily be proven false. The paper willRead More Descartes Third Meditation: Proof of Gods Existence Essay1370 Words   |  6 Pages Descartes Third Meditation: Proof of Gods Existence In Rene Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes is seeking to find a system of stable, lasting and certain knowledge, which he can ultimately regard as the Truth. In his methodical quest to carry out his task, Descartes eventually arrives at the proverbial fork in the road: how to bridge the knowledge of self with that of the rest of the world. Descartesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ answer to this is to prove the existence of God. The purpose of this essayRead MoreDiscourse on Descartes Skeptical Method1672 Words   |  7 PagesSebastian Gumina Paper Topic #1 Descartes’ Skeptical Method Descartes’ method offers definitive conclusions on certain topics, (his existence, the existence of God)but his reasoning is not without error. He uses three arguments to prove existence (His and God’s) that attempt to solidify his conclusions. For his method to function seamlessly, Descartes needs to be consistent in his use of the method, that is, he must continue to doubt and challenge thoughts that originate in his ownRead MoreEssay about A Very Brief History on the Existence of God 1202 Words   |  5 PagesThe subsequent essay will provide a brief overview on the existence of God from Renà © Descartes through Immanuel Kant. First, section (1), examines Descartes’ proof for the existence of God. Section (2), explores G.W. Leibniz’s view on God’s existence in addition to his attempts to rectify the shortcomings of Descartes’ proofs. Before continuing, it is imperative to understand that both Descartes and Leibniz believed that th e existence of God could be proved via reason. The remainder of the essayRead MoreDescartes: Proofs of God/Deception and Error Essay1093 Words   |  5 PagesDescartes: Proofs of God/Deception and Error Instructions: First: Analyze and evaluate the two proofs of Gods existence. How are they different? Is one more convincing than the other? Why did Descartes think he needed two proofs? Do they do different work for him? And secondly: Does Descartes give a satisfactory account of human error, given a perfect and divine creator? Are Descartes arguments convincing, or does it still seem unnecessary and less than perfect that God created us with

Apple Case Study 1 Free Essays

Apple Table of Contents: I. Introduction II. Opening Case III. We will write a custom essay sample on Apple Case Study 1 or any similar topic only for you Order Now Competitor Analysis IV. Sales Analysis V. Profitability Analysis VI. Cross Elasticity of Demand: Competitors v/s iPhone VII. Demand, Cost and Pricing VIII. Pure competition, Monopolistic Competition Oligopoly IX. Conclusion X. References I. Introduction Apple Inc. (Apple) designs, manufactures and markets a range of personal computers, mobile communication and media devices, and portable digital music players, and sells a range of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. It’s products and services include Macintosh (Mac) computers, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, Xserve, a portfolio of consumer and professional software applications, the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems, third-party digital content and applications through the iTunes Store, and a range of accessory, service and support offerings. The Company sells its products globally through its retail stores, online stores, and direct sales force and third-party cellular network carriers, wholesalers, retailers, and value-added resellers. As of September 25, 2010, the Company had opened a total of 317 retail stores, including 233 stores in the United States and 84 stores internationally. II. Opening Case: Apple reveals the iPhone MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO—January 9, 2007—Apple ® today introduced iPhone, combining three products—a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod ® with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, searching and maps—into one small and lightweight handheld device. Phone introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting users control iPhone with just their fingers. iPhone also ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, which completely redefines what users can do on their mobile phones. â€Å"iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobi le phone,† said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. We are all born with the ultimate pointing device—our fingers—and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse. † iPhone is a Revolutionary Mobile Phone iPhone is a revolutionary new mobile phone that allows users to make calls by simply pointing at a name or number. iPhone syncs all of your contacts from your PC, Mac ® or Internet service such as Yahoo! , so that you always have your full list of up-to-date contacts with you. In addition, you can easily construct a favorites list for your most frequently made calls, and easily merge calls together to create conference calls. iPhone’s pioneering Visual Voicemail, an industry first, lets users look at a listing of their voicemails, decide which messages to listen to, then go directly to those messages without listening to the prior messages. Just like email, iPhone’s Visual Voicemail enables users to immediately randomly access those messages that interest them most. Phone includes an SMS application with a full QWERTY soft keyboard to easily send and receive SMS messages in multiple sessions. When users need to type, iPhone presents them with an elegant touch keyboard which is predictive to prevent and correct mistakes, making it much easier and more efficient to use than the small plastic keyboards on many smartphones. iPhone also includes a calendar application that allows calendars to be automatically synced with your PC or Mac. iPhone fea tures a 2 megapixel camera and a photo management application that is far beyond anything on a phone today. Users can browse their photo library, which can be easily synced from their PC or Mac, with just a flick of a finger and easily choose a photo for their wallpaper or to include in an email. iPhone is a quad-band GSM phone which also features EDGE and Wi-Fi wireless technologies for data networking. Apple has chosen Cingular, the best and most popular carrier in the US with over 58 million subscribers, to be Apple’s exclusive carrier partner for iPhone in the US. iPhone is a Widescreen iPod Phone is a widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets music lovers â€Å"touch† their music by easily scrolling through entire lists of songs, artists, albums and playlists with just a flick of a finger. Album artwork is stunningly presented on iPhone’s large and vibrant display. iPhone also features Cover Flow, Apple’s amazing way to browse your music library by album cover artwork, for the first time on an iPod. When navigating your music library on iPhone, you are automatically switched into Cover Flow by simply rotating iPhone into its landscape position. Phone’s stunning 3. 