Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Sherlock Holmes and The Speckled Band Essay Example for Free
Sherlock Holmes and The Speckled Band Essay Watson takes notes for Holmes as well as accompanying him to dangerous situations and even tales a gun with him. Watson is never busy as a doctor but has medical knowledge. He shares the same code of honour as Holmess rights and wrong. The villains are less realistic than the characters of Holmes and Watson, using more exaggeration. Dr. Grimsby Roylott has a connection with gypsies and went to India with them and brought back dangerous exotic animals with are a red herring in the story. He is a doctor like Dr. Watson with specialist knowledge. He is a brutal bully who insults Sherlock Holmes. John Clay is the least developed of the three characters and a little like Moriatry with a sense of mystery, bright and intelligent. Moriarty is Sherlock Holmess equal adversary and a criminal genius (good gone wrong). Once he has lost most of his power he becomes even more dangerous on a professional level for Sherlock Holmes himself. Moriarty will devote his whole energies to revenging himself upon Holmes. He tracks Holmes down very effectively and seemingly, takes him to his death. The Sherlock Holmes stories have a very unique setting and use of descriptive atmosphere. When Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson get to Reichenbach falls you get a very distinct sense of mystery, dangerous and dramatic like we as the reader kind of guess whats going to happen. There is lots of detail to London, Baker Street, country house with varied settings to give tremendous atmosphere and mystery. This comes into effect in the Red Headed League and The Final Point especially. The style and structure is very simple, its written in first person narrator by Dr. Watson. Direct speech brings alive different charters and personalities. Descriptions of charters and settings are a reason to the plot. The Speckled Band is a muscular mystery, the Red Headed League is to do with the values of property and money, The Final Point is politics and crime put together and they all have a moral code at the heart of the stories which is to bring bad people to justice. The Speckled Band and Red Headed League has a straight forward structure with the problem introduced and eventually solved by Holmes. However in The Final Point Dr. Watson is forced to use detective powers demonstrated to him by his friend Holmes in realising both Holmes and Moriatry are dead. Between 1887 and 1927, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote sixty Sherlock Holmes stories, and his great Canon has become the most praised, most studied, and best-known chapter in the history of detective fiction. Over twenty thousand publications pertaining to the Sherlock Holmes phenomenon are known to have been published, most of them historical and critical studies. In addition, however, almost since the first stories appeared, such was their uniqueness and extraordinary attraction that other authors began writing stories based on or derived from them. A new genre had appeared: pastiches; parodies; burlesques; and stories that attempted to copy or rival the great detective himself. This is why Sherlock Holmes is the most popular, entertaining and strong examples of popular crime writing which is still read a century later. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Conan Doyle section.
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Frankenstein Relationships :: Essays Papers
Frankenstein Relationships Many stories have progressed enough to be the topic of conversation from time to time. The novel, Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus has different relationships to many other topics. The author of the story, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley who was born almost 200 years ago bringing with her the age of horror (Edison 5), used biographical strategies to write Frankenstein. Also, as time progressed, Frankenstein became a well-known story. It was turned into many different films that depicted the time period that it happened to be from. One final relationship that Frankenstein has happens to be the way that everyone can draw morals from the story, no matter what the readerââ¬â¢s age, or how the readerââ¬â¢s life has evolved. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley used biographical strategies to write her well-known novel. Frankenstein has plenty of tragedy included to form the storyline. Many women passed away throughout the entire novel. Perhaps the reason for these mishaps was because Shelley watched many women and children die all through her life. For instance, her mother died after giving birth to Shelley. Also, only one of Maryââ¬â¢s children survived infancy. Mary herself almost died after a miscarriage. Percy Shelleyââ¬â¢s wife, Harriet, committed suicide. (Percy married Mary after his wife took her own life.) Shelley also demonstrated a bond between specifics such as names, dates and events. For example, the letters that form the narration of the novel were written to Margaret Walton Saville (Whose initials M.W.S are those of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley). These letters were written not only during the time that Mary was going through her third pregnancy, but also during the time when she was writing the novel itself. It appears that Mary tries to be a silent person in her story. Most of the important scenes revolve around her in some way. Certain dates had a large enough impact on Maryââ¬â¢s life that she integrated them into her novel. ââ¬Å"Mellor discovered that the day and date on which Walton first sees the creature, Monday, 31 July, had coincided in 1797, the year in which Mary Shelley was born. This fact and other internal evidence led Mellor to conclude that the novel ends on 12 September 1797, two days after Mary Wollstonecraftââ¬â¢s death.
