Tablet Talk – Ipad or all the rest?

It has been just over a year since its debut and the iPad tablet has already made Apple the undisputed leader in the tablet world. The iPad sold a reported 15 million units alone in 2010 after first shipping in April. As iPad becomes more popular to consumers, other companies are getting their products known in the tablet world. For example companies like HP, Motorola, and Dell are just some of the many major companies that have tried to compete with the iPad. But how successful/important are tablets in the technology world? Is this a fad or trend that will only be around for the next couple years, or are tablets going to become the next big thing? It seems now a days it's Apple versus everyone else; and that might very well be true. The numbers don’t lie either, Apple had an 84 percent share of the tablet market. Today since the technology is new, there is a vast growth opportunity for other companies to challenge Apple, the only problem…will tablets still be popular. Apple dominates many aspects of the technology world. For example, the iPhone, iPod/iTouch, and Apple computers all dominate their respective categories. All the other competitors have a hard time making a product that comes close to rivaling what Apple has to offer to its consumers. The iPad is just another step in Apples recent dominance, but is there hope for companies with the same size network to create a product that out does Apple? In my opinion, the answer is no. Apple has too much power and has too much of wide consumer base to lose to another company. The recent iPad 2 that just came out has all the improvements that the already groundbreaking iPad original didn’t have. Time will tell the tale between Apple’s tablets and their competitors.

Action in Libya?

http://www.gallup.com/poll/146738/Americans-Approve-Military-Action-Against-Libya.aspx

  

An article that grabbed the attention of our group was one involving a poll that was taken as to whether Americans approve or disapprove of military action against Libya. After "reports that Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi had attacked Libyan forces opposed to his government", Americans were not happy that Libyans had crossed into the US no fly zone, and some suggested military action. This poll from Gallop shows that about 47% of Americans approve that military action should be taken against Libya. The strange part of the percentage however, is the difference in the approval rate versus in previous controversies. When the US was struck on 9/11, 90% of Americans, According to Gallop, supported the war in Afghanistan. According to Gallop, the polls they have taken have never had such a low turnout on the percentage of support dating all the way back to 1983. 

The economic relevance to our economy is very great. The labor that the US would have to supply would cost the United States millions of dollars. If a cost/benefit analysis were to be done by the government, they would agree with the above statement. Cost of the movement in Libya is vital to the decision we as Americans must make. We must decide whether the cost of doing what is right, is worth the benefit of the motive. If the United States had billions of dollars sitting around then the benefit would be totally worth the cost. With the economy being the way it is however, most people, I would assume, do not believe the government has enough capital to supply the soldiers with pay without increasing our deficit. Because the government’s budget is not unlimited, and is already in a large deficit, there would have to be some kind of trade off if the government were to fund any action in Libya.  Although the crisis in Libya may cause a shortage of oil and even an increase in oil and gas prices, the US government, most would say, does not have the money to pay for action in Libya. 

George Collins

Who's Got T-Mobile?

In recent news the cell phone company, AT&T made a business proposal for T-mobile to buy them for $39 billion. AT&T is buying T-mobile so that they can get the cell phone towers that belong to T-mobile in order to allow their network to grow and become more stable (less dropped calls and dead zones) – but is that their only reasoning behind this business deal? T-mobile is the fourth largest cellphone company in the United States, and with it now merging into one of the other top three companies, what does that mean for the furture of cell phone plans? With less cell phone companies there is less competition between them. This means that there aren’t as many reasons for them to lower their prices and the competition is less intense and more even. T-mobile was the least expensive of the four dominating cell phone companies, and examining the difference between the companies of AT&T and T-mobile, a big difference is the cost of their plans. Costumers with T-mobile pay much less than those with AT&T for the same coverage, so knowing what will happen with these customers is still unknown.  With AT&T having the in-demand phone (Iphone), more network coverage, and less competition who knows what is ahead for the future of their company and their customers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-brodsky/how-att-figures-it-will-d_b_841028.html

Who's Got T-Mobile?

In recent news the cell phone company, AT&T made a business proposal to T-mobile to buy them for $39 billion. AT&T is buying T-mobile so that they can get the cell phone towers that belong to T-mobile in order to allow their network to grow and become more stable (less dropped calls and dead zones) – but is that their only reasoning behind this business deal? T-mobile is the fourth largest cellphone company in the United States, and with it now merging into one of the other top three companies, what does that mean for the furture of cell phone plans? With less cell phone companies there is less competition between them. This means that there aren’t as many reasons for them to lower their prices and the competition is less intense and more even. T-mobile was the least expensive of the four dominating cell phone companies, and examining the difference between the companies of AT&T and T-mobile, a big difference is the cost of their plans. Costumers with T-mobile pay much less than those with AT&T for the same coverage, so knowing what will happen with these customers is still unknown.  With AT&T having the in-demand phone (Iphone), more network coverage, and less competition, who knows what is ahead for the future of the company and their customers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-brodsky/how-att-figures-it-will-d_b_841028.html

Best Buy’s Shift of Focus

Recently, the technology incorporation, Best Buy, has been experiencing major concerns regarding their high priced television sales. Selling these expensive televisions is said to be 20 percent of all of the company’s profits. Unfortunately, the sales for this category have gone down by double digit percent’s. Many people think that this is a result of the increasing gas prices and the extraordinarily high unemployment rate. Consumers are deciding to spend less money on overpriced, high tech televisions and more on mobile phones and broadband connection thanks to the recession. As a result of this shift of preference by consumers, Best Buy is deciding to focus more on selling mobile phones. These Best Buy mobile phones are starting to attract more buyers who do not want to spend their money on Best Buy’s televisions. So is Best Buy going to become a major cell phone supplier in place of televisions? Not exactly. In addition to loosing costumers from the recession, Best Buy has also been in a major competition with other similar stores like Target, Wal-Mart and even the online world of Amazon. Best Buy store sales decreased by 4 percent in December, right in the middle of the holiday season. On top of that statistic, the company also experienced a net income fall from 779 million to 651 million. These numbers show how Best Buy is experiencing major sales decreases. These decreases could easily be a result of the declining amount of expensive television buyers. So could shifting their focus to mobile phones help the company get their numbers back up? No one really knows for sure and there is definitely a bit of speculation, but time will only tell what will happen to this high technology incorporation in the future.

-Taryn Dandurand

New Iphone 5

According to the Huffington Post, a new IPhone is up and coming this summer, supposedly around June of 2011.  The idea that a new iPhone 5 is out and about is the most exciting part of this announcement – everyone loves a new iPhone! Rumor has it that it may be bigger or smaller, but the antenna problem should be fixed.  Also, the Huffington Post states that the back will most likely be made of aluminum, just like the first round of the iPhone.  Hopefully the screen issue will be fixed as well.  However, whatever Apple produces will have to compete with the new and upcoming phones out on the market and the phones that will be out soon.  A smaller screen with the easily breakable glass and the terrible antenna problems associated with the current iPhone 4 will just not cut it.  But as we all know, Apple will impress us.  I have no doubt they will struggle at all.  I think it is safe to say that the new iPhone 5 will wipe out all other competition in a heartbeat, sorry HTC and Blackberry.  Along with wiping out all other competition, it will be another great stimulus to the current economy, like all other new products Apple produces.  Anyways, like we all know, no one will know for sure what Apple will put on the table.  I guess we will all just have to wait and see!

-Haley R