5-inch widescreen display offers the ultimate way to watch TV shows and movies on a pocketable device, with touch controls for play-pause, chapter forward-backward and volume. iPhone plays the same videos purchased from the online iTunes ® Store that users enjoy watching on their computers and iPods, and will soon enjoy watching on their widescreen televisions using the new Apple TVâ„ ¢. The iTunes Store now offers over 350 television shows, over 250 feature films and over 5,000 music videos. Phone lets users enjoy all their iPod content, including music, audiobooks, audio podcasts, video podcasts, music videos, television shows and movies. iPhone syncs content from a user’s iTunes library on their PC or Mac, and can play any music or video content they have purchased from the online iTunes store. iPhone is a Breakthrough Internet Communications Device iPhone features a rich HTML email client which fetches your email in the background from most POP3 or IMAP mail services and displays photos and graphics right along with the text. Phone is fully multi-tasking, so you can be reading a web page while downloading your email in the background. Yahoo! Mail, the world’s largest email service with over 250 million users, is offering a new free â€Å"push† IMAP email service to all iPhone users that automatically pushes new email to a user’s iPhone, and can be set up by simply entering your Yahoo! name and password. iPhone will also work with most industry standard IMAP and POP based email services, such as Microsoft Exchange, Apple . Mac Mail, AOL Mail, Google Gmail and most ISP mail services. iPhone also features the most advanced and fun-to-use web browser on a portable device with a version of its award-winning Safariâ„ ¢ web browser for iPhone. Users can see any web page the way it was designed to be seen, and then easily zoom in to expand any section by simply tapping on iPhone’s multi-touch display with their finger. Users can surf the web from just about anywhere over Wi-Fi or EDGE, and can automatically sync their bookmarks from their PC or Mac. Phone’s Safari web browser also includes built-in Google Search and Yahoo! Search so users can instantly search for information on their iPhone just like they do on their computer. iPhone also includes Google Maps, featuring Google’s groundbreaking maps service and iPhone’s amazing maps application, offering the best maps experience by far on any pocket device. Users can view maps, satellite images, traffic information and get direct ions, all from iPhone’s remarkable and easy-to-use touch interface. iPhone’s Advanced Sensors Phone employs advanced built-in sensors—an accelerometer, a proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor—that automatically enhance the user experience and extend battery life. iPhone’s built-in accelerometer detects when the user has rotated the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display accordingly, with users immediately seeing the entire width of a web page, or a photo in its proper landscape aspect ratio. iPhone’s built-in proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away. Phone’s built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display’s brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time. Pricing ; Availability iPhone will be available in the US in June 2007, Europe in late 2007, and Asia in 2008, in a 4GB model for $499 (US) and an 8GB model for $599 (US), and will work with either a PC or Mac. iPhone will be sold in the US through Apple’s retail and online stores, and through Cingular’s retail and online stores. Several iPhone accessories will also be available in June, including Apple’s new remarkably compact Bluetooth headset. iPhone includes support for quad-band GSM, EDGE, 802. 11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2. 0 EDR wireless technologies. iPhone requires a Mac with a USB 2. 0 port, Mac OS ® X v10. 4. 8 or later and iTunes 7; or a Windows PC with a USB 2. 0 port and Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4), Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2). Internet access is required and a broadband connection is recommended. Apple and Cingular will announce service plans for iPhone before it begins shipping in June. III. Competitor Analysis Market Share by OS Nokia still has a third of the overall mobile phone market. The average selling price of a Nokia Smartphone fell by 21% from 2009. Nokia is selling plenty of devices, but they are at the cheap end of the market. They lost what some in the industry refer to as â€Å"mindshare† to Apple’s iPhone and the Google Android mobile software platform. Nokia wants to sell services – music, maps, and applications – as well as hardware but high-end phone users are looking elsewhere. The company says a new family of Smartphone’s, led by the N8 released in 2010, will revive its fortunes at the top end of the market. Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop was forced to abandon the mobile phone giant’s in September 2010. The news that the Finnish firm might only break even in the second quarter of this year slashed 25 per cent off its value in 24 hours. Mobile phone manufacturer Nokia has announced it will shed 7,000 jobs from next year as part of a plan to refocus the company on Smartphone. The Finnish firm is moving from Symbian to Microsoft’s Smartphone technology. The firm recently confirmed the deal with Microsoft last week to jointly develop Smartphone technology, which will cut costs by about 1bn Euros a year. Under the terms of that deal, Nokia agreed to start using the Microsoft’s operating system on its Smartphone instead of its own Symbian platform. Nokia’s response to the Smartphone threat from competitors such as Apple’s iPhone and phones using Google’s Android system has been long been a key investor concern. Prior to the iPhone, Nokia was the king of mobile handsets. Now its share of the Smartphone market has plunged from 47 per cent to 27 per cent. It has also lost its ranking as the largest handset maker in terms of revenue to Apple. Android When Google decided to get into the Smartphone business it decided that Android devices would be everything that the iPhone was not. Apple one or two handsets, Google on the other hand was laying out a great number of handsets. Manufacturers such as HTC, LG and Motorola could use the new operating system for free. It enabled Google to have phones for every section of the market – high powered and pricey, cheap and practical. Android’s real selling point would be the apps. Here too, the policy was one of openness. Apple controlled its App store controlling every submission and rejecting those that contravened its rules. For Android anyone who had written an app could upload it. At first, users and app developers welcomed the free-and-easy approach. However, some have begun to question if Google’s policy for the apps is the best way to manage the Market. Three years after its launch, hardware sales are booming. Yet sales of Android apps remain relatively poor. Estimates of Apple’s App store in 2010 were ? 1. billion. Android Market managed just ? 62 million. The figure was lower than both Blackberry App World (? 100m) and Nokia’s Ovi store (? 64m). Research predicts massive improvements for Android by this time 2012 but it is still expected to lag far behind iOS. Finally Android’s market share grew to surpass the Symbian platform used by Nokia making it the most sold Smartphone Microsoft Microsoft market share is declining in the Smartphone platform market. Windows Phone 7 lacks a number of features despite the innovation of its user interface. Microsoft hopes to gain market share once Nokia Windows Phones and its wide-ranging â€Å"Mango† software update get released later in 2011. Microsoft has unveiled the first major update to its Windows Phone 7 operating system it launched in 2010. The update, codenamed Mango, intdoduces more than 500 changes. Microsoft’s attempts to break into the Smartphone race have been mediocre at best. Currently, the company controls less than 4% of the market. Despite this, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform is forecasted to beat Android in 2013. Microsoft introduced Pocket PC in 2000, followed by Windows Mobile in 2003, prior to Apple and Android’s release. However it still failed to compete in the market, or rival Symbian who controlled nearly 90% of the market share. Microsoft lacked the features and compatibility that Symbian was featuring at the time, and as a result, consumers refused to recognize its product or give Microsoft the opportunity to be a contender in the Smartphone industry. The platform was notoriously sluggish and the most difficult of any platform to use. Microsoft tried to solve some of these issues with minor tweaks and software updates over the years to little or no avail. As Windows Mobile market shares continued to decline, Microsoft had no other option than to overhaul the Microsoft platform and launch Windows Phone 7 in 2010. Windows Phone 7 was much improved. But Microsoft still failed to take control of the market, or garner any real significant attention from consumers. RIM Research In Motion has given up more ground to Apple and Google in the hypercompetitive Smartphone market, a report shows, while two brokerages cut their price targets for the BlackBerry maker on concerns it can no longer keep pace. The latest figures dropped RIM from second to third place. The Canadian company’s struggle to compete is unlikely to get any easier, with Apple’s upcoming iCloud service expected to hurt RIM. IV. Sales Analysis Apple  produced some stellar results: revenues up 48% year-on-year to $13. 5bn, and profits up. The process is confused because  Apple has begun restating its year-ago earnings, to take into account the fact that it now recognizes income and revenue from subscription-based products such as the  iPhone(which may be sold on an 18-month contract) as soon as it gets it, rather than deferring it over the life of the device/contract as it used to. It began doing that in the most recent quarter, covering Christmas, which – confusingly – is the first quarter of its financial year. So previously, the second-quarter revenues were $8. 16bn, not the newly-restated $9. 08bn; the profits were $1. 21bn, not the now-given figure of $1. 62bn. The numbers also don’t include the iPad, because the quarter ended on March 31 – the iPad was launched three days later. According to MacJournals, which chewed over the numbers, â€Å"At $5. 445 billion, iPhone sales accounted for 40% of Apple’s revenue. All Mac sales were 28%, all  iPod/Music sales were 24%. Mac sales are 2. 943m units, generating revenue of $3. 76bn – which Apple says was 33% year-on-year growth, compared to market growth of 24%. The company’s market share of mobile subscribers has also taken a deep plunge. Market research firm comScore says that between October and January, Microsoft’s share of the market fell from 19. 7% to 15. 7%. RIM, the maker of the BlackBerry, remained the leader, growing from 41. 3% to 43%. Apple ‘s iPhone increased slightly, from 24. 8% to 25. 1%, and Google’s Android grew by more than 250%, going from 2. 8% to 7. An interesting analysis comes from Tomi Ahonen, a former Nokia executive. â€Å"I am writing the first history of the once-iconic iPhone, written now in early April 2010, before Apple has released its first quarter earnings for 2010. This is literally the peak of the short reign that Apple’s iPhone had as the most emulated Smartphone. [†¦] And mark my words, the numbers are now very clear, Apple’s market share peak among smartphones, and among all handsets, on an annual basis, is being witnessed now. † V. Profitability Analysis Apple reported in the second quarter of 2011 that net income rose 95 percent, to $5. 