Monday, January 13, 2020
Reason of Apple’s Success
The Success Of Apple: Above And Beyond Its Technology Over the weekend I was in an Apple store in northern New Jersey. It made me very uncomfortable. See, Iââ¬â¢m a PC guy. A staunch Windows user, from Windows 3. 1 to 95 to 98 to NT to XP to Vista (ouch) to the current Windows 7 (did I miss any? ). However, Iââ¬â¢m dabbling in the dark side, using an iPad (in addition to other devices such as a BlackBerry Playbook and a few Android phones). On a recent trip I broke the glass of my iPad. Hence my trip to the Apple store.As I was waiting for someone from technical support (called the Apple Genius bar) to help me, I observed Apple up close and personal. Here are a couple of things I noticed that have, no doubt, played key roles in Appleââ¬â¢s success. Happy staff = happy customers The whole staff was excited and happy to help customers. I observed one young lady in particular, an Apple staff member, who continually and genuinely smiled as she helped customers. She warmly greete d one customer after another and helped them work through their problems with a spark of excitement.Another lady adorned in big earrings and big glasses reminded me of a concierge at a high-end New York hotel. Friendly, professional and excited to help. In another incident, a customer came in and had a question about using her product in another country. I overheard an Apple manager suggest to a staff member that he call someone in the country to which the customer was headed, to get the answer she needed! How many retailers would take the time to make a phone call (to another country! ) to help out a customer on the retail floor? A chaotically smooth in-store processOver the course of my life, Iââ¬â¢ve had the privilege of being around several U. S. Presidents. For obvious reasons, there is always a lot of commotion, activity and security around the President. However, all of this fuss is carefully choreographed by the U. S. Secret Service, the White House advance team and other s. To an outsider it might look like confusion, but as you look closer you see thereââ¬â¢s a very detailed plan of action in place. This is how it was in the Apple store. Their were dozens of customers milling around, all with different needs.There were customers with pre-scheduled appointments at the Genius bar, walk-ins in need of technical support, those simply making retail purchases and people trying out new productsââ¬âand everyone saw immediate attention from passionate and very knowledgeable staff members. What was also interesting was that all of the sales staff on the floor had the ability to process credit card sales with their iPhones, an innovation that is not seen at most retailers. Instead of standing in line for the cashier, the cashier comes to you and processes your transaction on the spot: pretty neat (and efficient). Also Case Study will describe why Apple Inc. is a very successful company.So what happened with my cracked iPad? Since the iPad was relatively new, the Apple representative said he would make an exception and gave me a new one. The entire process took about 10 minutes. I was fully expecting to pay $200 to get it fixed. So I was pleasantly surprised. Clearly, Appleââ¬â¢s products are well designed, easy to use and fun. However, the products are only one part of Appleââ¬â¢s success. The other part is the ease of doing business (that is, making the purchase and receiving support) that Apple delivers so harmoniously to its customers Reasons Apple Is So Successful One of the more interesting questions I get asked about as an industry analyst whoââ¬â¢s followed Apple since 1981 is why Apple is so successful. Itââ¬â¢s an honest question because to those unfamiliar with Apple, the companyââ¬â¢s rise and current dominance in non-PC devices is somewhat puzzling. Most people have a working understanding of the fact that Apple lost the PC wars to Microsoft, and only nominally understand that when Apple created the iPod and then the iPhone, the company started to go in a new direction.And anyone whoââ¬â¢s gone into an Apple store knows full well that Appleââ¬â¢s customer service and stores represent the gold standard for selling and supporting tech gadgets. But beyond that, the reasons why Apple is really successful are still a mystery to many. (MORE: 50 Best iPhone Apps 2012) There are plenty of books about Apple that talk about everything from Steve Jobsââ¬â¢ history to tenets of Appleââ¬â¢s business models to secrets about Appleââ¬â¢s internal-management ideas.However, after years of watching Apple up close and personal and having to deal with every one of their CEOs, as well as interacting with various Apple execs over the years, I would like to suggest that the reasons the company is successful can be boiled down to six key principles that make it very hard for competitors to compete with Apple. 