It seems with every new device that gets released by apple, some breaking news has to emerge. And as expected, with the release of the new iPhone 5, a stir has been caused within the Foxconn factory. Due to a failure in the design of the iPhone and new regulation standards on inspection of the new product, Foxconn employees are finding it difficult to cope with the raging demand of production and as a result, leading to iPhones that come with nicks and scratches out of the box!

The employees say that they do not have the training required for the new inspection procedures. To make matters worse, employees were denied vacation and instead have to continue production to satisfy the demand for iPhones coming up for the holiday season. And to top it all off, alleged violent fights have broken out within the factory over unsettled disputes. This may have an affect on the supply of iPhone 5s.

Workers at a Foxconn factory

A solution to this problem would be for apple to take initiative and either change the design of the product or train the employees for the production. It would be unethical of apple just to sit there and watch employees take the blame for their flaws. If Apple doesn’t do anything soon, It could lead to a greater loss as consumers will see Apple as unethical and move away from the company to competitors like Samsung. However, Apple has handled situations like these in the pass and dug them selves out of the grave, so lets hope for Apple to pull out an umbrella on this rainy day.

SOURCES:

http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/10/05/foxconn-workers-reportedly-strike-over-iphone-5-quality-control-rules-say-handset-design-is-flawed

http://cultofmac.cultofmaccom.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/hi-852-foxconn-workers.jpg

Start by watching this video by the GatesFoundation.

Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, on behalf of the “Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation” (BMGF) are sponsoring a team or researches to reinvent the toilet. As mentioned on the video, 2.6 billion people are without proper sanitary toilet. The Asian Institue of Technology (AIT) was given $5 million to fund the research and development for the new toilets, which will span a period of five years. Their design and price will be market-led which means that they will base the product’s features and price on what consumers need.

The BMFG Logo

From the topic discussed, we can see that Bill Gates, founder of microsoft and now chairman, is not just profit driven, but cares about externalities. Having a chairman care about the social cost instead of just profits is really important especially in today’s modern world. Resources are being more and more scarce. Consumers are getting more and more concerned about sustaining their resources, and so are the governments. As a results, regulations are put into place. If a business doesn’t follow the regulations, consumers will be mad and this will lead to lobbying. They may boycott the business until it is gone or the government, for the well being of the society, will regulate bias against the business until it is impossible to operate.

SOURCES:

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/GATES-GRANT-TO-CREATE-NEW-LOO-30191029.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdwvuTrycYU

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspx

Lobbiest are going against the recent approval of limiting the size of soft drinks which was signed into law by the New York Board of Health. The lobbyist call them selves “New York for Beverage Choices” but as the Huffington Post calls them “Soda Pushers for Continued Profits”, which basically means that they comprise of the fast food restaurants going against regulation so that they can earn profit from the sale of large sized soft drinks.

The reason for this alliance between the fast food industry and the soft drink industry is because the fast food industry gains at least 10% of it’s revenues from the sale of soft drinks alone. Over the years, fast food restaurants like McDonalds have been subconsciously changing the norm in soft drink cup sizes, brainwashing children in assuming that a ‘child size’ of 12 oz coke is acceptable. (12oz of coke equals to 39g of sugar).

Here is a Mcdonalds commercial advertising Coke

This illustrates a clear example of child exploitation in terms of marketing and companies not knowing when to stop. Children are vulnerable targets for companies and as a result, they should know at what limits they should stop. Clearly this is not the case as McDonalds as well as several other fast food chains continue to go against the government regulation for reducing cup sizes, hence continuing an attempt to further exploit the brains of the vulnerable.

Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-simon/mcdonalds-coca-cola_b_1874770.html?utm_hp_ref=food

http://www.happytoydepot.com/images/store/items/sign.jpg

Apple vs. Samsung. What may seem like an age old debate for fanboys has now become even more popular topic for the rest of the world. Rather than concentration on “which phone is better” or “who copied who”, I am going to analyse the marketing section of this debate.

Lets start by watching this video.

Incase you don’t understand the video; Samsung is poking fun at the “Apple Fanboys” who would line up days for an ‘The next big thing’ – an iPhone 5. Samsung is implanting the ideas to consumers telling them “Why wait when the next big thing is already here”.

Furthermore, Samsung has clearly placed these ads on several youtube videos based on the iPhone 5 as seen in the pictures below.

Clearly the points of parity for Apple and Samsung would be their latest smart phones ‘iPhone 5’ and the ‘Galaxy SIII’ respectively. But the point of difference for Samsung is derived from the advertisement themselves; that Samsung can offer a similar or even better phone without the hassle of waiting, hence making samsung distinctive and credible for consumer wants. Furthermore, the fact that Samsung acknowledge their competition, consumers won’t think that the brand is untrustworthy and self praising and as a result, making consumers think twice about buying an iPhone 5.

SOURCES:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nf5-Prx19ZM

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/09/17/first-iphone-5-orders-have-begun-shipping-line-begins-at-5th-avenue-apple-store/