9 billion, or $6. 40 a share, from $3. 07 billion, or $3. 33 a share, in 2010. Revenue climbed 83 percent, to $24. 67 billion, from $13. 5 billion. The profit margin in 2011 is 22. 36% of the sales which is an improvement over the level the company achieved in 2010. The company’s return of equity is 38. 78% while in 2010 it was 26. 2% which means that there is a 12. 58% increase on the return of equity. The gross margin is 39. 07% which is slightly better than the company achieved in 2010. VI. Cross Elasticity of Demand: Competitors V/s iPhone When the iphone 3GS was released on July 11, 2008 it cost $199 with the AT;T two year contract. In January 2011 Apple cut the iphone 3GS price to $50. cross-price elasticity of demand = % ? in demand for product A% ? in price for product B %? in price for iphone: Price of Iphone 3GS, 2010 + Price of Iphone 3GS, 2011? Price of Iphone = 199 + 5050-199 = -1. 671% With the Market share OS table above we can compute the % ? I demand for prodct competing with the iphone. %? in demand for Symbian = Symbian market share of Q1 2011 – Symbian market share of 2010 = 27. 4% – 37. 6% = -8. % Symbian-iphone cross-price elasticity of demand = % ? in demand for Symbian% ? in price for Iphone = -8. 6%-1. 671% = 5. 146 %? in demand for Android = Android market share of Q1 2011 – Android market share of 2010 = 36% – 22. 7% = 13. 3% Android -iphone cross-price elasticity of demand = % ? in demand for Android% ? in price for Iphone = 13. 3%-1. 671% = -7. 959 %? in demand for R IM = RIM market share of Q1 2011 – RIM market share of 2010 = 12. 9% – 16. 0% = -3. 1% RIM -iphone cross-price elasticity of demand = % ? in demand for RIM% ? in price for Iphone = -3. 1%-1. 671% = 1. 855 ? in demand for Microsoft = Microsoft market share of Q1 2011 – Microsoft market share of 2010 = 3. 6% – 4. 2% = -0. 6% Microsoft -iphone cross-price elasticity of demand = % ? in demand for Microsoft % ? in price for Iphone = -0. 6%-1. 671% = 0. 359 The price elasticity of demand is the responsiveness of quantity demanded by a change of 1 percent in price. It is calculated by dividing the percentage change in the demanded quantity by the corresponding percentage change in price. The iPhone was launched in the US roughly at the beginning of the second Quarter 2008, at a price of $599. In mid September Apple reduced the price for the iPhone by 33% from $599 to $434. According to the quarterly reports, Apple sold 270 000 iPhones in the second quarter and 1,119 000 iPhones in the third quarter. If calculated according to the equation for price elasticity of demand, the iPhone would have a price elasticity of 4. 7, which means that Apple would lose almost 4. 7 percent of iPhone sales for each corresponding 1 percent increase in price. Since elasticity is greater than 1 the price is inelastic so the iPhone is a luxury commodity. Many consumers wait until increased competition forces Apple to decrease prices. VII. Demand, Cost ; Pricing Demand Apple’s iPhone Supply and Demand Concept of Supply and Demand There is a general rule in economics that if the price of a certain good or service rises, then the demand for such good or service declines. If the price decreases, then potential demand also increases (inverse relationship). On the supply side, if the price of a good or service increases, then firms will be willing to supply the market with higher volume of such good or service. If the price decreases, then firms will cut their supply of the good or service (positive relationship. The market then adjusts the price of the good or service in order to satisfy both the consumers and the suppliers. This is called market equilibrium. Apple iPhone Demand Last July, Apple iPhone was able to outsell all smart phones in the United States. It almost equaled the sales of the most popular feature phone (LG chocolate), giving it a relatively stable position in the market. New Apple handset models accounted for almost 1 . of all phone handset sales in the US for about a month. It was estimated that the demand for Apple iPhone was rising at7 . 2 a month, equivalent to about 5 million units of quantity demanded. The market research firm iSuppli noted â€Å"This is a remarkable accomplishment for Apple, considering that July marked the first full month of sales for the iPhone. While iSuppli has not collected historical information on this topic, it’s likely that the s peed of the iPhone ‘s rise to competitive dominance in its segment is unprecedented in the history of the mobile-handset market (Marsal ,2007 . In short , almost unexpected rise in demand of Apple iPhone was unaccounted by many experts , including of which are some of its competitors . The same research firm also noted that survey revealed that almost 57 of iPhones (bought in July ) were purchased by US consumers . Most of the consumers are aged 17-35. Almost 52 of the consumers of this product are male, and about 48 are female, revealing an almost equal propensity to consume for the product among the sexes. Added to that, iSuppli noted that 62 of the consumers of the product are actually college graduates or those with graduate courses . Nonetheless , the same research firm noted that â€Å"some of the iPhone ‘s success in July can be attributed to pent-up demand following months of hype (stagnant demand). Real proof of success will come in the coming months as demand patterns stabilize (Marsal, 2007). This prediction was almost accurate when the demand for iPhone was almost rising at 8 per month (month of June). Cost Apple’s Iphone 4 smartphone, for which it’s charging at least $500 at retail, is built of parts that cost $187. 51, according to market research firm Isuppli. According to the tear-down the most expensive part of the Iphone 4 is the 3. 5-inch LCD screen which costs $28. 50. Isuppli thinks that the Iphone 4 screen must be identical to one made by LG. It seems that Apple has managed to keep its parts cost at about $170 to $180 per unit. Isuppli’s cost estimate doesn’t include labour, shipping, advertising, software development or patent licensing. The cost is based on a 16GB version of the Iphone 4 but the low costs of each componant are fairly staggering. The Apple A4 processor reportedly is made by Samsung Electronics for $10. 