Occupational Folklife Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Word related Folklife - Assignment Example Participating in this movement helps us to bond out of the study hall and grow well disposed connections on and off the field as well. This causes us to meet up as a gathering and recognize as one. The qualities and abilities worried during the soccer coordinate are those of cooperation, difficult work, duty, and commitment. Every individual from the rival group gets expected to comprehend the idea of cooperation and how it is crucial in helping their group to win and play superbly. Collaboration in soccer is shown by passing the ball to your colleagues and furthermore through assaulting or guarding against the rival group as a unit. Every part likewise needs to show devotion and duty by making time to take an interest in this action after class and gathering work. As individuals from the gathering study, we urge each other to appear for matches and consistently give our whole exertion when playing for our groups. Individuals urge each other to devote some portion of their additional time towards playing soccer together. Soccer is a genuinely requesting game and requires difficult work to keep up physical wellness and shape. As a gathering, we attempt warm-ups and some physical activities together before playing. By working out, individuals get the opportunity to guarantee their degrees of physical wellness are exemplary and subsequently don't strain truly during the match. Through playing soccer as a casual action, the individual status or positions inside the gathering become overlooked until the match is finished. The action encourages the gathering to bond and identify with one another as colleagues and companions on an easygoing premise. Soccer helps the gathering individuals to identify with one another on a well disposed level where we share a joke about one another or let free of the reality that originates from knowing each other on our scholastic levels. Gathering individuals wouldn't fret about their scholastic performances’ while on the field playing, yet rather become concentrated on helping their groups to win.â

Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 89

Task - Essay Example At that point breaking down and deciphering information by organizing and deciphering so as to make inferences of the outcomes is fundamental. At long last, setting up the report of the examination by including an official rundown, inquire about techniques depiction, conversation of the investigation results, confinements and finishing up just as proposal are the necessary strides in the exploration (Sontakki, 2010). There are two sorts of information assortment, which are essential and auxiliary information. For our situation, the favored technique is the essential research strategy for information assortment. Exploratory includes center gatherings, contextual analyses, client interviews, projective methods and ethnographies. In figuring out what the consumers’ needs, the best strategy is through exploratory research where through client meetings and center gatherings, vital data will be acquired concerning Google in Chicago. Additionally, it is to the befit of the clients to give certifiable data over the exploration to direct. Utilizing client interviews, projective procedures and center gatherings has supported in deciding of SWOT investigation. Qualities incorporate item combination, open administrations and items source, solid portfolio licenses, and the essential items are client and quality experience. Shortcomings incorporate unrewarding items, one pay source dependence, and patent prosecutions. Openings are versatile number users’ increase, Google fiber links, licenses acquire by means of acquisitions and growing to hardware industry. Dangers included are, for example, unrewarding items, rivalry from Microsoft, portable web users’ augmentation and EU antitrust laws (Sontakki, 2010). In the Google advertisements and purchaser needs, the reason for statistical surveying venture has highlighted all difficulties and explained in understanding to the seven stages. The gatherings have empowered the organization to enhance a few

2013 Essay Questions - UGA Undergraduate Admissions

2013 Essay Questions - UGA Undergraduate Admissions 2013 Essay Questions As promised, here are the essay questions for the 2013 First Year application. The application will be available in mid-August. 1. Choose an intellectual or creative opportunity (for example, community involvement, a summer program, a unique project, travel abroad, etc.) from your high school years that you have enjoyed and highlight how you have grown personally because of the experience. 2. UGAs First Year Odyssey Program offers more than 300 seminar courses for new freshmen. Some examples include The History ofHorse-racing, Einstein and the Theories of Relativity and The Zombie Plague. If you could create your own seminar course at UGA in any subject area that interests you, what would it be? What would the course be named and what would you hope to learn? 3. Tell us an interesting or amusing story about yourself that you have not already shared in your application. 4. Incredibly, you have just won a $100 million lottery. To receive it, you must first earn a college degree. How does this change your college experience? How does it change your life after college? You may also find the questions onlinehere. Go Dawgs!

A Vegetarian Diet Is Beneficial - 922 Words

A Vegetarian Diet is Beneficial to the Human Body and to the Planet Did you know that Benjamin Franklin was a vegetarian? He lived to be 80. As Mr. Franklin himself wrote: â€Å"My refusing to eat meat occasioned inconveniency, and I have been frequently chided for my singularity. But my light repast allows for greater progress, for great clearness of head, and quicker comprehension.† (Cite) A vegetarian diet is healthier than you might think and benefits the environment as well. The health benefits of a plant-based diet include preventing heart disease, cancer prevention, weight management, and slowing the aging process. Additionally, there are added benefits in vegetarian proteins compared to animal proteins. A vegetarian diet is†¦show more content†¦Additionally, there is the problem of methane gas. Raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gasses than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. These gasses are created by manure. (2) (Cite United Nations 2006 report, Livestock’s Long Shadow - Envi ronmental Issues and Options) Furthermore, forests are being bulldozed to make more room for factory farms and feed crops to feed farmed animals. The destruction of the forests causes soil erosion, pollution of streams, rivers and oceans, and destruction of wildlife. In making the following comments, The Nature Conservatory urges us to take this matter very seriously. â€Å"Thirty percent of the earth’s land mass is used for livestock pasture and production of livestock feed, causing mass deforestation compaction, and erosion from overgrazing. Water pollution from animal waste, antibiotics and hormones, fertilizers, and pesticides is an increasing worldwide concern.† (The Nature Conservatory). Ultimately what is at stake here is the well being of our planet for future generations. The American Dietetic Association reports that vegetarians have â€Å"lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; †¦ lower blood cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.† Many leading well-being experts agree that a balanced vegetarian diet is the greatest thing we can easily do for our families and also ourselves.

Trade Unions And The Workplace - 1692 Words

Trade Unions are organisations and purpose is to look after employees in the workplace and protect their rights. The way trade unions work, is that an employee needs to become a member of a specific trade union, pays a fee to invest in the union’s operations. In turn trade unions help employees with things such as health and safety in the workplace, protection from discrimination, proper pay and leave entitlements, making sure that the workers rights are protected etc. Unions also aim to protect the interests of a union member for example, they commence campaigns and negotiations for increased pay rates and they also try to improve working conditions such as health and safety. Employees generally work in different jobs and industries so†¦show more content†¦The rights of this casual worker were also broken which were Anti-Discrimination, Unfair Dismissal which will all be addressed below. For the purpose of this report, only rights relating to this case will be detail ed below. NES RIGHTS: The National Employment Standards are ten rights the employees are entitled to and they all apply to any worker in any job. The minimum NES rights include provisions relating to the number of hours worked, such as the right to work no more than a maximum weekly total of hours, and the right to request flexible working arrangements (including variation of hours). Parental leave and Related Entitlements should be available to all non-casual employees that have family responsibilities. Annual leave is another provision under the NES rights to which all (non-casual) employees are entitled, and allows employees to take holidays. When an employee is ill, or has family issues etc, Personal Carer s and Compassionate leave entitles them to take time off to deal with their problems. Community service leave includes employees such as casual workers who can have leave for certain activities such as voluntary emergency management activities and so forth. Public holidays are days were employees get to have a day from their work and spend their own time with whatever they have. Long service leave is when workers get long service leave after they

