The Apple Craze

Apple has released their new product, the iPad mini and now the mini with retina display. With 3.1 million mega pixels and 2048x1536 resolution, the iPad mini is an oversized iPod touch and a smaller version of the iPad.  The mini has all of the features of the regular iPad only its smaller! What is the point of something that already exists, yes it is a different size, besides that what would I as a consumer gain from it? Apple is very excited on its 7.9 inches, .73 pound weight as well as its Siri and FaceTime capabilities, but this is not enough to persuade me to upgrade from an old iPad or replace my iTouch.

While watching a commercial for the iPad mini a film student commented on its promotion towards woman. As a consumer he noticed how it was continuously being placed in a purse or pocket bag.  As a female I did not pick up the same message, my message was why did Apple make something they already had and almost double the price of the Kindle Fire 2. An iPad is an accessory, and can be dressed up to match your outfit. Maybe he was right the iPad and iPad mini are a more female product. I typed in "iPad sleeve" and a gazillion results came up many of the covers were bright and colorful becoming a fashion statement more than a functionality. I am not saying there is anything wrong with having functionality with practicality, its a product trait that I usually base my purchase on.

There are 500,000 apps that the iPad mini is capable of accessing. So if you were to use 1 app per day that is about 1,369 years of daily app usage, if you used a new app per hour you would be occupied for about 57 years. However, with the rate that apps are begin created it will soon become nearly impossible to use and view every single one of them.

Facebook

Facebook may be one of the most influential aspects of teen life today. Whether it is looking at what your friends did last weekend or liking a company fan page the mind is being influenced. We were talking in one of my classes about the price at which Facebook shares closed at last week; the stocked closed at just about 64, significantly higher than what  people paid when Facebook was first introduced to the market at 38 per share.  
I remember getting a Facebook account in high school; I would sit there for hours looking at other peoples photos and posts. Every time I would get on the computer for something my fingers would automatically enter Facebooks address, even if thats not where I was going.  And when my mom joined the social networking site I knew my account was past its lifespan, so I deleted it. For about five years I have gone without a Facebook account, and haven't missed it. However last week at work I was told I need to make an account in order to post to our company page. No matter my protests, my boss insisted. She said the same thing that my marketing classes have said before, Facebook and social media cites are becoming the new advertising platform. However, I still see Facebook the same as I did before. 
It is not just a social cite anymore but rather a drug that people can become addicted to. This is a very bold statement to make but I can say from personal experience that Facebook can be addicting.  We are constantly posting and updating our social media cites so much that there is hardly any need to ask your friends “How was your weekend?” because Facebook has already told you.
Personally I find Facebook to be the least effective of the social media cites we work with. Out of Twitter, Linked in, and Facebook, FB has the least followers, about half are company employees, where as Linked in and Twitter are comprised of people that have worked with us, as well as individuals that are interested in the field of genetic research.