Week 12: Internet & Innovation: Case Studies

Microsoft, Google, and Apple are the 3 technology giants of today. Why so? Let me show you some interesting discovery I found that prove my point and give you a better idea why.

 

 

 

I'm sure they are all very familiar to us. It is very difficult to say which ones are the best, really. Because each of them have their own distinct features.

 

 

Let's start with...

 

1) Apple. Here, you can see the different segments of the source of avenue for this company. I am definitely not surprised that most (55%) of the revenue came from the sale of IPHONES and 18% from iPad even though this 2 leading products that makes up the majority of the avenue does not even exist last time!

 

In this revolutionary world where everything is all about technology, a smart phone has easily succeeded in winning the hearts of many. Think convenience & efficiency. Not sure if this is true but I've heard of rumours that Apple will be releasing iPhone 7 soon. It is speculated that the camera would be sooo much better. Say hello to DSLR quality pictures!! How awesome is that? *Note: This s not confirmed by Apple, just came across this info from webs and rumours.

 

2) Google

Do you know that...2 years ago, most of Google's avenue came from ADVERTISING alone & Google tried to move into hardware manufacturing by its acquisition of Motorola Mobility?

3) Microsoft

Let's just say that for Microsoft, it is hard to segment which one is more profitable since the avenues were split into 2 distinct categories: Commercial (Windows Server products, Volume Licensing editions of Windows, and Office for business) & Consumer (OEM Windows licensing, Office for home and small business users, and Windows Phone etc).

Despite having some segments lower than the other, both categories do generate the bulk of Microsoft profits.

 

(Note that the avenues for the 3 companies were analysed in 2014).

 

With the prevalent use of smartphones especially Google's Android & Apple's IOS, it seems that nobody really pays attention to the activity of Microsoft anymore. Although, Microsoft might be the leader in the PC market, it still can't beat Google & Apple in the mobile market.

 

Yet, recently, Microsoft announced that it has a new plan to make a profit out of both Google & Apple success.

 

"At Microsoft’s developer conference today in San Francisco, the company made a proposition that mobile app makers might find hard to refuse: Reuse your existing code written for other platforms—Android, iOS, and the web—to create Windows apps. (With some modifications, these can run on Windows phones, tablets, and PCs, as well as the Xbox One and HoloLens goggles.) Then, tap into an opportunity to reach a Windows audience that Microsoft hopes will extend to 1 billion devices in the next two to three years."- source.

This is certainly a threat to Google and Apple. Will it really works? Can other companies/new business stand a chance to compete with these 3 giants? What do you think?  

Week 11: Citizen Journalism

Today I will be talking about Citizen Journalism. So what does it mean by that?

According to source, Citizen journalism is all about the gathering, writing, editing, production and distribution of news from the public aka not professional journalists by using laptops, cell phones and other mobile & wireless technologies.

Whatever it is, there are bound to have advantages & disadvantages. One can argue that citizen journalism encourages freedom of speech and news are not biased. Everything we hear from the media should be taken with a pinch of salt whereas the bad side to it would be we would be receiving nonsense news.

One prominent example of citizen journalism that is nonsensical in Singapore would be STOMP (http://www.stomp.com.sg/) & another example that is one level higher than STOMP would be, TheRealSingapore (http://therealsingapore.com/)

Will the future of journalism involves drones, virtual reality & robots? It is simply so according to the video. So does this mean that we don't need to rely on real journalists anymore since technology are also able to do the job? Well, watch the video to find out more

Week 10: Politics & Internet

Internet, social media & politics. 

Internet had already integrated into part of our everyday lives. What about the political scene? Are they catching up? Did they utilize this technology tool to promote their campaign etc?

& yes, social media is so prevalent, how could the politicians not harness the power of this new media? well, the politicians in the United States have been using the Internet in their campaigns since 1990s. However, in recent years, the usage of Internet by politicians have developed dramatically and social media is shaping the political discourse. Here's a short clip between political science professors on how the impact of social media and Web ads can affect political campaigns. 

Some of the points were quite true where people nowadays, no longer watch video or this interview on TV. Everything is viewed on the Internet & social media is really an influential tool that helps convey the news.

Other than reaching out to traditional broadcast TV viewers, the use of social media in politician campaigns are able to reach supporters & potential voters.

An incident that happened in Singapore few years ago ; Anonymous declared "War" on PAP government. The video spread like wildfire that went viral on social media as people would keep reposting the video and blacked out their FB display picture. The video also encourage Singaporeans to start a public protest by dressing in black and red.

Some citizens might think that the Anonymous is right as they are fighting for their own rights & freedom of speech, while some citizens may beg to differ. 

Internet can be put to good use but definitely not like this, like the Anonymous video as it seeks to create havoc among the nation and we will never know how the Anonymous even looks like, but manipulating Singaporeans behind the screen.