75 per chip. Isuppli thinks that Geneva-based STMicroelectronics supplied the gyroscope chip at an estimated cost of $2. 60, as well as an accelerometer chip used in previous Iphone versions, which has an estimated cost of 65 cents. Other component suppliers named by Isuppli include Skyworks, a wireless chipmaker and TriQuint Semiconductor. In 2009, Isuppli estimated that the components and materials used in the iPhone 3GS cost about $179. Since then Isuppli thinks that the materials costs for that model have fallen to $134. Thus the Iphone 4 costs a bit more to make than the earlier model. Of course this means that Apple’s gross margin on the hardware in Iphones is extremely high. The actual price margin gets obscured by the fact that ATT heavily subsidises the phone in the US for about what it costs to manufacture. However the real winner is Apple, which does not have to pay for the cost of manufacture and still takes home about three times Iphone 4 production costs, on average. Pricing Because the iPhone price is entirely set by Apple, it makes an interesting case study on how much the price of technology drops over time. The official price of the iPhone periodically drops, as shown in the table below. But, there are no sales and a new iPhone is never sold for less than the official price. (There are occasionally sales on the refurbished iPhones for example on black Friday the refurbished 3GS was sold for $50. 00 instead of the usual $150. 00. )   Finding historical street price data is harder than historical MSRP data. For the iPhone both prices are the same. The table showing the historical price is included below. 1st Gen 4GB| 1st Gen 8GB| 3G| 3GS 16GB| 3GS 32GB| 29 June 2007| $499. 0*| $599*| N/A| N/A| N/A| 5 Sept 2007| Discontinued| $399| N/A| N/A| N/A| June 2008| N/A| N/A| $199| N/A| N/A| June 2009| N/A| N/A| $99| $199| $299| VIII. Pure competition, Monopolistic Competition Oligopoly Apple Inc. planned to begin producing this year a new iPhone that could allow U. S. phone carriers other than ATT Inc. to sell the iconic gadget, said people briefed by the company. The new iPhone would work on a type of wireless network called CDMA, these people said. CDMA is used by Verizon Wireless, ATT’s main competitor, as well as Sprint Nextel Corp. nd a handful of cellular operators in countries including South Korea and Japan. The vast majority of carriers world-wide, including AT;T, use another technology called GSM. With Apple developing a phone with CDMA capability, its exclusive U. S. arrangement with AT;T dating to 2007 appears set to end. Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, declined to comment. An AT;T spokesman said: â€Å"There has been lots of incorrect speculation on CDMA iPhones for a long time. We haven’t seen one yet and only Apple knows when that might occur. † Apple declined to comment. For AT;T, the Apple relationship has been crucial, helping to make the carrier the U. S. leader in lucrative smart-phone market share. According to comScore Inc. , AT;T has over 43% of all U. S. smart-phone customers, compared with 23% for Verizon. These customers are especially attractive because they generally pay higher monthly rates for data plans. For several quarters, AT;T’s growth has come almost single-handedly from the iPhone. In the fourth quarter of 2009, the carrier said it activated 3. 1 million new iPhones. In comparison, it counted only a net total of 2. million new subscribers as some customers moved from other phones to iPhones. Now that a new Verizon-compatible iPhone appears to be on the horizon, Digits looks at what Apple can do to win over mobile business users, particularly from RIMM’s BlackBerry market. The people briefed on the matter said the upgraded GSM iPhone is being made by Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. , wh ich produced Apple’s previous iPhones. The CDMA iPhone model is being made by Pegatron Technology Corp. , the contract manufacturing subsidiary of Taiwan’s ASUSTeK Computer Inc. said these people. One person familiar with the situation said Pegatron is scheduled to start mass producing CDMA iPhones in September. Other people said, however, that the schedule could change and the phone may not be available to consumers immediately after production begins. Representatives of Pegatron and Hon Hai declined to comment. Verizon has publicly stated its interest in the iPhone, but people familiar with the situation said Apple originally decided against developing a phone for Verizon to keep its development process simple, since the technologies are incompatible. Verizon also is upgrading its network to a higher-speed technology, so Apple has said it believed CDMA was a short-term technology. Apple later changed its mind as it realized Verizon’s upgrade would take longer than expected, said people familiar with the situation. Making the iPhone available through Verizon, which has over 91 million customers, as well as potentially other CDMA carriers could open up a significant new market. In 2009, iPhone sales globally rose 83% to 25. million, far outpacing the 20% to 25% growth in smart phones sales overall, according to Bernstein. But since Apple already dominates smart-phone sales through existing partners, â€Å"sooner rather than later, Apple is going to have to look to find incremental distribution,† which implies a monopolistic competition between all smart phone sellers, said Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi. He estimates Verizon could help Apple nearly double the number of iPhone users in the U. S. Some advantages that iPhone has comparing to other smart phones are: 1. Pod: iPhone is a not just a phone it is widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets you enjoy all your content — including music, audiobooks, videos, TV shows, and movies — on a beautiful 3. 5-inch widescreen display (Nokia N95 only has a 2. 6 inch screen). The N95 does have a good media player, however with all the iPod features and 4 GB / 8 GB space, it makes the iPhone the best music phone. 