Reduced scale Free Essays

string(293) " the registration and licensing of Cacaos, prudential requirements, standard forms of accounts, co-operate governance, amalgamations, divisions and liquidations; establishment of a COCO Regulatory Authority, savings protection insurance, and setting up a Central Liquidity Fund, among others\." The reforms aimed at the eradication of poverty and unemployment challenges through substantial recovery and improvement or productivity of investment economizing the private sector as the main engine of growth. In discussing the issues of the liberalizing of cooperative policies practices and legislation its clear that the societies have both successes and failures. Successes of the liberalizing of cooperatives up to date To the cooperative movement, liberalizing measures were put in place with a view to create commercially autonomous member-based cooperatives that would be democratically and professionally managed; self-controlled; and self-reliant. We will write a custom essay sample on Reduced scale or any similar topic only for you Order Now To this effect in 1997 government published Session Paper No. 6 of 1997 on â€Å"Co-operatives n a Liberalized Economic Environment† to provide the new policy framework for the necessary reforms. To date the role of the government was redefined from control to regulatory and facilitative in nature. The Ministry of Co-operative Development duties were confined to registration and liquidation of co-operative societies; enforcement of the Co-operative Societies Act; formulation of co-operative policy; advisory and creation of conducive environment for co-operative growth and development; registration of co-operative audits; and carrying out of inquiries, investigations and inspections which is still applicable today. Successfully also was the enforcement of co-operative principles of voluntary and open Membership; democratic member control; member-economic participation; autonomy and independence; education, training and information; co-operation among cooperatives; and concern for community. The reforms have given autonomy to individuals will to Join or leave the cooperatives, which is still effectively being practiced, up to date. The 1966 Co- operative Societies Act was repealed and replaced by the Co-operative Societies Act, No. 2 of 1997 the new Co-operative Societies Act served to reduced government involvement in the day-to-day management of co-operatives. Cooperatives were granted authority to rule over themselves from the previous state controls by transferring the management duties in co-operatives from the Commissioner for Co- operative Development to the members through their duly elected management committees. This trend is still applicable up to date where by members have the discre tion to make policies through Coco’s that benefit them. Co-operatives were no longer required to seek the permission of the Commissioner to invest, spend or borrow. They were now free to borrow against part or the whole of their properties if heir by-laws allowed, provided the annual general meeting approved such borrowing which is still applicable today. The reforms have also given cooperatives the power to hire and fire grade staff without the commissioners consent. The cooperative movement as a result of liberalizing has seen a growth in the cooperative movement with a growth in 2004 of 10,642 cooperatives in Kenya and currently the number is increasing rapidly with the inception of other better laws such as the new constitution. Despite the reducing trend of membership surprisingly there’s an increase in member registration in Coco’s over the years up to date new CACAOS are being formed even among the self-employed persons in the informal AU Kali) and agricultural sectors, which is a complete departure from the past where these co-operatives were only formed among the employed persons in the urban areas. To this extent, it can be said that liberation has transformed the cooperative movement and that many citizens are appreciative of it. Liberalizing of the cooperative movement has transformed the structural organization of cooperatives. The inefficient cooperative unions are increasingly loosing their members, for cooperative societies now have the freedom to seek better service provision from there organizations or make provision for such services on their own. Another advantage is that Agricultural co-operative unions have particularly been affected through monopoly. For instance, in the dairy sub-sector, co-operative societies were affiliated to the Kenya Cooperative Creameries (KC) that monopolized the processing and marketing of milk up to the early sass’s. It is in these circumstances that some of them like Guthrie and Lemur dairy co-operative societies have put up their own milk processing plants that are still running up to date. With this, vertical integration f cooperatives in the dairy sector has virtually collapsed as cooperative societies now have the freedom to sell their produce to any willing buyer rather than KC and some of the societies have put up their own milk processing plants to offer the services previously provided by KC. Despite all that, non-agricultural co-operative unions have remained vibrant, particularly those in the financial sector, and have subsequently maintained the vertical structure of the cooperative movement. For example, to date Kenya Union of Savings and Credit Cooperative (COUSCOUS) brings gather over 2,600 active COCO societies with a membership of over two million while the Kenya Rural Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies Union KEIRETSU has 45 active rural COCO societies with a membership of 1. 5 million. These unions serve as the mouthpieces of the respective CACAOS in the country; a feat that has helped the unions continue to attract rather than loose membership. COUSCOUS also provides common shared services like education and training; business development, consultancy and research; risk management; and the inter-lending program for CACAOS called Central Finance Program. These services have attracted CACAOS to main loyal members of COUSCOUS, and helping it attain the status of the largest COCO movement in Sub-Sahara Africa. Successfully with the current liberalizing of cooperatives most of the cooperative organizations are functioning without reference to the apex organization. The role of spokesperson and representative of the cooperative movement is increasingly being played by national cooperative organizations and cooperative unions. As an example, COUSCOUS being the mother of all Coco’s now stands out as the mouth-piece and advocate of CACAOS in all matters that affect the development and growth of these cooperatives. COUSCOUS has been vibrant in the recent past by being vocal, in opposing the retrenchment of employee’s as that would affect the membership of Cacaos. Even more significantly, COUSCOUS was recently involved in the formulation of the yet to be debated and enacted COCO Act that sets out to make special provisions for the registration and licensing of Cacaos, prudential requirements, standard forms of accounts, co-operate governance, amalgamations, divisions and liquidations; establishment of a COCO Regulatory Authority, savings protection insurance, and setting up a Central Liquidity Fund, among others. You read "Reduced scale" in category "Papers" In the circumstances, the collapse of the vertical organization of the cooperative movement in the country is increasingly becoming evident. Another success of the liberalizing is that with liberalizing of the economy, banks such as The Cooperative Bank of Kenya have opened shareholding to individual members of co-operative societies as was duly recommended by their societies in 1996. The bank has however, retained its association with the co-operative movement by restricting 70% of the shares to co-operatives while individual members of societies hold only 30% of the shares and are not entitled to attend the annual general meeting of the ann.. This has helped to keep out private shareholders who might have bought out the bank as has been the case in other African countries. The coming of this policy framework also saw the International Cooperative Alliance’s (CA) cooperative principles of voluntary and open membership, democratic member control; member- economic participation, autonomy and independence, education, training, cooperation among cooperatives; and concern for community became formally incorporated in the cooperative policy. The 1997 policy failed to provide for the separation of the responsibilities of elected management committees from managerial staff responsibilities. Consequently, management decisions were still made by elected leaders that may not be qualified managers. In such response to the inadequacies of the 1997 policy, the Ministry formulated a revised policy framework titled â€Å"Kenya Cooperative Development Policy 2008†. The 2008 policy themed at ‘expanding the economic space for sustainable cooperative growth in Kenya’, focused on restructuring, strengthening and transforming cooperatives into vibrant economic entities that can confront the challenges of wealth creation, employment creation and poverty reduction as private business ventures. To date the policy is still up and running. After the fall of Kenya National Federation of Cooperatives KNIFE, the interim Board started developing the strategy in 2007 by holding provincial consultative meetings that focused on how to revive the organization. This culminated in the National Cooperative Leaders Conference in November in 2007, which endorsed a new governance structure, revised By-Laws (2008) and a new funding strategy. The revised By-Laws (Kenya National Federation of Cooperatives, Bibb) proposed a governance structure consisting of a secretariat composed of the Executive Director ND four heads of sections; a technical committee comprising of the Chief Executive Officers of Nachos; the General Assembly as the supreme authority consisting of 75 elected delegates; and the National Governing Council as the executive authority comprising of eight Chairmen of Nachos, seven elected regional representatives, the Commissioner for Cooperative Development and the Executive Director. The By-Laws also address the need for strengthening of the financial capacity of KNIFE, as they propose a graduated scale of annual contribution by members based on the type of cooperative organization and annual turnover. This amends have helped to shape the federation up to date with increased number of people. The revitalization program has charted a new direction for the organization, as it restricted its activities to the core objective for which it was formed. That is, to be the mouth-piece of the cooperative movement in Kenya by engaging in advocacy, lobbying, collaboration and networking activities. At the end of the revitalization process, the investment in institutional capacity building of KNIFE should has enabled it to address wealth creation and poverty alleviation of the cooperative movement. Liberalizing has rough about growth of banks such as the Cooperative Bank of Kenya. The Bank has not only been instrumental in providing banking services to cooperatives, but has also been the source of affordable credit for the cooperative movement. For instance, today it lends approximately EKES 3. 5 billion (USED $46. Million) annually to Cacaos, in order to increase their liquidity levels so that they can meet member demands for loans associated with school fees. Moreover, the Cooperative Bank still serves as a mechanism through which most donors to the agricultural sector, particularly those that produce coffee, can channel their support. This has allowed the Cooperative Bank to network with many donors, such as Food Aid Organization (FAA), and the European Union, among others. I n the financial sector, CACAOS are also increasingly becoming innovative by developing new products to enhance their income. For instance there’s some diversification of traditional products of savings and credit of Coco’s by introducing Front Surviving liberalizing: the cooperative movement in Kenya Front Office Service Activity (FOSS). FOSS offers services that members can use to process their monthly salary, while having access to instant cash advances (based n their salary) and maintaining withdrawal savings deposits. Currently, slightly over 250 CACAOS operate with this activity in Kenya. In addition, the COCO movement is quickly spreading from its traditional urban and wage employment strongholds into the agricultural sector in rural areas and informal economy. As a success liberalizing has enabled the setup of free market cooperative entities that have led many people to derive their Jobs from marketing products produced by cooperatives. For instance, dairy cooperatives produce various products such as fresh ilk, ghee, butter and yoghurt; while other agricultural cooperatives market coffee, fish, pyrometer and eggs. These products are then passed on to other entities to market to retailers, wholesalers and consumers. To date this trend continues and has helped reduce poverty and provide employment as it was the expectation of the 1996 framework policy paper. Liberalizing has made Cooperatives to be sources of income by generating opportunities for many people, particularly members of cooperatives. In 2007, primary cooperatives in the agricultural sector had a membership of 1 approximately 50% of whom were estimated to be active. The CACAOS had 6,286,894 members, 98% whom were active in the lending activities of their cooperatives. The other non-agricultural primary cooperatives had a total membership of 334,000, with approximately 50 per cent active. These figures are clear pointers to the significant contribution of cooperatives to poverty reduction and poverty prevention in Kenya to date. This is particularly true as most of the income generated from cooperatives is mainly used to address long-term poverty prevention measures. Liberalizing has brought focus on cooperatives to the core activities of operatives, including agribusiness, entrepreneurship, savings and credit advancement regulations, leadership and governance of cooperatives, and the economic benefits of membership in cooperatives, among others. It is apparent that any cooperative that doesn’t provide Economic gains in Kenya tends to be deserted by the members. This is evidenced by dormancy that cooperatives are currently experiencing. A few activities of such successful cooperative ventures could be viewed as attempts at offering social protection to the members and this has brought the growth in some cooperatives in the country. As an advantage the framework policy has seen transformation of the cooperative movement where benevolent funds have been introduced in most CACAOS to which members contribute regularly and only draw from them when they are bereaved. The schemes define the relatives in whose death the member would get assistance to meet the burial expenses, as well as the respective amount of money to which he/ she would be entitled. Gracefully the institutionalizing of the framework paper policy and liberalizing has seen the transformation of the Cooperative Insurance Company(ClC). This company has the ore business of giving protection against risks associated with operation of cooperative enterprise, as well as cooperators themselves. Significant ICC has also developed a micro-finance insurance scheme specifically for covering savings of micro-finance institutions (Miff) in case a person with a loan passes away before completing repayment. Negative aspects of the liberalizing of cooperatives Consequently, the immediate impact on most co-operatives was mainly negative. The elected leaders abused the freedom bestowed on them and to the detriment of many cooperative societies. Corruption cases; gross mismanagement by officials; theft of operative resources; split of viable co-operatives into small uneconomic units; failure by employers to surrender members’ deposits to co-operatives (particularly Cacaos); failure to hold elections in co-operatives; favoritism in hiring and dismissal of staff; refusal by co-operative officials to vacate office after being duly voted out; conflict of interest among co-operative officials; endless litigation; unauthorized co- operative investments; and illegal payments to the management committees were increasingly reported in many co-operatives and up to date the trend is till continuing though at a reduced scale. Though there’s a surge of cooperative societies the indication is that up to date there’s recorded numbers of dormant cooperative societies. In 2004, the Kenya Union of Savings and credit cooperatives actually estimated that 42% of the cooperative societies were dormant. The number is still increasing and this isn’t beneficial to the eradication of poverty through employment and innovation. The relative poor performance of agricultural cooperatives could also be attributed to the liberalizing of the co-operative sector without adequately preparing the co-operatives. There’s also the element of over dependence of the agriculture sector, which leads to failure unexpectedly. Liberalizing has brought about immense changes in the cooperative movement. The Kenya National Federation of Cooperatives was the national apex of cooperative movements in Kenya. Its dominance declined drastically due to corruption and mismanagement reason being that poor management over the years saw KNIFE deviate from its core business into other activities, such as auditing, education and training as well as research and consultancy. Such activities were already being performed by some of its members, and subsequently KNIFE ended up competing with some of its members hat were offering the same services to the cooperative movement. In the circumstances some cooperatives found no reason for being members of a federation that they saw as a competitor. However its quick revival was established in 2005 after the then minister of cooperatives dissolved Knife’s Board of Directors and replaced it with an interim board (Kenya National Federation of Cooperatives, AAA). Interim Board of Directors that was appointed by the Minister in May 2005 immediately embarked upon developing strategies for reform and restructuring to revivalist the organization (Kenya National Federation of Cooperatives, 2007). As a active impact KNIFE has largely been ineffective in representing the cooperative movement during policy and legal processes. As an example, it failed to effectively participate and influence changes to the 1997 Cooperative Societies Act that produced the Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2004. KNIFE started monopolizing donor support after the ACT had been enacted to hold consultations on the implications of the Act, which was too late to achieve any impact. Perhaps this also explains the absence of cooperatives in national development debates. KNIFE has lacked even up to date the urge to influence policy and legislative debates in Kenya, aging it difficult to improve the visibility of the cooperative movement. This is surely a liberalizing downfall a thing that the paper framework couldn’t expect to happen. As a negative effect liberalizing has reduced government support since autonomy was given to the private sector this free market approach has unfortunately brought to the decline of, the number of trainees from Cooperative college of Kenya. Cooperatives attending the college have been reducing since the liberalizing due to the tremendous reduction in government sponsorship to the cooperative movement for training purposes. Left on their own, most cooperatives, especially in the agricultural sector, have been unable to raise the required fees for their staff to train at the college. CONCLUSION In conclusion, the impact of liberalizing has seen cooperatives survive the market forces and open up more enterprising innovations that secure the welfare of employees. Successfully much legislation has been put in place that is still working up to date and this has helped to attract more members to cooperatives. On the downside corruption is still rampant as the societies grow new schemes are being hatched to hamper the progress of the cooperatives. How to cite Reduced scale, Papers

