Month: September 2011

Amazon’s upcoming release of their new tablet, the Kindle Fire, at a price of $199 will possibly light up the competition against the leading iPad by Apple. Although it may be missing many functions that the iPad has, it’s set at a price that may position it where no other tablet is on the market.

However, it’s important to consider Amazon’s image; being known as an online book warehouse and with its predecessor Kindle being an e-reader, shifting consumers’ mindsets on its brand and focus may be challenging. Also, Apple is not its only worry; other companies, such as Barnes and Nobles Inc. and its “Nook Color” e-reader, are dueling on points of difference. Its low price may also pose a disaster due to a predicted negative contribution margin which Amazon hopes to cover through their online shopping for compatible services.

Entering the tablet market against the frontrunner iPad is a difficult task for any company; nonetheless, CEO Jeff Bezos and other analysts are confident that Amazon’s well-established online content along with its aggressive pricing will surely attract numerous consumers and increase their market share.

For the most part, Mark Zuckerberg’s constant social innovations have been controversial among web users; however, it has not deterred him from continuing to lay down what is known as “Zuckerberg’s Law.” In other words, our modern Big Brother is determined to have “the amount that people share roughly double every year” (M.G., The Economist).

Facebook’s new designs certainly do that; through the timeline, other users can view your profile and history on Facebook in a chronological manner; furthermore, users can share their information through the use of social apps. It seems quite obvious to spark concern for the potential dangers to privacy these changes may bring, but in response, Zuckerberg simply states that the user is given the power to choose what to share. As these moves benefit Facebook by improving methods of targeting advertisements, which in turn solidifies its position over competitors in social networking, user preferences drive its ability to implement such changes.

Our lives may, at any time, be observed by the watchful eyes of other users, but we are ultimately those who decide the extent of that. With this in mind, don’t forget to pay Zuckerberg for his services in the currency he prefers: our privacy.

When speaking about the growing nation of China, we acknowledge both its unique and sophisticated culture built upon centuries of civilization and its recent upbringings in the world markets. Known for its cheap production costs, everything is “Made In China“; however, what is the cost of producing both low-priced and attractive goods?

Apparently Sanlu Group believes it’s the lives of our own flesh. The company’s ploy to sell milk powder containing melamine, a chemical that enhances protein content, ended in the tragic deaths of a handful of babies. But what is to be emphasized is not simply the physical deaths of these babies, but rather a much more powerful SOS signal bringing consumers’ attentions to the indecent nature of the company’s actions. It is clearly unethical to provide babies with chemically-induced milk powder that has proven to be detrimental to health, yet companies continue to utilize such methods to produce at a lower cost.

Through Sanlu Group’s indisputable punishments for its deviance from business integrity and ethics, we must as consumers send a serious message to other manufacturers that putting lives at danger will result in harsh consequences and tainted reputations.