Reading Reaction Journal #5

Reference

Woman sues over iPhone price cut. (2007, October 2). USA Today. Retrieved on October 3, 2007 from http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/phones/2007-10-02-iphone-price-cut-lawsuit_N.htm

Summary

According to this article, a woman who lived in New York, has entered a lawsuit against Apple because of cutting down of iPhone’s price. Dong Li of Queens, who complained, suggests “the company violated price discrimination laws when it slashed the price of the 8-gigabyte iPhone by a third, from $599 to $399, within two months of the gadget’s June debut.” Apple cut down iPhone’s price on Sept. 5 and stopped selling 4-gigabyte iPhones. Because of this eventual slashing, Apple apologized and refunded the $200 difference for those who bought it earlier. According to her lawsuit, lopping of price makes people like her damaged because they cannot resell iPhone for the same price as those who bought later. She bought a 4-gigabyte iPhone and alleged that people who bought a 4-gigabyte iPhone weren’t treated like owner of 8-gigabyte iPhone. Apple announced that they don’t disscuss pending litigation. The lawsuit also suggests Apple and AT&T, the exclusive carrier in the U. S. for the iPhone, made unfair business practices. But Mark Siegel, an AT&T spokesman, said that he hasn't seen the lawsuit yet.

Reaction

If I were in same situation, I would complain the same as she did. In any part of business, exclusion makes it worse than with competition. Competition makes market activate more and more and consumers get more benefit.

Reading Reaction Journal #4

Reference

Graham, J. (2007, September 24). Apple: ‘Unlocking’ software damages iPhone. USA Today. Retrieved on September 25, 2007 from http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/phones/2007-09-24-apple-iphone_N.htm?loc=interstitialskipReference

Summary

According to this article Apple announced a consumer warning: “Buy an “unlocked” iPhone at your own peril”. In the USA, most cellphones are sold “locked”, which means a phone is used by one carrier that supplied it, AT&T. But some early consumers of iPhone have complained about AT&T’s data network’s unstable cell coverage. After the iPhone’s launch, a cottage industry sprang up for webpage servicing software to “unlock” the device from AT&T, in which means that it can be used freely on other carriers. On Monday, Apple announced an official announcement that using software to unlock an iPhone or buying an unlocked iPhone – “will cause irreparable damage.” In the past, Apple has distributed simple software to prevent people from hacking into its devices and Phil Schiller, who Apple Senior Vice President, says that they tested iPhone and found out this unlocking software everlastingly damages the software. Some sites sell the unlocked iPhone a little expensively and other sites sell software for around $70. The iPhone has been sold at more than 1 million units. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, projected first-year sales of 10 million, and earlier this month, he cut down the price of iPhone from $599 to $399 in an effort to increase holiday sales.

Reaction

In South Korea, there is a same situation like this, RAZR that is Motorola’s popular cellular phone, is sold exclusively by SK Telecom. So if I want to use RAZR, I should admit that company. I think exclusive marketing is not good because there is no competition, if there is no competition in marketing, there are no development.

The most aspect of the TOEFL

Not only taking the TOEFL, but also any other test is stress for me. But especially taking the TOEFL is the most stressful, because all kinds of sections of the TOEFL are hard, such as listening, reading and grammar. Among those sections, I have the most difficulty with the listening section, because I’m not good at vocabulary. Even though I can hear some words, I don’t know the meaning of those words. So it makes me stressed.

My experience of smoking

When I was a middle and high school student, the policy about smoking of students was very strict in my school. My family has no people who smoke. I think that’s why I’m a nonsmoker. When I was in the army, I had tried to smoke, because living in the army was the most stressful time in my life. But whenever I smoked, I felt a headache and was sick to the stomach. I think smoking isn’t suitable for me. After that, when I felt stressed in the army, I usually played soccer instead of smoking.