The Road-Father Son Relationship free essay sample

The Road by Cormac McCarthy, the man protects and guides the boy during their trudge to the south. However, in the story, they act more as companions than father and son, and the man treats the boy as an equal both in action and dialogue. Chased by cannibals, the boy he man seeks to defend the boy from both the cannibals and scavenge food for them to survive. As the man and boy trek down the road, cannibals closely hunt them and they often escape by hiding or by retreating away. The man often plunders empty houses, trying to find food and clothes for them. The man is successful, finding â€Å"crate upon create of canned goods† (McCarthy 138). â€Å"Tomatoes, peaches, beans, apricots, canned ham, corned beef†, etc. (McCarthy 138) provides the food the man and the boy eats. The man carries a pistol with him used to shield them from cannibals. Before the man dies, he gives the boy the pistol, telling him to â€Å"keep the gun with you at all times. We will write a custom essay sample on The Road-Father Son Relationship or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page You need to find the good guys but you cant take any chances. † (McCarthy 278). As mentioned before, the man and boy communicate more as friends than relatives.. At the beginning of The Road, when the man first woke â€Å"he’d reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him† to confirm the child’s well-being. The man will â€Å"read me [the boy] a story† (McCarthy 7) and â€Å"held the boy close to him† (McCarthy 29). The boy demonstrates great maturity as he cares for the man by reminding him to â€Å"pour the hot water back [†¦] and pour some of the cocoa into his own† (McCarthy 34) and constantly reminding the man to take heed of his health. Eventually, after the man dies, he was â€Å"wrapped in a blanket.

Deprivation causes creation (minimalism in art forms) essays

Deprivation causes creation (minimalism in art forms) essays In todays society reaching new and diverse heights is what differentiates one from the other. Creating an idea or style that an audience or market has never been introduced to can begin a new and ever-changing revolution. Ever since minimalism was discovered, ones views on certain aspects of society have dramatically changed. During the 1960s, minimalism was first introduced in the United States (Berne). Since this idea was extremely foreign to Americans, the curiosity caused the economy to boom. Most art, music, and literature of the earlier days was complex and confusing for the spectators. Minimalism, on the other hand, was simple and reached a broader audience, precisely why the discovery was so successful (Berne). The lack or absence of some idea or meaning became the prime definition of minimalism. Today, one of the most popular intellectual achievements that can attain minimalist features is visual art. Being minimal in art can cause a viewer to focus on the true meaning of the work. When this idea of a new and refreshing style of art was introduced, it was like no other. Art has never before been so uncomplicated. This unique design has an absence of decoration and clutter (Hubbard). Unlike prior art, this is a return to bare essentials such as pyramids, cubes and other geometric volumes (Hubbard). Painting in general explores subtle gradations of single hues on a monochrome canvas (Struble 321). One would think some of the designs were created by a child because of the playful figures. This is somewhat the artists goal, which is to create a piece that is simple and easy to comprehend. Also, color plays its own role in minimalist works of art. Most often the artists choose primary colors, such as black, white, red and green. Occasionally, artists will also use bright and pa stel colors to add a touch of spunk to the piece (Hubbard). Other names in which th...

The Murder of Roseann Quinn

The Murder of Roseann Quinn Roseann Quinn was a 28-year-old school teacher who was brutally murdered in her apartment by a man she had met at a neighborhood bar. Her murder prompted the movie hit, Looking for Mr.Goodbar. Early Years Roseann Quinn was born in 1944. Her parents, both Irish-American, moved the family from Bronx, New York, to Mine Hill Township, New Jersey when Quinn was 11. At age 13 she was diagnosed with polio and spent a year hospitalized. Afterwards she was left with a slight limp, but was able to return to her normal life. Quinns parents were both devout Catholics and raised their children as such. In 1962, Quinn graduated from the Morris Catholic High School in Denville, New Jersey. By all appearances she seemed to get along well with her classmates. A notation in her yearbook described her as, Easy to meet...nice to know. In 1966 Quinn graduated from the Newark State Teachers College and she began teaching at St. Josephs School for the Deaf in the Bronx. She was a dedicated teacher who was well liked by her students. The 1970s In the early 1970s the womans movement and the sexual revolution was beginning to take hold. Quinn adopted some of more liberal points of view of the times, and unlike some of her peers, she surrounded herself with a circle of racially diverse friends from various backgrounds and professions. She was an attractive woman, with an easy smile and an opened attitude. In 1972, she moved by herself into New York City, renting a small studio apartment on the West Side. Living alone seemed to nourish her desire for independence and she would often go to bars alone after work. There she would sometimes read a book while sipping wine. Other times she would meet men and invite them back to her apartment for the night. This promiscuous side of her seemed in direct conflict with her serious, more professional day time persona, especially because often times the men she met seemed on the rough side and lacking in education. Neighbors would later say that fairly regularly Quinn could be heard fighting with men in her apartment. On at least one occasion the fighting turned physical and left Quinn hurt and bruised. New Years Day, 1973 On Jan. 1, 1973, Quinn, as she had on many occasions, went across the street from where she lived to a neighborhood bar called W. M. Tweeds. While there she met two men, one a stock broker named Danny Murray and his friend John Wayne Wilson. Murray and Wilson were gay lovers who had lived together for almost a year. Murray left the bar around 11 p.m. and Quinn and Wilson continued to drink and talk late into the night. Around 2 a.m. they left Tweeds and went to Quinns apartment. The Discovery Three days later Quinn was found dead inside the apartment. She had been beaten over the head with a metal bust of herself, raped, stabbed at least 14 times and had a candle inserted into her vagina. Her apartment was ransacked and the walls were splattered with blood. The news of the grisly murder spread through New York City quickly and soon details of Quinns life, often written as her double life became front page news. In the meantime detectives, who had few clues to go on, released a sketch of Danny Murray to the newspapers. After seeing the sketch Murray contacted a lawyer and met with the police. He told them what he knew including that Wilson had returned to their apartment and confessed to the murder. Murray supplied Wilson with money so he could go to his brothers house in Indiana. John Wayne Wilson On January 11, 1973, police arrested Wilson for the murder of Roseann Quinn. Afterwards details of Wilsons sketchy past were revealed. John Wayne Wilson was 23 at the time of his arrest. Originally from Indiana, the divorced father of two girls, relocated to Florida before going to New York City. He had a lengthy arrest record having served jail time in Daytona Beach, Florida for disorderly conduct and again in Kansas City, Missouri on larceny charges. In July 1972, he escaped from a Miami jail and made it to New York where he worked as a street hustler until he met and moved in with Murray. Although Wilson had been arrested numerous times, there was nothing in his past that indicated that he was a violent and dangerous man. Wilson later made a full statement about the case. He told police that he was drunk the night he killed Quinn and that after going to her apartment they smoked some pot. He became enraged and killed her after she made fun of him for not being able to perform sexually. Four months after his arrest Wilson committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell with bed sheets. Criticism of Police and News Media During the Quinn murder investigation, police were often quoted in a way that made it appear the Quinns lifestyle was more to blame for her murder than the murderer himself. A protective voice from the womans movement seemed to curl around Quinn who could not defend herself, speaking up for her right to live the way she wanted, and to keep her as the victim, and not as a temptress whose actions caused her to be stabbed and beaten to death. Although it had little effect at the time, complaints on how the media presented Quinns murder and other women murdered during that time, influenced some change in how respectable news agencies wrote about female murder victims. Looking for Mr. Goodbar Many in New York City remained haunted by the murder of Roseann Quinn and in 1975, author Judith Rossner wrote the best-selling novel, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, which mirrored Quinns life and the way she was murdered. Described as a cautionary story to woman, the book became a best seller. In 1977 it was made into a movie starring Diane Keaton as the victim.