2. Advanced Safari browser: iPhone lets you see any web page the way it was designed to be seen, then easily zoom in by simply tapping on the multi-touch display with your finger which will change mobile browsing for the good. . OS X: All the power and sophistication of an advanced operating system that gives you access to true desktop-class applications and software, including rich HTML email, applications such as widgets, Safari, calendar, text messaging, Notes, and Address Book etc. iPhone is fully multi-tasking, so you can read a web page while downloading your email in the background. This software completely redefines what you can do with a mobile phone. 4. User Interface: iPhone features the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse. It’s an entirely new interface based on a large multi-touch display and innovative new software that lets you control everything using only your fingers. 5. Visual Voicemail: The iPhone lets you select and listen to voicemail messages in whatever order you want — just like email using a revolutionary new feature called the visual voicemail. IX. Conclusion Analyzing as managerial economics students, we can conclude that although the current methods and techniques are serving us well in analyzing the current market situation, there will be new techniques emerging in the future with global changes occurring at leaping speeds. What is essential is for us to grasp is that the theory is flexible with these changes and that it can be shaped or rounded to be applied to any market situation analysis. The content and subjects we learned in this course are nothing but the bedrock tools that any manager needs to know and use in his daily life in order to forecast revenues and demand, analyze current markets and evaluate his company’s stance regarding his competitors. X. References ttp://theblogpaper. co. uk/article/business/31may09/price-elasticity-demand-iphone http://news. cnet. com/8301-13506_3-20064223-17. html http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/business-10725887 http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/uk-13284156 http://m. ibtimes. com/microsoft-windows-phone7-google-android-apple-157595. html http://www. reuters. com/article/2011/06/03/us-rim-research-ubs-idUSTRE7523PP20110603 www. newyorktimes. com www. wallstreetjournal. com How to cite Apple Case Study 1, Free Case study samples

Cloud Computing and Current Solutions †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Cloud Computing and Current Solutions. Answer: Introduction In information technology the number of threats and the organisational risk factors are increasing day by day. It is seen that the organisations are facing lots of risks and threats from both inside and outside of the organisation (Aldunce et al., 2015). There are also various types of risks present in an organisation on the basis of the nature. Natural calamities like storm and earthquake can also lead to the organisation risk factors. Hacking, malware and virus are also reasons of the security issues. There are many differences between the risk and the uncertainty. VIC government has provided a list or guidance of regulations which can make the system more advanced in terms of security. In this report the risk factors are discussed in details with a diagram. The risk management methods and regulations of the VIC government are also discussed in the following discussions of the report. Explanation of the diagram and identification of different levels of risk exposure. The diagram explains the structure of the flow of the factors in an organization. It has also provided an outline about risk management regulations of the VIC government. There are many factors of making the system vulnerable. Most of the factors are dependent upon various risks and threats. In the diagram all the possible threats are given in accordance with their place and moment of occurrence (Becken Hughey, 2013). The risks are classified into two parts. One is the internal risks and the other is the external risks for the organization. The internal risks are generated due to various issues regarding the internal functioning of the organization. Another important factor is that the organization has many possible ways of creating threats and uncertainties by itself (Bianco et al., 2017). The internal risk factors can also be divided into two parts and those are deliberate threat and accidental threat. In case of accidental threats the cause is not due to individuals action. Accidental risk factors are caused due to several causes like power loss and lack of internet connection and many more. These factors are only considered inside the organization. In case of deliberate threats the reasons behind the threats are generated due to individual motive. In case of organizational risk the people who are working in the organization make cause threats and risk factors into the system of the organization so that the organization faces difficulties and loss of productivity. Unauthorized access, data loss and intrusion can be c onsidered as the problems regarding the functioning of the possible risk factors inside the organization (Brindley, 2017). Data breach can also be an important factor that can be used by the employees of the organization to harm it. Another type of risk is the external risk. External risk can occur due to the reasons initiated externally from the organizations. This type of risk factors is the most common risk factors. Hackers and other unwanted access are always making various kinds of risks to the system of the organization. Risks can also be divided into two parts according to the nature of the risk factors. The risk factors can be also determined by the nature of the risks. One is environmental risk and the other is human made risks (Chance Brooks, 2015). The environmental risks factors are also important in case of making the system more vulnerable. Natural disasters like earthquake, storm and sudden temperature change of the environment can cause a big damage to the system. I n the right most side of the diagram the risk management steps are shown as per the VIC government rules and regulations. To decrease the risk factors first the risk should be identified properly so that it can be fought properly. Then the mitigation of the risk factors is done by decreasing the reasons behind the risks. In case information technology the ICT security risks are also important factor (Davies, 2014). There are also many layers presenty in the risks management system. The main thing is that the risks must be clearly understood from the