Reading Reaction Journal #3

Reference

DoRan, D. (2007, September 19). iPhone will go on sale in U.K. on Nov. 9. USA Today. Retrieved on September 18, 2007 from http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/phones/2007-09-18-iphone-uk-sale_N.htm

Summary

According to this article Apple's iPhone will be sold in Britain on Nov. 9 and use the O2 network as its exclusive carrier. And Apple reduced the price of the 8-gigabyte iPhone in the U.S. by about $200 and stopped selling the 4-gigabyte version. They wouldn't promote speculation about further launches in Europe. There are some remors that many companies like Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG, Spain's Telefonica and France's Orange had taken attraction as if they were candidates. But none of those companies has been selected. iPhone had sold one million in the United States in 74 days after its launching and had gotten a better reaction from customers than any previous Apple product. Some reports said certain British phone companies have complained that Apple had played them against each other. But Steve Jobs, who is Apple CEO, didn't care about that.

Reaction

I'm one of the people who really want to get an iPhone, because it has innovative design and convenient functions. If I were a CEO of a telecom company in South Korea, I would really want to make a contract with Apple for launching iPhone in South Korea, because everyone knows Apple wants to buy iPhone. I think that's why many telecom companies want to be with Apple.

Reading Reaction Journal #2

Reference

Borowski, C. (2007, September 11). NewsCorp won't pull videos from iTunes. Retrieved on September 12, 2007 from http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-09-11-newscorp-itunes_N.htm

Summary

According to this article, News Corp. won't do its television shows from Apple's iTunes as NBC Universal, a rival media group, following a pricing dispute. That is because Apple is about to have the initiative in the pricing policies for audio and video downloads. New Corp. is about to relaunch a television channel in Poland, which is one of Europe's fastest-growing media markets. And it also has been building its TV presence in Europe's emerging markets.

Reaction

News Corp. expands their business to online broadcasting. But the online broadcasting market is dominated by YouTube, and there is Apple as an competitor. I think this is a good competition for people. Because the competition makes customers get better quality of on line broadcasting.

The way to beat my stress.

I'm really likely to get stress, because my feeling is changed easily. So if I can't cope with stress; I was already crazy. Because I really like to play sports and to watch them, I usually cope with stress by sports. For example, when I get a bad grade in my school, I call my freind, then ask him to play basketball with me. After playing basketball for many hours, I forget my concern about the grade. Somtimes, it's a problem to forget so easily.

Fluency Ex #1

I'm majoring in computer engineering. In South Korea, there are so many people who major in computer engineering, so it's very hard to get a good job. I'd like to work at a big company like Samsung, but it's more difficult to be hired at that company. I have a friend who worked at Samsung; he said to me that working at Samsung is very hard, because there is planty of overtime and his superior made him work like a machine. So he is very stressful. I think I will have same problems as he has.

What is the most stressful part of being a CESL student? Why?

I have the most stress when I can't tell something that I want to tell, because I can't imagine a word in English. Actually I am an outgoing person in Korea. But in the USA, I'm a shy guy, because I'm not good at vocabulary. Even though I have some questions in class, I can't ask them to the teacher. This situation makes me silent. And my poor vocabulary ability makes me not able to hear. That's why I have the most stress in CESL in the USA.

Reading Reaction Journal #1

Reference

Krazit, T. (2007, August 30). Will 'the beat go on' with a new iPod?. USA Today.
Retrieved on August 31,2007 from http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/cnet/2007-08-30-apple-ipod-future_N.htm

Summary

In this article, the author explains that there will be a launching event of the new iPod. There have been some kinds of rumors about the new iPod for last few weeks. But Apple doesn’t say about new iPod clearly. According to him, Apple’s iPod is the most popular music player that controls 72.4% of the market in the first half of this year. But Apple followers want radical changes improving the viewing experience on an iPod and more capacity for the iPod Nano. So Apple is willing to launch a new iPod with same the 3.5-inch widescreen display used in iPhone but without the phone function. Another expectation of Apple is a new version of iPod Nano that includes video playback.

Reaction

My major is computer science. So I have lots of interest about digital devices. A launching event of the new iPod is always the biggest concern of my field because it is a development of technology by itself. Actually I have already used the fifth generation iPod for 1 year. So I can't wait for the launching event day of the new iPod.