Event Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Event Management - Assignment Example The purpose of fundraising is usually organized by an individual or a social organization for non-profit purposes. However, fundraising is also used to obtain funds from potential entities that are capable of investing money in the interests of an organization typically for financing some strategic operation in which case, the practice of fundraising indicates towards a for-profit motive. There are a number of ways in which fundraising is usually organized. The first and the foremost among them is by way of an annual endowment that is usually received from either a governmental agency or a financial institution. Such an endowment is usually given on a periodic basis whenever the beneficiary has invested money on a prior basis so as to entitle it to receive such a periodic financial return. This form of fundraising is usually adopted by non-profit organizations in order to ensure a periodic flow of income that helps the organizations to perform its yearly activities (L. Peter Edles, 2006). There is also another form of fundraising, which is different fr... For example, a non-profit entity may sell devotional books in order to generate the necessary funds. It is also not uncommon to see banners in stores which say that a part of the proceeds would go towards the benefit of war veterans. This not only helps boost sales, but ensures that the intended target audience benefits in the end. There is also another form of fundraising wherein the organization that is to receive funds, does not receive it in the form of monetary funds, but rather some gifts are donated to it, in which case it is known as an 'In-kind gift'. The practice of fundraising is nowadays being vigorously being carried out over the internet too. Thus, it can be seen that the fundraising is carried out for a number of purposes by a number of entities for both profit and non-profit purposes (Adrian Sargeant and Elaine Jay, 2004). SPONSORS The concept of sponsorship is another important aspect of event management, wherein it is concerned with receiving financial and other forms of support from an individual or an organization in order to organize an event. Apart from supporting events, sponsorship is also utilized for supporting individuals as well as organizations that are in need of funds and are themselves unable to generate it on their own. Under sponsorship, the individual or organizations that arranges for providing the required assistance is referred to as a 'Sponsor'. Therefore, a sponsor would either have the necessary financial backing or the requisite capability to provide support such as personnel, infrastructure etc. or a combination of both. Unlike a fundraiser, a sponsorship is an activity that is intended to benefit both the Sponsor as well as the entity that receives the funds from the

Art and Antiques Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Art and Antiques - Essay Example (MTI, 2005) The modern art market in the UK equals to 26% of the world market, and 50% of the European markets. Modern art includes the works dating since the middle of the 2oth century until the present time. It is notable, that with the changes of the surrounding in which we live, with changing quality and inner style of art, it is also becoming more marketing and some critics even state that modern artists work depending on the marketing conjuncture and the needs and demand at the market; moreover, with the development of media the popularity of selling art through Internet and online auctions acquires new meaning and can soon become the principal means of selling modern art all over the world. The demand for modern art, as well as the prices and revenues tend to go along with the economic cycles; moreover, through the periods of economic recession art appears to be one of the most vulnerable areas and is seriously damaged by financial losses and low demand. As it has been said, the main aim of the work is to conclude, whether the modern art in the market is an attractive object of investment; this is why it should be noted that art was always viewed as the means of investing finances, its profitability is much similar to that of the stock market. (Moore, 2004) Since much art and antiques are viewed as an investment, the art market index correlates approximately with that of the stock market; however, a healthy stock market and higher interest rates also attract capital away from alternative investments. This is because stocks and cash savings produce dividends and returns that are more attractive, when the stock market is buoyant and interest rates high, than the capital exchange value of art and antiques.' (Moore, 2004) It is notable, that recent years have become a landmark in the demand for modern British art - it was constantly growing. The works of art produced through the period of 1920 to 1980 (the period which is supposed to be contemporary) are selling well, and all styles of modern art from conservative realism to post-war abstraction are equally demanded. In order to understand the reason for the positive changes in the UK modern art market and to discuss the principal distribution channels about it, it is worth looking into the depth of the modern art market in the country. International art movements were traditionally much more popular than modern British art, making it come back to the background of the European art market and thus losing its popularity. 'The British have always been peculiarly apologetic about their hometown talents, preferring instead to extort the virtues of their European and American counterparts.' (Woolmer, 2004) Only the recent ten years have become the note of the shift towards the attitudes in the British modern art and the Cork street is now becoming the principal distribution channel, earning serious profits on promoting British art, though only now the British masterpieces start to catch up with the European works of the same level in financial estimates. British art has always been noted to be 'underpriced' and only now the prices for the works of British modern art start to reach the level of their quality. For example, the gentle oil of Sennen Cove by Laura Knight was the real stir at

