Apple. It gives simplest of feature added to the newest version of the products yet makes large profits year by year. But recently, Microsoft, Apple’s arch rivals released the new Surface Studio which decreased the market share of Apple by 0.67%. Surface Studio has the Pen and their newest product, the Surface Dial (an accessory sold for $99). All in all, Surface Studio was a promising product for Microsoft as it could make the PC into a table top, do paintings with accessories, and what not.

But was it too good for Apple to lose a lot of its market share? Nope.

This year to the newest MacBook Pros, Apple adds the TouchBar. This could be a huge deal for Apple Pay in the upcoming years. By previous history on e-commerce, majority of e-commerce purchasing occurs on PCs. Apple introduced ApplePay few years ago which was mostly convenient in the iPhones. But most users around the world still relies on the PC for major online payments.

This new feature to MacBook Pro along with Siri, which was launched into Apple laptops this September will be a potential game changer for Apple. Apple really values its customer segments and creates great responsibility to the customer relations. Through the new TouchBar and ApplePay they can provide customer convenience. This account for the corporate social responsibility and its benefits its customers in a very positive way. Moreover, as more people will buy MacBook Pro laptops for the new TouchBar feature, Apple is also maximizing its profit. Overall, we can see that this is a social benefit as it both benefits the business and the society.

Apple Pay, had below 25% of the apple users who actually did use Apple Pay. Now that the TouchBar is out, Apple may regain the market share it had lost in the PC market. With the new iPhone 7 and the MacBook Pro can actually impact the whole market.

USA for example has a forecasted growth of US-in-store mobile payments from 2015 to 2020, which is from $75 billion to $503 billion. That’s a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) 80%. That’s pretty much impressive with the phones. But when it comes to PCs, not that much growth is noticed. So the TouchBar will play a vital role for Apple to become more successful.

Moreover, if Apple is able to sell more services via MacBook Pros, Apple will be coming out as number one for mobiles, laptops and tablets.

Word Count: 408

Endnotes

https://www.wired.com/2016/10/look-microsofts-fancy-surface-studio-one-pc/

http://adage.com/article/digital/apple-reclaim-lost-pc-market-share-touch-bar-macbook-pro/306517/

http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-the-new-macbook-pro-could-boost-apple-pay-2016-10

apple.com

https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Surface-Dial/productID.5074013900

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear about Samsung nowadays? Samsung Galaxy Note 7 catching fire, right? This blow not only caused Samsung to have an anticipated sales loss of $17 billion but also created a major impact on the society.

Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung’s mobile communications business declared that Samsung will ask all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of “Galaxy Note 7”. Samsung is still trying to figure out what the exact problem is. They tried replacing the “Note 7”s but users still faced the same troublesome problem of the phone catching fire.

When we look at the Business canvas model of Samsung now, we can see that it has lost the “Value Proposition” it offers to the customers. As the Note 7 caused fire, and in an extreme case it burned the thigh of a passenger in an airplane, it caused a loss in “Customer Relationship” as Samsung couldn’t assure the safety of its loyal customers. Moreover, when we look into the “Key Partnership” segment, the U.S. mobile partners of Samsung are AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint who decided to suspend the sales of “Note 7”s creating a huge loss for these mobile carriers too. Overall Samsung suffered huge loss and also caused many other important areas to affected brutally.

And when we also talk about the brand positioning of Samsung, if Samsung considers a reproduction of “Note 7”s it will be nothing none other than a lost cause. As “Note 7” has already lost its image and there is no point trying to bring back the brand in favor. Another factor to take into consideration is the impact of the competitors. As Apple just launched the new “iPhone 7”, many customers of Samsung will be convinced to switch onto that phone.

Leaving the negative sides aside, Samsung did make the right move on suspending production of the according to Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Elliot F. Kaye. Samsung will stop the production of the “Note 7”s and it will also give a full refund to the customers who have bought the phone. Moreover, they also provided gift cards of $25 as a compensation to some customers. The decision take by Samsung is a right one as for now, the loyal customers of Samsung will keep their hopes high that Samsung will bounce back.

Word count: 402

End notes and sources

http://bgr.com/2016/10/11/galaxy-note-7-sales-stop/

http://money.cnn.com/2016/10/10/technology/samsung-galaxy-note-7-turn-off/

http://money.cnn.com/2016/10/09/technology/samsung-galaxy-note-7/?iid=EL

http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/02/technology/samsung-galaxy-note-7-recall/?iid=EL

Reckless as it seems, the additional 15% taxation charge to the foreign buyers of Metro Vancouver houses is controversial. The decision taken by the British Columbia government (CBC) did shock the foreigners but it was more immense of a shock as the action took place just on an 8 day notice.

CBC’s decision was vital for both foreigners and citizens or permanent residents of Canada. Considering the foreigners, the additional 15% tax puts a halt to the foreigners buying real estate properties as the prices have increased a lot more than before. There are many immigrants who are a big portion of Canadian residents, doing jobs and residing in Canada. It is particularly unfair for the immigrants as the decision taken by CBC was not consulted with any real estate professional.

While the decision was a bit harsh for the immigrants, CBC did do justice to the citizens and permanent residents of Canada. The revenue earned per million dollars from the foreigners was 150,000 dollars. CBC stated that this revenue will be used to fund housing and to support other rental programs. Moreover, the additional taxation charge will make houses more affordable for the middle-class buyers.

Government of BC thinks this issue very differently. They are more biased to the side of the citizens and permanent residences. This does open a lot of doors to the locals, making the locals seem much more prestigious than the foreigners. But is this decision actually justified? Maybe yes or maybe no. Is additional tax charged to foreigners really assisting the locals? Definitely not in my point of view. Housing costs are extremely high in Metro Vancouver, which makes it almost impossible for the locals to buy it in the first place. And also, the rental prices are high too. Basically, this is more of a worry to the immigrants as they need to pay more to buy the houses. Which means it’s providing more revenue to the BC government, causing not much of an aid to the locals and displeasing the immigrants as they are paying more than it is required.

Immigrants don’t get as much facilities when it’s compared to the locals of Canada. Most of the services provided to immigrants cost higher. In example, tuition fees required for international students is almost 5 times higher compared to the locals of Canada. This issue of additional tax charge is more of a threat to the foreigners in my terms.

See Rex Cheng’s blog for further thoughts on the 15% tax on foreign buyers.

Word count: 430

Sources

“Province to Tax Foreign Buyers of Metro Vancouver Homes.” N.p., n.d. Web.