Brad Koenig's Blog

When the IPad first came out, no one would have predicted that it would give a disabled boy freedom. When Owen, now 7, was born with a debilitating motor-neuron disease, doctor’s said the paralysis would only last about 2 years. Owen doesn’t even have the strength to move a mouse, or talk. The IPad allows Owen to communicate with family, as well as give him a sense of entertainment and independence.

The Apple Corporation is viewed by many as an entrepreneurship. With increasing technology, Apple is able to use this as a way to help society by increasing efficiency and productivity; so is Apple a social entrepreneurship? There’s no arguing that the IPad is able to help society, but was it really invented to help society? When Apple released the first IPod, it was solely produced to make profits.

My take on this is: Apple produced the IPad to make money. They tried to make the IPad appealing to everyone; the more markets a product targets, the more money it can make.

If there is one thing that the PSP has brought Sony, it’s publicity. Sony has been on the headlines multiple times for their controversial PSP advertisements. Sony was accused to defiling public property because of their graffiti ad. Sony had paid business owners, and building owners for the right to have a professional graffiti artist “tag” the building.

It got to the point where a NYC councilman was demanding Sony to pay $20, 000 to the cities graffiti removal team. Many other citizens agreed that what they were doing was unethical. Cities spend thousands of dollars removing graffiti, and Sony is promoting it. Even though they had done it legally, the councilman states that “young children are impressionable, and if they see a wall with graffiti on it and they don’t know that it’s done with permission, it could very well lead to them believing that it’s OK for them to do it.”

Sony stated that their ads were aimed to the “urban” society.

Ford sold a total of 26,453 vehicles in the month of September. Truck sales were up 81.2%, and car sales were up 15.4%. This was a new record month of September, breaking their last record set in 1978. Other car companies, such as Toyota and GM, are still in their funk from last year, and still seeing declines. Ford is enjoying their recent success, their company is up 22%, and is still on the rise.

Ford was the only major auto retailer in 2009 to record positive sales, even in the middle of an 11 month downfall due to the financial crisis.

The big picture on auto sales in Canada is starting to look up, slowly, by 4.3% this year.  Although 2 of the main auto retailers(GM and Toyota) have seen a decrease in sales, many other companies have seen an increase. Chrysler Inc. sales are up 1.8%, car sales are down 64%, and truck sales are up 20.4%. Honda Canada had an increase of September sales of 10% from last year. Like Ford, Nissan posted a record high September, but it the case of Nissan, it was their best September in history.

When people hear about the Jeep Wrangler, they picture the type of “bush bashing” vehicle that isn’t practical for everyday use. Chrysler has now updated the Wrangler, redesigning its’ interior to make it more appealing to everyday people. This gives consumers the best of both worlds; a comfortable vehicle, with the power to haul a boat or a trailer.

This change was invoked because of the costumers. The costumers let Chrysler know that they didn’t like the interior, claiming it to be “rather spartan.” Chrysler hopes that these updates will increase sale, especially for families looking for a comfortable form of an SUV. This is evident because 60% of all Wrangler sales are of the 4-door variety.

Wrangler has already started to advertise for the release of the 2011 Wrangler, and they want consumers to know that they’ve made changes for them.

The highly reputable video sale and rental store filed for bankruptcy today, and will be forced to close some of their 3000 stores in the United States. This is due largely in part of costumers more willing to use the online service of Netflix, or the grocery store’s Red Box.

For those unfamiliar, Red Box is a movie renting vending machine in which customers can rent movies using a credit and/or debit card for 1$/night. It focuses mainly on new releases, except for movies put out by 20th Century, Warner Bros, and Universal. The full details can be read by clicking this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redbox

Although it looks gloomy for Blockbuster, all hope is not lost. Companies mentioned early (20th Century, Warner Bros, and Universal) are preferring that they rent their movies through Blockbuster. This is because they make more revenue through a rent at Blockbuster($1.45) than a rent through Red Box(1$, this is based on the average nights that a Red Box movie is kept is 2 nights). With Netflix and Red Box having a stranglehold on the movie renting industry, Blockbuster will have to make some “Blockbuster” decisions to stay a float.

Ever since a few years ago, the idea of Facebook has been continually EXPANDING. Facebook has recently taken their reign over social networking to the next level by introducing “credits,” this means that users are now being charged credits in order to purchase items for their favorite games. As an example, with credits, users can now purchase in-game items for Farmville. Facebook is expecting that this market is going to reach 835$ million this year, and have already started selling the Credit gift cards in stores around the United States.

Facebook eventually wants to be able to charge for other applications, such as music, videos, or even news articles.

This is just another way for Facebook to make money. They are trying to tap in to this market as other companies have successfully done (ex. Microsoft makes users pay to use the Xbox’s online feature, in order for gamers to get “more” out of the game). Even though it has no value in the real world, this marketing idea is going to make Facebook, and the game designers, millions.