Open Source vs Closed Source Systems

Open Source vs Closed Source Systems INTRODUCTION For many years, proprietary software has been the dominating business approach used by the commercial software firms. Industry giants like Microsoft proved this strategy to be successful, building their multibillion dollar empires based on the proprietary software platform. Over the past decade, a new business approach called open source model which involves contributors from around the globe to create, share and distribute software code for free had come into practice (Pal, N Madanmohan, TR., 2002). Although the roots to this practice of sharing code evolved since early 60s, the widespread usage of internet and the technology developments in past two decades opened new opportunities for open source projects (CNET news, 1998). A number of Open Source Software (OSS) products such as Apache web server, BIND and SendMail have dominated their product categories ever since then (Pal, N Madanmohan, TR., 2002). In the past decade, several researchers (Wheeler, DA., 2007; Mockus, et al., 2000) have taken interest in studying how open source can be applied to modern business strategies. However, a concern exists that in this area of study that there is no substantial evidence that the practices followed are effective in the business environment (Bitzer Schrà ¶der, 2004). For economists like Lerner Tirole (2000), the altruism shown by commercial companies and programmers involved in an open source software project is surprising. They stated altruism hasnt played a major role in any other industry than software. Several others like Freeman Rogers (2008) and Goetz (2003) contradict this statement by illustrating altruism exist in any industry provided there is proper exposure of the problem towards the contributing community. But most of the researches surrounding open source model considered software industry as the base for their studies. 1.0 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT 1.1 Objective This project work focuses on the study of the Open Source ecosystem (Android) how it differs from Closed source sustems such as those surrounding the iPhone. This project includes the study of the Android Market, (online mobile application store for Android users) application developers, and which factors developers consider for selecting a platform for application development. To understand business strategy development trends across Android and iPhone platforms, we compared the Android market with the iPhone App Store, the leading application store in current mobile market. Apple launched an online application marketplace called the â€Å"iPhone App Store† before launching iPhone 3G. Currently, this store has more than 195,000 applications. To match or surpass the success of iPhone App Store, Apple rivals such as Google and Blackberry introduced their own application downloading stores called â€Å"Android Market† and â€Å"Blackberry App World† respectively. T he Android Market is similar to the iPhone App Store or to any other application store; it boasts a catalog of applications,  services and tools available for the user to purchase download and use. Today, the Android Market also has around 49,000 applications. Thus, the comparison between iPhone and Android application stores will help explain the new challenges faced by these two application stores, and also the demand for these stores in the near future. This study will help understand why Android choose Open Source System and why Apple doesnt, what determines their success, which large companies are directly involved in developing applications for Android, and which factors they consider for developing an application. 1.2 Experimental Procedures This project is based on a semi-automatically collected application database and   surveys to obtain necessary information for proving the hypothesis. (A) Website Data Firstly, application data were collected semi-automatically from the Android Market and iPhone App Store (iTunes store) and other mobile applications related websites, for e.g., Androlib.com, iPhoneapplicationlist.com. This gathered application database includes a list of the application categories on both platforms, number of applications in each category, and application information for the selected categories. (B) Interview Data Next, we interviewed mobile application developers to understand and know their views about Android/iPhone platforms and the ecosystem. To get in touch with mobile application developers, we attended the mobile conferences where they gather to share their views. (C) Survey Data Lastly, all the relevant facts about application developers from the interview data helped us prepare a survey. This web-based survey was prepared and conducted using Survey Monkey. 1.3 Resources Utilized The main resources used during this project were our industrial advisor, our academic reader, Android and iPhone application database, interviews and surveys from mobile application developers. 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction of Literature Review In order to achieve success in project implementation, the first step is to research and find information already available. During research, we found many articles related to our topic. This paper is based on the content from these articles. We have divided this section in four main areas: Overview of the Open Source Operating Systems (Android). Overview of the Closed Source Operating Systems (Apple IOS). Fundamentals behind the Open Source Platform. Introduction to the Smartphone. 2.2 Overview of the Open Source Operating Systems (Android). Google has achieved something remarkable with its open-source Android operating system. SinceApples iPhonerevolutionised thesmartphonein June 2007, bringing touchscreens and a beautiful user experience to the masses, its been without a rival. Sure, theres a small legion of BlackBerry fans, and a few Nokia die-hards, but the critical consensus up until about a year ago was that the iPhones achievements were peerless. EnterAndroid. The free, open-source mobile operating system was introduced to consumers with theHTC Dream(also known as theT-Mobile G1) in late 2008, but didnt start gaining steam until the release of theHTC Heroin July 2009. The Hero, armed with a custom user interface called Sense that HTC built in-house, gained rave reviews for its high-end specs and faultless user experience, and appeared on many critics lists of the best gadgets of 2009. The whispers began: Had Google managed to create a platform that genuinely rivalled the iPhone for the best smartphone experience around? This success is starting to show in the numbers. In February 2010, Google announced that more than 60,000 phones with Android on were shipping each day. The Android App Market is also booming, housing more than 30,000 downloadable applications in March 2010, although thats still comparably small when set beside the 185,000 or so Apple has in its App Store. But where once companies had to have an iPhone app, its now understood that they need to offer both an iPhone and an Android variant. Manufacturers havent let the opportunity pass them by, either. At the time of writing, there are around 35 mobile phones, five tablet PCs, three e-book readers and a netbook available that come with Android installed a total of about 43 devices. But thats nothing compared to the amount of gadgets that are purportedly in the works. If you tot up the rumours, statements of intent, leaked documents and roadmapped products from manufacturers, you can add at least another 15 smartphones, 19 tablet PCs, two e-book readers and three more netbooks to the pile. When you combine the totals, you arrive at a figure of at least 82 Android devices either released or in development. The platform has received four major updates since the HTC Dream launched with Android 1.0. Version 1.5 brought camcorder functionality and the ability to use homescreen widgets. Version 1.6 added voice search and a better Android App Market. Then version 2.0 revamped the user interface, added new, larger screen sizes, as well as navigation support in Google Maps. The latest update is version 2.1, which debuted on theNexus One a handset built by HTC but to specifications dictated by Google itself. Android 2.1 brings additional homescreens, animated wallpapers and the ability to use voice recognition to type in all text fields very useful if youre in a situation where you cant use an on-screen keypad, such as when driving. Other devices are starting to appear with version 2.1 as well the Motorola Droid, known as theMilestone in Europe, recently received an update to 2.1, and HTCs forthcoming Legend and Desire handsets come with it installed. Oldhardware=nonewtricks However, the new features available in 2.1 come with increased demand on the relatively weak processors found in most smartphones, particularly in the earlier Android devices. As a result, some handsets cant run later versions of Android at satisfactory speed. Even in those that can, manufacturers have been exceptionally slow at rolling out updates to their device owners, with HTC still not having delivered any update above 1.5 for its Hero at the time of writing. Its difficult to fault Google for wanting to update its core platform as fast as it can. The problem is that its going so fast that manufacturers cant roll out updates to their own software at a speed to match. The upshot for users is that early Android adopters are stuck on two-year contracts looking mournfully at all the fun that new device owners can get, with no knowledge as to whether theyll eventually have access to the new features themselves. This isnt anything new in most cases other manufacturers dont grant older gadget owners access to new features but its tough on Android users in particular because the pace of the updates is so fast. A phone can be out-of-date within months of its release, and in some cases handsets are still arriving with Android version 1.6 installed. App developers suffer, too. Many of Googles home-grown applications Maps, Earth, Goggles and Gesture Search were initially only released for the 2.0 and 2.1 platforms. Some have since gained backwards compatibility to 1.6, but HTC Hero owners, running 1.5, still cant use them. App developers have a tough choice to make: support as wide a range of phones as possible, or offer an app with superior features, but only to those running the latest Android builds. Situationnormal: Allforkedup So what can Google do about the problem? The company is stuck with four slightly different variants of its platform in the wild, and its got a splintered marketplace where one Android user cant necessarily access the same apps that another can, and its confusing and frustrating for end users. The obvious way ahead is to try and force manufacturers to update the software on their devices. Any device running 1.5 should be able to cope with 1.6, and a 2.0 device will manage 2.1. While that still leaves the problem of devices that cant quite cope with the most recent updates, Google should be able to merge its four shards into two a set of 1.6 devices and a set of 2.1 devices simplifying the situation somewhat. However, that relies on the goodwill and resources of a diverse set of companies, and some of those will only have dipped a toe into the waters of Android, meaning that they might be less keen to start devoting significant staff time to mucking around with operating system updates. So Googles got another trick up its sleeve. Recent rumours suggest that the company, in the upcoming version 2.2 update, is planning to de-couple the various applications that run on the device from the operating system itself. The browser, email apps, contacts, input methods and various other components will be downloadable and, crucially, updatable through the Android market rather than needing to wait for a full OS update to be upgraded. When Google wants to update the Gmail app, it can just push a market update, rather than forcing customers to wait for HTC, Dell, Samsung or other manufacturers to approve it. If Google fails to unify the Android platform, a future looms where Android is stuck in a series of ghettoes, with no guarantee that one Android user will be able to run the same apps as another unless they buy a new device every six months. Thats good news for manufacturers, but very bad news for Google and for consumers. If Google manages the transition successfully however, then a unified (or at least consolidated) platform could be easily updated by both Google and phone-makers, depending on whether the update is a critical security issue or a new feature in an application. Time is pressing. The fate of Android rests on what Google does over the summer of 2010. Will the platform fall by the wayside, or will it instead grow to be the Windows of smartphones, carefully balancing openness to app developers with a superior user experience and mass-market appeal? On past form, it seems foolish to bet against Google. Let us also look at the SORT analysis for android: Being a self declared Google and Android fanboy, Im constantly reading and studying about cloud computing and the mobile marketplace whenever I have the opportunity. Ive even begun the very first steps of beginning to learn programming Java for the Android platform, although this is a ‘free time endeavor which is going to take quite some time for me to get even the basic level of proficiency achieved. 