Yimeng Jia's blog

Samsung have jumped into the wearable technology bandwagon with its new product Samsung Galaxy Gear. The new product aroused a temporary excitement of the market, but in the mean time, people are questioning themselves:” Do I really need one?”

What’s the point of a smartwatch? It certainly cannot replace a computer or a cellphone, and its function are strictly limited due to its shape of a watch. Like it is argued in the article:” It’s accessory.” All the functions on a smartwatch can be completed on a smartphone more conveniently, so why would we need that watch once we have a smartphone? Sure, they’ve presented technology innovation, but what they really should do is to introduce its value proposition to the market.

Smartwatches have limited target market. People may buy it because of a temporary excitement or curiosity or just want to keep up with “fashion”, however, after all that, who is the main target market remains ambiguity. People who enjoy outdoor sports may be one customer segment, but there will still be some inconvenience due to the immaturity of this technology.

Some advocates of this devices said that it save the trouble of having to pull the phone out of their pocket to read a message. But what I’m thinking is:” Are we already that lazy?”

Reference: http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/10/04/samsung-galaxy-gear-in-canada-pebble-smartwatch-meet-the-competition/

Tomorrow’s Child, my daughter-son
I’m afraid I’ve just begun
To think of you and of your good,
Though always having known I should.

Begin I will to weigh the cost
of what I squander; what is lost
If ever I forget that you
will someday come to live here too. —————-Tomorrow’s Child by Glenn Thomas

Lured by maximizing profits, many entrepreneurs today stick to the traditional” take, make, waste” industrial system and give no concern about the social and environmental impact they caused.   However, Ray Anderson holds a contradict opinion and devotes his energy into business sustainability.

Ray Anderson founded Interface, the company that makes Flor carpeting. He focused his company’s attention on building a sustainable world. They call this drive Mission Zero: “our promise to eliminate any negative impact our company may have on the environment by the year 2020.”

In the video, Anderson objected to the traditional definition of environmental impact equation, which is explained as” the product of population, affulence and technology”, and bring up a new equation in which technology becomes a denominator rather than the numerator. He believes that technology could and should be used to contribute to sustainable ways of doing business.

Link&Citation: http://www.ted.com/talks/ray_anderson_on_the_business_logic_of_sustainability.html

Due to the growing trend of e-book reading, many magazine publishers have found it a fashion to make a beautifully designed mobile app for their magazine.

It is a common phenomenon that we have too many apps on our smartphone that we’ve opened only few times. People found a magazine attractive are likely to download an app for it, however, it usually don’t take long before the app fades out of their memory.

One interesting point brought up in the article is that publishing magazines through mobile apps does not really count as “publishing”. The content of magazines remains invisible online. Without a direct access to the articles, it is less likely that the readers will discuss about them, thus, it’s safe to say that creating apps for magazines contribute little to increasing the visibility of the magazine. Apps are inefficient channels for distributing magazines to customers.

The problem of these publishers is that they jumped into what is considered “fashion” without a thorough consideration about whether it fits the business. This is a trap that we should always watch out when deciding business plan.

Link: http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/10/07/publishing-dont-make-a-smartphone-or-tablet-app/