point of effect it can reach. Several risks are given various levels with respect to their vulnerability. These levels can be divided into three parts. Those are high, medium and low risk respectively. The main effects of the risks, which are also the main factors for the failure of organisations functioning, lead to several damages (DeAngelo Stulz, 2015). Those risks which lead to the failure of most of the organisations functioning an d also very vulnerable in terms of making the system endangered are known as the high risk factors. Examples of such risks are hacking, intrusion, failure of the total power system of the organisation. These types of risk factors are also important in case of making the system more vulnerable and also the source of these risks can be both internal and external with respect to the organisation (Ferguson at al., 2013). The natural risks like earthquake, storm is also considered to be high risk factors for the organisations. Medium level risks are data loss of the servers. This kind of data loss is also important in case of making the organisational background more vulnerable and also the importance of the risk factors is of medium nature (Glendon, Clarke McKenna, 2016). Sudden power loss and sudden loss of network connections are also considered to be low risk factors for the organisation. These risk factors should also be given equal priority in case of solving them and also these r isk factors are to be solved with respect to the organisational point of view. Comparison between Deliberate and Accidental Threats and ranking of threats according to the importance Threats are created by different types of reasons which can be divided in two different ways. These are deliberate threats and accidental threats. The deliberate threats are those which are created by intention by individuals or group of individuals (Heazle et al., 2013). Deliberate threats can be from the inside or from the outside of the organisation. In case of deliberate threats external deliberate threats are hacking, intrusion and data loss of the organisation by some external people. The access of the unwanted people can lead to the threats which are also very important in case of making the deliberate one (Holt, Smirnova, Chua Copes, 2015). The main aim of the risk management process is to cancel out the deliberate threats. Deliberate threats can be considered as the high level risk factors for the organisations. As the information of the public is the most important thing in information technology market, it is given the highest priority (Tadeusiewicz Horzyk, 2014). Hackin g and data intrusion can be big risk factors for the public information. These kinds of risks are also referred to high level risk factors. From that point of view of the organisation is responsible for the risks which are caused internally as the deliberate threats are also caused from the inside of the organisation. In case of organisational risks the main source of the risks are the data loss by the employees which are also considered as deliberate threats. These kinds of deliberate threats are of highest priority also (Hopkin, 2017). Another type of risks is the accidental risk factor as the risk factor is caused by uncontrolled reasons. Environmental and natural risks are of this type. This type of risks is of both high and low priority. As the risk factors which are caused by the natural disasters like earthquake and storms, are considered to be the high risk factors. Also the risk factors like sudden power cut and the loss of internet connection are considered to be of relati vely low risk factors. Explanation of the challenges of VIC government regarding the internal and external risk management The IT risk management is a challenging task for the organisation in case of making the organisations free from the reasons which causes vulnerabilities to the system (Reason, 2016). It is already discussed that the risks can be of two types and those are respectively internal and external risk factors. In case of risk management the risk factors are also managed by the organisation in such a way that there are two different methods for dealing with the internal and external risks. The patterns of the internal risks are completely different from that of the external risk factors (Howard Beasley, 2017). In case of internal risk factors the employees of the organisations are sometimes liable for that. In that case the organisations should be very strict with the employees. The main actions that can be taken by the organisation administration should be in such a way that the internal risks are demolished from the organisation (Howes et al., 2015). The advantage in case of the internal risk factor is that the organisation has the control on the risk factors. In case of the external risk factors the reasons behind the risks cannot be controlled. The organisation should be more careful and constructive in case of external risk management (Kettl, 2015). The main advantage of the external risk factor is that it can be caused not intentionally sometimes. For that reason the organisation should be more technically sounded for opposing the risk factors. There are lots of differences between the risk and uncertainty. Risks are those which actually happen due to predefined reasons (Lam, 2014). The uncertainties cannot be understood previously. The main advantages of the risk analysis are that the reasons behind any risks are already known to the organisation. The risks can be controlled by taking previous precautions on the basis of the nature of the risks (Lawrence et al., 2015). In case of the uncertainties the main disadvantage is that the precautions cannot be taken previously as the reasons behind the uncertainties are not known. The time of happening of the risks can also predefined but the time and duration of the uncertainties can never be understood previously. The main advantage of making the risk management in a proper way, is to make the system secure. Discussion and evaluation of several methods available to the VIC government for risk management In this part of the report the risk management methods are discussed in details. The VIC government has created lots of methods that will help to create the system more secure. The VIC governments have also created many