2.2.1 SWOT Analyses for GOOGLE ANDROID But one area where I feel comfortable in discussion and analysis is in the business realm, which is why I decided to do a basic SWOT analysis for Google Android. It is a tool used in strategic planning to evaluateStrengths,Weaknesses,Opportunities, andThreats involved in a project or business. A companys Strengths and Weaknesses are generally internal, while the Opportunities and Threats are external factors. To spare most of the readers of this analysis, this SWOT is going to be a little less in depth than a typical SWOT analysis. However, it will be detailed enough to outline and discuss what I feel are the key items in each area of the analysis. STRENGTHS The Google Brand-Google is one of the most well known and respected technology companies on the planet. The fact that they are behind the Android platform gives it credibility and viability in the eyes of potential partners, vendors, and developers. Device Selection-Unlike the Apple iPhone where you dont have any options of hardware suppliers other than Apple itself, the Android OS is open-source and any hardware manufacturer who chooses to do so can use it on their handset. This gives consumers a great deal of selection from which to choose from while also decreasing the lead time to the use of the latest hardware and technological advances in mobile electronics. Competitive Pricing-The Android OS is very cost effective to develop for since it is open source and the licensing arrangements are very vendor friendly. Thus, handsets utilizing the Android OS tend to be prices very aggressively. Google application and services integration-The fact that the Android platform integrates so many of the Google services and applications into its base only strengthens its core capabilities and usefulness. Google items such as GMAIL, Calendar, Reader, Listen, and of course GPS and Maps to name a few integrate seamlessly with the Android OS and make it very simple for users to synchronize their data across platforms from the desktop to the cloud and mobile platforms. Open Source-The Android OS is built from a Linux base using the JAVA Programming language. You can go directly to the http://source.android.com website and find the information and source code you need to build a compatible device for Android. Additionally, Android is a core part of the OHA (Open Handset Alliance) which is a group of companies working together to develop Android as an open and free mobile platform. Google Assets-The Android team(s) has all the intellectual, economic, and influential resources of Google at its disposal to make it a dominant player in the mobile marketplace. WEAKNESSES Multimedia Support-Unlike the Apple iPhone which has the enormously popular iTunes application and marketplace, Android does not have a central or cohesive source of multimedia material nor a centralized player. Although there have been some improvements in applications on the Android platform in this area, at this time there is no â€Å"the† place to go that comes even slightly close to what Apple can offer on this front. However, there are numerous rumors to what exactly Google has in store for a music service of its own to be released sometime in late 2010. Whatever it is, it needs to be extremely well executed to come close to what iTunes offers Apple iPhone users. The one large asset Google has going for it is YouTube, and their recent announcement ofWebM(VP8) could become a lever for multimedia influence in video delivery for Google and the Android OS. Reliance on hardware makers to upgrade-Apple controls the when and how iPhone users will get not only new hardware, but upgrades to the OS and core functionality. With Android, even when Google releases a new version of its OS, it has to wait for the manufacturers to thoroughly test and modify code to make sure it works properly on their specific hardware configuration. Google is addressing this issue as it has announced that it plans to implement more of the core features of its services into the Android OS itself instead of as applications, and to slow down the upgrade releases as the OS matures in the marketplace. Less Mature-Android is not as mature or as polished as the iPhone at this point. It improves with every release, but it hasnt reached the same level of overall user friendliness in its interface that Apple has achieved. Lack of Enterprise Support-Blackberry and even Microsoft still get most of the support when it comes to Enterprise usage. Although both Apple and Google have made some inroads in this marketplace, Android has a very small market share here. It needs to continue to develop Google Apps and its integration abilities with Microsoft Exchange. OPPORTUNITIES The Android OS has a â€Å"HUGE† opportunity to get into the Tablet and e-book reader platform market right now. It cannot afford to sit back and watch Apple dominate the tablet market and eat up the market share as it had done when it released the iPhone. To date, that is exactly what is happening as no major hardware ‘mover and shaker has released an Android based tablet which is a fantastic opportunity if it is executed properly. I want one NOW! There have been several minor releases of Android tablets over the last few months, but none of them are what I would consider a significant product. Either Google itself or someone such as HP, Dell, ASUS, or ACER need to release a killer Android tablet in order for it to gather any traction. These waters only became murkier when HP acquired PALM. Developing Countries-Google has a huge opportunity to develop inexpensive devices using the Android platform in developing countries. The licensing is extremely developer friendly and the upfront cost investments are significantly less than other platforms. The integration with so many of Googles other free services is a natural fit in this marketplace. Developer Friendly-Unlike the recent activities of Apple which has alienated and ticked off much of the developer community, developing for Android is very open and developer friendly. Google needs to take this opportunity to help developers continue to monetize their efforts through improved advertising revenue models and app sales. Growth of smartphone market-The smartphone market is still very immature and there is still a huge amount of growth to take place over the next several years to decade. Google needs to continue to work hard to position itself with its cloud computing applications and services in support of the Android OS. The marriage of these two areas is key to the maintained growth rate and increased market share potential of the Android platform. Embedded electronic devices-The Android OS has huge potential to be a major player in the embedded electronic market as a dominate embedded operating system. With so many devices becoming embedded with smart technologies and connectivity to the cloud, the Android OS is primed to be a major winner there. THREATS iPhone unleashed-If the iPhone is unleashed from the beaten down ATT network and appears on other networks such as Sprint and in particular, Verizon, it could be a real threat to the sustained rate of future market share growth for the Android OS. A significant amount of potential smartphone customers said they would buy an iPhone if it werent on the ATT network. (I was once in this camp, until I discovered the world of Android.) Apple dominance-Apples market share gives it a great influence over developers and old media companies who are dying for a revenue model that will work for them. The ever growing walled garden that Apple is building is a false panacea that the old media companies are holding onto with both hands-the ability to charge users for access to premium content. Apples recent changes in policy and functional restrictions make it the ideal platform to launch such a strategy and recruit the power brokers from this old model. Additionally, the â€Å"theres an app for that† and Im willing to pay for it behavior of Apple iPhone users is of great appeal to developers who see the dollar signs in this market. (Ive yet to pay for an application on Android) This gives Apple influence over developers and makes their huge market share very difficult to walk away from, even when they adopt very unfriendly developer policies. Increased Competition-Obviously, companies like RIM and Microsoft are going to fight for their share of the market and arent going to just give up. In particular, the Blackberry platform which still has huge support in the enterprise market. Platform Fragmentation-This is a huge threat to the Android platform. Although I listed the numerous devices as a strength above, the risk of fragmentation is a real and significant one. This is why Google has recently put a lot of effort into developing ways to minimize this problem. Google does not want numerous custom version of Android to emerge or fork off from their core platform, which is something you see in the Linux distribution network. Google is developing a set of baseline standards for compatibility for its platform. Since Google controls the Android Market, it can maintain significant influence over device vendors to meet the compatibility requirements. If you do a little research on this topic, you will see that Googles standards are fairly rigid, maybe more so than one would expect. Google also plans to adopt aonce-per-yearrelease schedule as well. None the less, managing this risk is a major and real threat to the Android platform. So there you have it, my basic SWOT analysis for Google Android. One underlying issue I feel is worth noting is that Google does not have to dominate, and as much as so many of us would love to see it, it does not have to â€Å"beat† Apple in market share or any other core metric. The only thing Google needs to do is to make sure there is an open platform large enough in the mobile market for its advertising business. Lets face it; Google is not about selling Android devices. Google is about search and advertising, and Apples closed system was a threat to that model which has become even more self-evident over the last six to nine months of Apple policies and maneuverings. Apple recently announced their own Ad network for the iPhone and iPad which could be viewed as a shot across the bow of Google which puts even more necessity on the Android platforms success. The clear advantage that Google has going for itself right now is that Apple (Steve Jobs) is either being indignant o ver what cloud computing actually does and means, or he truly doesnt understand or hasnt figured out how its suppose to work. Considering how intelligent Steve Jobs is, I find it highly unlikely that the second option is the reason, and that his stubbornness and willingness to maintain personal grudges as the likely culprit. 2.3 Overview of the Closed Source Operating Systems (Apple IOS). If theres one company that is the envy of the high-tech community these days, its Apple. Steve Jobs is hailed as a genius CEO and lauded for a string of hit products. Apples market capitalization is over $200 BILLION dollars currently, easily ranking it in the top 10 companies in the world by market cap, and just shy of Microsoft for biggest technology company. Everyone wants to understand the secrets of Apples success and hopefully emulate them. The reasons given by people for Apples success are many. The following are a few of the arguments made: Vertical integration- Apple owns most of, if not the entire, technology stack for its key products, and thus gives it advantages over other less vertically integrated products. NOTE: â€Å"Vertical integration† used to be called â€Å"being proprietary† and was given as the reason for Apples relative lack of success against Microsoft in the OS/PC battles of the 80s and 9os. But phenomenal success has a way of changing peoples minds. Making markets vs. addressing markets- Some claim that Apple doesnt ask people what they need but gives them products they decide theywant. Does anyone NEED an iPhone or iPad? Not really, but a lot of people seem to want them. The Cool Factor- Lets face it, Apple does make â€Å"cool† products. Attention to design and detail-fit and finish as they say-really distinguishes Apples products from competitors. Entering markets after theyve developed— Contrary to #2 above, some people claim that Apple doesnt make markets but enters existing markets once theyre growing and takes advantage of latent demand. The iPod was not the first digital music player and the iPhone was not the first smart phone, and the iPad is not the first portable computing device. In the case of the iPad, products like the Kindle and Netbooks actually paved the way for the market to accept small computing devices, and Apples iPad is riding that wave. Differentiated business models- whether it was iPod+iTunes or the iPhone+App Store, Apple innovates not just on technology, but on the business model. This makes it difficult for competitors to play catch up, let alone overtake Apple once it establishes itself in a dominant position. People care about the experience not technology— Apple has always been about the user experience, but for a long time, the majority of the market didnt care about that. The majority of desktop computer users cared about â€Å"techs and specs†. Now the tables have turned, and the majority dont care about the specs, they care about the experience. The iPod, with its â€Å"1000 songs in your pocket† motto and iTunes which radically simplified purchasing music latched onto the experience wave, and Apple has been riding it ever since. Simple product offerings- Apple has a very clear and simple set of products. Its easy to understand the differences between their products, product families and the various configurations. This makes it easy to buy an Apple product if you want to. A lot of companies complicate things unnecessarily. How many iPhone models are there? How many Blackberry models are there? How many Nokia smart phone models are there? See the difference between Apple, RIM and Nokia? The same is true for the iMAc, the iPod and the iPad. Granted, there are actually a number of iPod models (Nano, Shuffle, Touch etc.) but they are very distinct amongst themselves. This cant be said for digital music players from other companies. 2.3.1 Apple Competitive Analysis: Future Goals Apple has been and continues to focus on what its competitors are doing in order to keep a competitive strategy. Steve Jobs wanted to create a brand loyal name and to also produce a personalized computer with many features that would allow your life to be easier. Apple needed to keep up with rapid price cuts of its competitors personalized computers that were based on other operating systems. They wanted to focus on the rapid technological advances in both hardware and software that would boost their computers performance and provide its own operating systems. By doing so, the iMac-personalized computer was introduced in 1997 and they were able to create the brand loyalty they were looking for. They want to continue to build the brand loyal name and keep giving the consumer what they want to make their lives easier. Current Strategy Steve Jobs has recognized that many of its competitors have been providing computers that rely heavily on other operating systems to run their computers. For example, Dell computers rely on windows XP, and many of their software products rely on other partys. What Steve Jobs has managed to do is to incorporate its own operating systems, hardware, and software programs for its entire product line. The software that they have created would allow the user to edit videos, download and play music, edit pictures, etc. with all of their own products and applications. While other competition relied on outside companies introducing their own digital and distribution music product services, subscription services, and free peer-to-peer music services; Apple has created a way to counter the constant changing competitive market. They have done so by effectively integrating all three services that its competitors have to choose from by creating the iPod for hardware, iTunes for software, and iTune s Music Store for the third party distribution services. Apple has been able to eliminate its reliance on outside companies and to keep on creating specialized programs for consumers. Another factor that has helped keep Apples future thriving is by introducing the Apple Store. Customers are now able to take their products into the store and have an apple specialist examine/work on the products that they are heavily invested in. Most competitors would have the consumer take computer/product to a tech department of a store or would have to send to a third party. Assumptions and Capabilities Apple has done a tremendous job of knowing and anticipating what his competitors are doing. Apple was able to develop its iPhone and music player technology into a mobile phone. The Rokr was the mobile phone device that was developed by Motorola. The device contained quality sound and included an advanced camera system. A version of Apples iTunes music store has been developed for the iPhone so users can manage music and can download other applications that Apple has to offer. An Apple consumer can browse the web faster than its competitors. These capabilities make the iPhone ideal for both business and travel. By knowing the competitors moves and capabilities Apple was able to perfect a phone that could offer more programs and applications than any other phone. The company was then able to then focus on the strengths and weakness of its competition and compare it to the products they provide. The company believes in the highest quality of products. Thes e products will continue to provide what every customer wants and needs, a computer company that continuously makes life easi Open Source vs Closed Source Systems Open Source vs Closed Source Systems INTRODUCTION For many years, proprietary software has been the dominating business approach used by the commercial software firms. Industry giants like Microsoft proved this strategy to be successful, building their multibillion dollar empires based on the proprietary software platform. Over the past decade, a new business approach called open source model which involves contributors from around the globe to create, share and distribute software code for free had come into practice (Pal, N Madanmohan, TR., 2002). Although the roots to this practice of sharing code evolved since early 60s, the widespread usage of internet and the technology developments in past two decades opened new opportunities for open source projects (CNET news, 1998). A number of Open Source Software (OSS) products such as Apache web server, BIND and SendMail have dominated their product categories ever since then (Pal, N Madanmohan, TR., 2002). In the past decade, several researchers (Wheeler, DA., 2007; Mockus, et al., 2000) have taken interest in studying how open source can be applied to modern business strategies. However, a concern exists that in this area of study that there is no substantial evidence that the practices followed are effective in the business environment (Bitzer Schrà ¶der, 2004). For economists like Lerner Tirole (2000), the altruism shown by commercial companies and programmers involved in an open source software project is surprising. They stated altruism hasnt played a major role in any other industry than software. Several others like Freeman Rogers (2008) and Goetz (2003) contradict this statement by illustrating altruism exist in any industry provided there is proper exposure of the problem towards the contributing community. But most of the researches surrounding open source model considered software industry as the base for their studies. 