Tag Archives: iPhone

by | Tuesday, October 7, 2014 · 2:36 pm

Can you buy an iPhone for $199?

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Apple’s iPhone 6 has been a bit hit, selling roughly 10 million units in the first few weeks after launch. But do you really think the new iPhone 6 can be bought for $199? Really?

If you have been watching the new iPhone ads, the $199 does sound encouraging – after all, Apple stated the price was “from $199.” However, that’s not quite the total price; the base price for the new product is actually $649 or more. But stating it that way doesn’t really encourage consumers to go out and buy a new phone.

In reality, upgrading an iPhone every two years using the 24-month service contract will not cost $199. The $199 is a down payment on an iPhone 6 with 16 GB of storage. The down payment rises to $299 for the 64 GB model, and $399 for the 128 GB phone.

The real price ranges from $650 – $920 (depending on carrier) for the 16 GB model, and up to $1,030 for the 128 GB model. Why? Every carrier offers the option to buy or finance by dividing the full price into installments over a two-year period, adding at least $25 to the monthly fee, and sometimes more. To find out, an educated consumer needs to read the fine print and then decide on the value based on the real cost over time.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Start by showing the new iPhone on apple.com. Make sure to show the price options and ask students their impression of the pricing strategy.
  2. Divide students into groups. Have each group research how much the phone would cost when buying both (1) outright, and (2) on a monthly payment plan.
  3. Do this for each of the iPhone carriers: AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile.
  4. What other additional charges are there?
  5. Write the prices on the board and debrief the exercise.
  6. Pricing chart can be found at http://www.zdnet.com/how-much-does-an-iphone-6-really-cost-hint-its-way-more-than-199-7000033801/

Source: New York Times, ZDNet, Wall Street Journal, other news sources

 

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by | Friday, January 17, 2014 · 9:49 pm

My iPhone Smells like Popcorn

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The smell of popcorn is one of the world’s most enticing scents. Walk by a microwave that is popping corn and it is nearly impossible not to salivate. The folks at Pop Secret know that smell is an important part of the entire popcorn experience.

 

Pop Secret has recently launched a mobile phone attachment, called Pop Dongle, that gives consumers the sweet-and-salty smell of popcorn when they are playing the brand’s mobile game, Poptopia. Whenever a player swipes the butter inside the game 9which asks players to pop corn kernels), the Pop Dongle spritzes a scent of popcorn. It works by adding a device (dongle) into the audio jack of an iPhone or iPod Touch; the game uses a certain frequency signaling it to spread the smell of popcorn.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Discuss the importance of demonstrating a product, including tasting and smelling: experiential marketing.
  2. Bring up the Pop Secret web site: http://popsecret.com/poptopia/
  3. The Poptopia app can be found on iTunes.
  4. Next, show the video demonstrating the Pop Secret Dongle: http://youtu.be/SgJ7pqja7XY
  5. Discuss the competitors to Pop Secret.
  6. Divide students into teams and have teach compare the competitors. How does this product create a point of difference? What other ways are there to create a point of difference for the company?
  7. Debrief the exercise by showing the students’ points on the white board.

Source:  Ad Age Daily, 12/6/13

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by | Tuesday, June 12, 2012 · 12:14 am

Ask Siri

Apple’s iPhone 4S, with the Siri voice activation system, continues to increase its market share. In the first quarter of 2012, Apple had revenue of nearly $13 billion in the U.S., more than $10 billion in China, and $8.8 billion in Europe. A lot of that revenue was due to their latest phone with the entertaining voice of Siri fronting for an artificial intelligence system that tries to answers the users’ queries.

The problem with Siri is that it only speaks a few select languages – English, German, Japanese, and French. But what happens if you speak only Spanish – spoken by approximately 3.5 million people in the U.S. – or Mandarin – spoken by one-third of the world’s population? Well then, for now you are out of luck and will have to interact with your smart phone the old-fashioned way – using text!

 

What are some to craziest things asked of Siri? According to App Chronicles (http://appchronicles.com/10/top-10-funniest-questions-to-ask-siri) among the top questions are:

  1. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
  2. Tell me a joke.
  3. Where do babies come from?
  4. Knock, knock…
  5. What do you look like?
  6. What is the meaning of life?
  7. I need to hide a body…
  8. Who’s your daddy?
  9. Will you marry me?

According to Apple, Chinese, Korean, Italian and Spanish language options are in the works for 2012. Let the questions begin!

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Play several current commercials for iPhone 4S (find commercials on www.youtube.com, search term “iPhone Siri”).
  2. Ask students if anyone has an iPhone with Siri.
  3. What are the craziest things that they have asked Siri, and what were the responses?
  4. Ask students to make a request of Siri in another language. What happens?
  5. Divide students into groups. Have each group design a promotion that could be used with Siri speaking the new languages – Chinese, Korean, Italian, and Spanish.
  6. What are areas of concern as Apple launches into these new languages? What are the cultural considerations to take into account?

 

Source:  Ad Age Daily, 5/16/12

 

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