rules and regulations which should be followed in order to make the system fight the risk factors (McNeil, Frey Embrechts, 2015). The main advantage of making the risk management procedures are that the organisations can rely on the standards in case of opposing the risk factors. VIC government has created many laws and protocols for risk management. The first one is the privacy and data protection act 2014 (Paton et al., 2014). The Victorian protective data security framework is also designed to make the system secure. The main features of the security acts are making the framework, issuing the framework and then to monitor and regime the data security frameworks related to the organisations. The public sector data and the protective data security acts are also impo rtant in case of making the system more secured. In this case same features are also taken in order to implement the laws in proper way (Poniszewska-Mara?da, 2014). The primary step of this law is to develop and documenting the security framework. Then the standards, policies and the guidelines are also designed to make the system more secure. Compliance should also be delivered in order to overcome the risk factors. The information access should be also followed properly in order to make the system more secure and to overcome the risks. The security requirements should also be monitored properly and the reasons should be understood properly. Security awareness and training should be provided more so that the organisations can deal with such employees and public who are reliable enough to access the system securely. The service providers should be contracted so that the security is ensured (Pritchard PMP, .2014). The government rules and regulations should also be followed properly . Information value is also an important factor in case of making the system more secured with respect to the organisations. The security should be provided according to the value of the information. The organisations also follow the regulations in Case of sharing the information with other organisations. Conclusion From the above discussion it is concluded that several organisations face a lot of risk factors and to make the information secured all the regulations which are made by the VIC government, should be followed properly. Public personal information is the most important data from the security point of view. Organisations give public information the highest priority. The main advantage making the system more secured is that the public reliability is increased on the organisation and also the quality of the service is better. To overcome all the risk factors it is also important to identify all the risks and to understand the reasons behind the possible risks. It is also understood that there is a basic difference between the risk and the uncertainties as the risk can be controlled but the uncertainties cannot be controlled and mitigated. All the challenges which are faced by the VIC government in case of making the risk management regulations are also discussed with respect to the inter nal and the external risks. References Aldunce, P., Beilin, R., Howden, M., Handmer, J. (2015). Resilience for disaster risk management in a changing climate: Practitioners frames and practices. Global Environmental Change, 30, 1-11. American Diabetes Association. (2016). 8. Cardiovascular disease and risk management. Diabetes care, 39(Supplement 1), S60-S71. Becken, S., Hughey, K. F. (2013). Linking tourism into emergency management structures to enhance disaster risk reduction. Tourism Management, 36, 77-85. Bianco, R. J., Arnoux, P. J., Wagnac, E., Mac-Thiong, J. M., Aubin, C. . (2017). 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Water research, 47(20), 7300-7314. Glendon, A. I., Clarke, S., McKenna, E. (2016). Human safety and risk management. Crc Press. Heazle, M., Tangney, P., Burton, P., Howes, M., Grant-Smith, D., Reis, K., Bosomworth, K. (2013). Mainstreaming climate change adaptation: An incremental approach to disaster risk management in Australia. Environmental Science Policy, 33, 162-170. Holt, T. J., Smirnova, O., Chua, Y. T., Copes, H. (2015). Examining the risk reduction strategies of actors in online criminal markets. Global Crime, 16(2), 81-103. Hopkin, P. (2017). Fundamentals of risk management: understanding, evaluating and implementing effective risk management. Kogan Page Publishers. Howard, D. L., Beasley, L. M. (2017). Pregnant with a perforated levonorgestrel intrauterine system and visible threads at the cervical os. BMJ Case Reports, 2017, bcr-2017. Howes, M., Tangney, P., Reis, K., Grant-Smith, D., Heazle, M., Bosomworth, K., Burton, P. (2015). Towards networked governance: improving interagency communication and collaboration for disaster risk management and climate change adaptation in Australia. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 58(5), 757-776. Kettl, D. F. (2015). The job of government: Interweaving public functions and private hands. Public Administration Review, 75(2), 219-229. Lam, J. (2014). Enterprise risk management: from incentives to controls. John Wiley Sons. Lawrence, J., Sullivan, F., Lash, A., Ide, G., Cameron, C., McGlinchey, L. (2015). Adapting to changing climate risk by local government in New Zealand: institutional practice barriers and enablers. Local Environment, 20(3), 298-320. McNeil, A. J., Frey, R., Embrechts, P. (2015). Quantitative risk management: Concepts, techniques and tools. Princeton university press. Paton, D., Johnston, D., Mamula-Seadon, L., Kenney, C. M. (2014). Recovery and development: perspectives from New Zealand and Australia. In Disaster and development (pp. 255-272). Springer International Publishing. Poniszewska-Mara?da, A. (2014). Selected aspects of security mechanisms for cloud computingcurrent solutions and development perspectives. Pritchard, C. L., PMP, P. R. (2014). Risk management: concepts and guidance. CRC Press. Reason, J. (2016). Managing the risks of organizational accidents. Routledge. Tadeusiewicz, R., Horzyk, A. (2014, November). Man-Machine Interaction Improvement by Means of Automatic Human Personality Identification. In IFIP International Conference on Computer Information Systems and Industrial Management (pp. 278-289). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.