1.0 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT 1.1 Objective This project work focuses on the study of the Open Source ecosystem (Android) how it differs from Closed source sustems such as those surrounding the iPhone. This project includes the study of the Android Market, (online mobile application store for Android users) application developers, and which factors developers consider for selecting a platform for application development. To understand business strategy development trends across Android and iPhone platforms, we compared the Android market with the iPhone App Store, the leading application store in current mobile market. Apple launched an online application marketplace called the â€Å"iPhone App Store† before launching iPhone 3G. Currently, this store has more than 195,000 applications. To match or surpass the success of iPhone App Store, Apple rivals such as Google and Blackberry introduced their own application downloading stores called â€Å"Android Market† and â€Å"Blackberry App World† respectively. T he Android Market is similar to the iPhone App Store or to any other application store; it boasts a catalog of applications,  services and tools available for the user to purchase download and use. Today, the Android Market also has around 49,000 applications. Thus, the comparison between iPhone and Android application stores will help explain the new challenges faced by these two application stores, and also the demand for these stores in the near future. This study will help understand why Android choose Open Source System and why Apple doesnt, what determines their success, which large companies are directly involved in developing applications for Android, and which factors they consider for developing an application. 1.2 Experimental Procedures This project is based on a semi-automatically collected application database and   surveys to obtain necessary information for proving the hypothesis. (A) Website Data Firstly, application data were collected semi-automatically from the Android Market and iPhone App Store (iTunes store) and other mobile applications related websites, for e.g., Androlib.com, iPhoneapplicationlist.com. This gathered application database includes a list of the application categories on both platforms, number of applications in each category, and application information for the selected categories. (B) Interview Data Next, we interviewed mobile application developers to understand and know their views about Android/iPhone platforms and the ecosystem. To get in touch with mobile application developers, we attended the mobile conferences where they gather to share their views. (C) Survey Data Lastly, all the relevant facts about application developers from the interview data helped us prepare a survey. This web-based survey was prepared and conducted using Survey Monkey. 1.3 Resources Utilized The main resources used during this project were our industrial advisor, our academic reader, Android and iPhone application database, interviews and surveys from mobile application developers. 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction of Literature Review In order to achieve success in project implementation, the first step is to research and find information already available. During research, we found many articles related to our topic. This paper is based on the content from these articles. We have divided this section in four main areas: Overview of the Open Source Operating Systems (Android). Overview of the Closed Source Operating Systems (Apple IOS). Fundamentals behind the Open Source Platform. Introduction to the Smartphone. 2.2 Overview of the Open Source Operating Systems (Android). Google has achieved something remarkable with its open-source Android operating system. SinceApples iPhonerevolutionised thesmartphonein June 2007, bringing touchscreens and a beautiful user experience to the masses, its been without a rival. Sure, theres a small legion of BlackBerry fans, and a few Nokia die-hards, but the critical consensus up until about a year ago was that the iPhones achievements were peerless. EnterAndroid. The free, open-source mobile operating system was introduced to consumers with theHTC Dream(also known as theT-Mobile G1) in late 2008, but didnt start gaining steam until the release of theHTC Heroin July 2009. The Hero, armed with a custom user interface called Sense that HTC built in-house, gained rave reviews for its high-end specs and faultless user experience, and appeared on many critics lists of the best gadgets of 2009. The whispers began: Had Google managed to create a platform that genuinely rivalled the iPhone for the best smartphone experience around? This success is starting to show in the numbers. In February 2010, Google announced that more than 60,000 phones with Android on were shipping each day. The Android App Market is also booming, housing more than 30,000 downloadable applications in March 2010, although thats still comparably small when set beside the 185,000 or so Apple has in its App Store. But where once companies had to have an iPhone app, its now understood that they need to offer both an iPhone and an Android variant. Manufacturers havent let the opportunity pass them by, either. At the time of writing, there are around 35 mobile phones, five tablet PCs, three e-book readers and a netbook available that come with Android installed a total of about 43 devices. But thats nothing compared to the amount of gadgets that are purportedly in the works. If you tot up the rumours, statements of intent, leaked documents and roadmapped products from manufacturers, you can add at least another 15 smartphones, 19 tablet PCs, two e-book readers and three more netbooks to the pile. When you combine the totals, you arrive at a figure of at least 82 Android devices either released or in development. The platform has received four major updates since the HTC Dream launched with Android 1.0. Version 1.5 brought camcorder functionality and the ability to use homescreen widgets. Version 1.6 added voice search and a better Android App Market. Then version 2.0 revamped the user interface, added new, larger screen sizes, as well as navigation support in Google Maps. The latest update is version 2.1, which debuted on theNexus One a handset built by HTC but to specifications dictated by Google itself. Android 2.1 brings additional homescreens, animated wallpapers and the ability to use voice recognition to type in all text fields very useful if youre in a situation where you cant use an on-screen keypad, such as when driving. Other devices are starting to appear with version 2.1 as well the Motorola Droid, known as theMilestone in Europe, recently received an update to 2.1, and HTCs forthcoming Legend and Desire handsets come with it installed. Oldhardware=nonewtricks However, the new features available in 2.1 come with increased demand on the relatively weak processors found in most smartphones, particularly in the earlier Android devices. As a result, some handsets cant run later versions of Android at satisfactory speed. Even in those that can, manufacturers have been exceptionally slow at rolling out updates to their device owners, with HTC still not having delivered any update above 1.5 for its Hero at the time of writing. Its difficult to fault Google for wanting to update its core platform as fast as it can. The problem is that its going so fast that manufacturers cant roll out updates to their own software at a speed to match. The upshot for users is that early Android adopters are stuck on two-year contracts looking mournfully at all the fun that new device owners can get, with no knowledge as to whether theyll eventually have access to the new features themselves. This isnt anything new in most cases other manufacturers dont grant older gadget owners access to new features but its tough on Android users in particular because the pace of the updates is so fast. A phone can be out-of-date within months of its release, and in some cases handsets are still arriving with Android version 1.6 installed. App developers suffer, too. Many of Googles home-grown applications Maps, Earth, Goggles and Gesture Search were initially only released for the 2.0 and 2.1 platforms. Some have since gained backwards compatibility to 1.6, but HTC Hero owners, running 1.5, still cant use them. App developers have a tough choice to make: support as wide a range of phones as possible, or offer an app with superior features, but only to those running the latest Android builds. Situationnormal: Allforkedup So what can Google do about the problem? The company is stuck with four slightly different variants of its platform in the wild, and its got a splintered marketplace where one Android user cant necessarily access the same apps that another can, and its confusing and frustrating for end users. The obvious way ahead is to try and force manufacturers to update the software on their devices. Any device running 1.5 should be able to cope with 1.6, and a 2.0 device will manage 2.1. While that still leaves the problem of devices that cant quite cope with the most recent updates, Google should be able to merge its four shards into two a set of 1.6 devices and a set of 2.1 devices simplifying the situation somewhat. However, that relies on the goodwill and resources of a diverse set of companies, and some of those will only have dipped a toe into the waters of Android, meaning that they might be less keen to start devoting significant staff time to mucking around with operating system updates. So Googles got another trick up its sleeve. Recent rumours suggest that the company, in the upcoming version 2.2 update, is planning to de-couple the various applications that run on the device from the operating system itself. The browser, email apps, contacts, input methods and various other components will be downloadable and, crucially, updatable through the Android market rather than needing to wait for a full OS update to be upgraded. When Google wants to update the Gmail app, it can just push a market update, rather than forcing customers to wait for HTC, Dell, Samsung or other manufacturers to approve it. If Google fails to unify the Android platform, a future looms where Android is stuck in a series of ghettoes, with no guarantee that one Android user will be able to run the same apps as another unless they buy a new device every six months. Thats good news for manufacturers, but very bad news for Google and for consumers. If Google manages the transition successfully however, then a unified (or at least consolidated) platform could be easily updated by both Google and phone-makers, depending on whether the update is a critical security issue or a new feature in an application. Time is pressing. The fate of Android rests on what Google does over the summer of 2010. Will the platform fall by the wayside, or will it instead grow to be the Windows of smartphones, carefully balancing openness to app developers with a superior user experience and mass-market appeal? On past form, it seems foolish to bet against Google. Let us also look at the SORT analysis for android: Being a self declared Google and Android fanboy, Im constantly reading and studying about cloud computing and the mobile marketplace whenever I have the opportunity. Ive even begun the very first steps of beginning to learn programming Java for the Android platform, although this is a ‘free time endeavor which is going to take quite some time for me to get even the basic level of proficiency achieved. 2.2.1 SWOT Analyses for GOOGLE ANDROID But one area where I feel comfortable in discussion and analysis is in the business realm, which is why I decided to do a basic SWOT analysis for Google Android. It is a tool used in strategic planning to evaluateStrengths,Weaknesses,Opportunities, andThreats involved in a project or business. A companys Strengths and Weaknesses are generally internal, while the Opportunities and Threats are external factors. To spare most of the readers of this analysis, this SWOT is going to be a little less in depth than a typical SWOT analysis. However, it will be detailed enough to outline and discuss what I feel are the key items in each area of the analysis. STRENGTHS The Google Brand-Google is one of the most well known and respected technology companies on the planet. The fact that they are behind the Android platform gives it credibility and viability in the eyes of potential partners, vendors, and developers. Device Selection-Unlike the Apple iPhone where you dont have any options of hardware suppliers other than Apple itself, the Android OS is open-source and any hardware manufacturer who chooses to do so can use it on their handset. This gives consumers a great deal of selection from which to choose from while also decreasing the lead time to the use of the latest hardware and technological advances in mobile electronics. Competitive Pricing-The Android OS is very cost effective to develop for since it is open source and the licensing arrangements are very vendor friendly. Thus, handsets utilizing the Android OS tend to be prices very aggressively. Google application and services integration-The fact that the Android platform integrates so many of the Google services and applications into its base only strengthens its core capabilities and usefulness. Google items such as GMAIL, Calendar, Reader, Listen, and of course GPS and Maps to name a few integrate seamlessly with the Android OS and make it very simple for users to synchronize their data across platforms from the desktop to the cloud and mobile platforms. Open Source-The Android OS is built from a Linux base using the JAVA Programming language. You can go directly to the http://source.android.com website and find the information and source code you need to build a compatible device for Android. Additionally, Android is a core part of the OHA (Open Handset Alliance) which is a group of companies working together to develop Android as an open and free mobile platform. Google Assets-The Android team(s) has all the intellectual, economic, and influential resources of Google at its disposal to make it a dominant player in the mobile marketplace. WEAKNESSES Multimedia Support-Unlike the Apple iPhone which has the enormously popular iTunes application and marketplace, Android does not have a central or cohesive source of multimedia material nor a centralized player. Although there have been some improvements in applications on the Android platform in this area, at this time there is no â€Å"the† place to go that comes even slightly close to what Apple can offer on this front. However, there are numerous rumors to what exactly Google has in store for a music service of its own to be released sometime in late 2010. Whatever it is, it needs to be extremely well executed to come close to what iTunes offers Apple iPhone users. The one large asset Google has going for it is YouTube, and their recent announcement ofWebM(VP8) could become a lever for multimedia influence in video delivery for Google and the Android OS. Reliance on hardware makers to upgrade-Apple controls the when and how iPhone users will get not only new hardware, but upgrades to the OS and core functionality. With Android, even when Google releases a new version of its OS, it has to wait for the manufacturers to thoroughly test and modify code to make sure it works properly on their specific hardware configuration. Google is addressing this issue as it has announced that it plans to implement more of the core features of its services into the Android OS itself instead of as applications, and to slow down the upgrade releases as the OS matures in the marketplace. Less Mature-Android is not as mature or as polished as the iPhone at this point. It improves with every release, but it hasnt reached the same level of overall user friendliness in its interface that Apple has achieved. Lack of Enterprise Support-Blackberry and even Microsoft still get most of the support when it comes to Enterprise usage. Although both Apple and Google have made some inroads in this marketplace, Android has a very small market share here. It needs to continue to develop Google Apps and its integration abilities with Microsoft Exchange. OPPORTUNITIES The Android OS has a â€Å"HUGE† opportunity to get into the Tablet and e-book reader platform market right now. It cannot afford to sit back and watch Apple dominate the tablet market and eat up the market share as it had done when it released the iPhone. To date, that is exactly what is happening as no major hardware ‘mover and shaker has released an Android based tablet which is a fantastic opportunity if it is executed properly. I want one NOW! There have been several minor releases of Android tablets over the last few months, but none of them are what I would consider a significant product. Either Google itself or someone such as HP, Dell, ASUS, or ACER need to release a killer Android tablet in order for it to gather any traction. These waters only became murkier when HP acquired PALM. Developing Countries-Google has a huge opportunity to develop inexpensive devices using the Android platform in developing countries. The licensing is extremely developer friendly and the upfront cost investments are significantly less than other platforms. The integration with so many of Googles other free services is a natural fit in this marketplace. Developer Friendly-Unlike the recent activities of Apple which has alienated and ticked off much of the developer community, developing for Android is very open and developer friendly. Google needs to take this opportunity to help developers continue to monetize their efforts through improved advertising revenue models and app sales. Growth of smartphone market-The smartphone market is still very immature and there is still a huge amount of growth to take place over the next several years to decade. Google needs to continue to work hard to position itself with its cloud computing applications and services in support of the Android OS. The marriage of these two areas is key to the maintained growth rate and increased market share potential of the Android platform. Embedded electronic devices-The Android OS has huge potential to be a major player in the embedded electronic market as a dominate embedded operating system. With so many devices becoming embedded with smart technologies and connectivity to the cloud, the Android OS is primed to be a major winner there. THREATS iPhone unleashed-If the iPhone is unleashed from the beaten down ATT network and appears on other networks such as Sprint and in particular, Verizon, it could be a real threat to the sustained rate of future market share growth for the Android OS. A significant amount of potential smartphone customers said they would buy an iPhone if it werent on the ATT network. (I was once in this camp, until I discovered the world of Android.) Apple dominance-Apples market share gives it a great influence over developers and old media companies who are dying for a revenue model that will work for them. The ever growing walled garden that Apple is building is a false panacea that the old media companies are holding onto with both hands-the ability to charge users for access to premium content. Apples recent changes in policy and functional restrictions make it the ideal platform to launch such a strategy and recruit the power brokers from this old model. Additionally, the â€Å"theres an app for that† and Im willing to pay for it behavior of Apple iPhone users is of great appeal to developers who see the dollar signs in this market. (Ive yet to pay for an application on Android) This gives Apple influence over developers and makes their huge market share very difficult to walk away from, even when they adopt very unfriendly developer policies. Increased Competition-Obviously, companies like RIM and Microsoft are going to fight for their share of the market and arent going to just give up. In particular, the Blackberry platform which still has huge support in the enterprise market. Platform Fragmentation-This is a huge threat to the Android platform. Although I listed the numerous devices as a strength above, the risk of fragmentation is a real and significant one. This is why Google has recently put a lot of effort into developing ways to minimize this problem. Google does not want numerous custom version of Android to emerge or fork off from their core platform, which is something you see in the Linux distribution network. Google is developing a set of baseline standards for compatibility for its platform. Since Google controls the Android Market, it can maintain significant influence over device vendors to meet the compatibility requirements. If you do a little research on this topic, you will see that Googles standards are fairly rigid, maybe more so than one would expect. Google also plans to adopt aonce-per-yearrelease schedule as well. None the less, managing this risk is a major and real threat to the Android platform. So there you have it, my basic SWOT analysis for Google Android. One underlying issue I feel is worth noting is that Google does not have to dominate, and as much as so many of us would love to see it, it does not have to â€Å"beat† Apple in market share or any other core metric. The only thing Google needs to do is to make sure there is an open platform large enough in the mobile market for its advertising business. Lets face it; Google is not about selling Android devices. Google is about search and advertising, and Apples closed system was a threat to that model which has become even more self-evident over the last six to nine months of Apple policies and maneuverings. Apple recently announced their own Ad network for the iPhone and iPad which could be viewed as a shot across the bow of Google which puts even more necessity on the Android platforms success. The clear advantage that Google has going for itself right now is that Apple (Steve Jobs) is either being indignant o ver what cloud computing actually does and means, or he truly doesnt understand or hasnt figured out how its suppose to work. Considering how intelligent Steve Jobs is, I find it highly unlikely that the second option is the reason, and that his stubbornness and willingness to maintain personal grudges as the likely culprit. 2.3 Overview of the Closed Source Operating Systems (Apple IOS). If theres one company that is the envy of the high-tech community these days, its Apple. Steve Jobs is hailed as a genius CEO and lauded for a string of hit products. Apples market capitalization is over $200 BILLION dollars currently, easily ranking it in the top 10 companies in the world by market cap, and just shy of Microsoft for biggest technology company. Everyone wants to understand the secrets of Apples success and hopefully emulate them. The reasons given by people for Apples success are many. The following are a few of the arguments made: Vertical integration- Apple owns most of, if not the entire, technology stack for its key products, and thus gives it advantages over other less vertically integrated products. NOTE: â€Å"Vertical integration† used to be called â€Å"being proprietary† and was given as the reason for Apples relative lack of success against Microsoft in the OS/PC battles of the 80s and 9os. But phenomenal success has a way of changing peoples minds. Making markets vs. addressing markets- Some claim that Apple doesnt ask people what they need but gives them products they decide theywant. Does anyone NEED an iPhone or iPad? Not really, but a lot of people seem to want them. The Cool Factor- Lets face it, Apple does make â€Å"cool† products. Attention to design and detail-fit and finish as they say-really distinguishes Apples products from competitors. Entering markets after theyve developed— Contrary to #2 above, some people claim that Apple doesnt make markets but enters existing markets once theyre growing and takes advantage of latent demand. The iPod was not the first digital music player and the iPhone was not the first smart phone, and the iPad is not the first portable computing device. In the case of the iPad, products like the Kindle and Netbooks actually paved the way for the market to accept small computing devices, and Apples iPad is riding that wave. Differentiated business models- whether it was iPod+iTunes or the iPhone+App Store, Apple innovates not just on technology, but on the business model. This makes it difficult for competitors to play catch up, let alone overtake Apple once it establishes itself in a dominant position. People care about the experience not technology— Apple has always been about the user experience, but for a long time, the majority of the market didnt care about that. The majority of desktop computer users cared about â€Å"techs and specs†. Now the tables have turned, and the majority dont care about the specs, they care about the experience. The iPod, with its â€Å"1000 songs in your pocket† motto and iTunes which radically simplified purchasing music latched onto the experience wave, and Apple has been riding it ever since. Simple product offerings- Apple has a very clear and simple set of products. Its easy to understand the differences between their products, product families and the various configurations. This makes it easy to buy an Apple product if you want to. A lot of companies complicate things unnecessarily. How many iPhone models are there? How many Blackberry models are there? How many Nokia smart phone models are there? See the difference between Apple, RIM and Nokia? The same is true for the iMAc, the iPod and the iPad. Granted, there are actually a number of iPod models (Nano, Shuffle, Touch etc.) but they are very distinct amongst themselves. This cant be said for digital music players from other companies. 2.3.1 Apple Competitive Analysis: Future Goals Apple has been and continues to focus on what its competitors are doing in order to keep a competitive strategy. Steve Jobs wanted to create a brand loyal name and to also produce a personalized computer with many features that would allow your life to be easier. Apple needed to keep up with rapid price cuts of its competitors personalized computers that were based on other operating systems. They wanted to focus on the rapid technological advances in both hardware and software that would boost their computers performance and provide its own operating systems. By doing so, the iMac-personalized computer was introduced in 1997 and they were able to create the brand loyalty they were looking for. They want to continue to build the brand loyal name and keep giving the consumer what they want to make their lives easier. Current Strategy Steve Jobs has recognized that many of its competitors have been providing computers that rely heavily on other operating systems to run their computers. For example, Dell computers rely on windows XP, and many of their software products rely on other partys. What Steve Jobs has managed to do is to incorporate its own operating systems, hardware, and software programs for its entire product line. The software that they have created would allow the user to edit videos, download and play music, edit pictures, etc. with all of their own products and applications. While other competition relied on outside companies introducing their own digital and distribution music product services, subscription services, and free peer-to-peer music services; Apple has created a way to counter the constant changing competitive market. They have done so by effectively integrating all three services that its competitors have to choose from by creating the iPod for hardware, iTunes for software, and iTune s Music Store for the third party distribution services. Apple has been able to eliminate its reliance on outside companies and to keep on creating specialized programs for consumers. Another factor that has helped keep Apples future thriving is by introducing the Apple Store. Customers are now able to take their products into the store and have an apple specialist examine/work on the products that they are heavily invested in. Most competitors would have the consumer take computer/product to a tech department of a store or would have to send to a third party. Assumptions and Capabilities Apple has done a tremendous job of knowing and anticipating what his competitors are doing. Apple was able to develop its iPhone and music player technology into a mobile phone. The Rokr was the mobile phone device that was developed by Motorola. The device contained quality sound and included an advanced camera system. A version of Apples iTunes music store has been developed for the iPhone so users can manage music and can download other applications that Apple has to offer. An Apple consumer can browse the web faster than its competitors. These capabilities make the iPhone ideal for both business and travel. By knowing the competitors moves and capabilities Apple was able to perfect a phone that could offer more programs and applications than any other phone. The company was then able to then focus on the strengths and weakness of its competition and compare it to the products they provide. The company believes in the highest quality of products. Thes e products will continue to provide what every customer wants and needs, a computer company that continuously makes life easi