1. For any product that Apple creates, the people who create it have to want it themselves So many times with projects I do with other tech companies, the goal is almost always based around the technology first, followed by whether or not people really want to use it.Geeky engineers are dazzled by the technology at their disposal and often create something because they can. But Appleââ¬â¢s approach is quite different. The engineers who are creating Apple products actually make them for themselves. And Jobs was the chief ââ¬Å"userâ⬠of Apple products when he was alive. All of Appleââ¬â¢s products are based on the fact that Jobs represented the real customer. And his engineers had to come to grips with that when designing a product. It has to be something that they personally couldnââ¬â¢t live without. 2. The products have to be easy to useJobs was a stickler on this point. While industrial design is a critical component of any product Apple makes, if it is not easy to use, it is considered worthless to the consumer. This is what drove the companyââ¬â¢s user-interface designs from Day 1 and is still the mantra pushed to the software and hardware engineers every day they go to work. All of the products they create have to be intuitive and easy to understand and learn. As technology has become more intricate and users want more features, the task of keeping things simple is sometimes difficult.And Apple creates tools for power users and rookies, which can mean a broad range of ease-of-use issues. But even with that, Apple is the only company I deal with where ease of use is more important than the product itself. Apple makes this a critical goal of its approach to creating anything for the market. (PHOTOS: The Apple II Turns 35) 3. Keep things simple I was in Paris in the past two weeks and had talks with various French telecommunications officials about many mobile-computing issues. But one conversation I had in particular emphasizes this keep-it-simple point.We were discussing how to compete with Apple ââ¬â a major pastime for all Apple competitors and carriers these days ââ¬â when the question of why Apple is really successful came up. And one exec nailed it when he said he felt that the real reason Apple is successful is because it has one product; in this case the iPhone. It minimizes the decisionmaking process for the consumer by making things simple. The person speaking was with a carrier in France, and he said that in their stores, they have to have as many as 25 different models of phones available.That makes it hard for his staff to be really knowledgeable about all of them all of the time, and their customers just have too many options to choose from. But Apple only has one iPhone model, and anyone who has gone into an Apple store understands that every staff member there knows a great deal about each of the four major products carried in its stor es. Apple doesnââ¬â¢t have five iPhone models to choose from; it has only one. While this may seem limiting given the amount of smart phones available to users, the truth is the reverse.Our company has done consumer research for over 30 years, and consumers constantly tell us that while choice is nice, in reality they want the process of choosing a tech product to be simple and not complicated by a plethora of choices. Yes, there are tech-savvy people who like more choices and sometimes even like complexity, but from years of experience as a market researcher, I can tell you that in the end, the majority of users are not tech-savvy, and keeping things simple for them is a plus. Apple understands this in spades and is never tempted to add multiple versions of an iPhone, iPad or even more than one or two types of iPods.This makes buying an Apple product simple. And consumers seem to appreciate this considering the huge number of iDevices that are sold each year. I know the tech med ia and techies are the most vocal about this issue of choice, but in the end, while choice is good for competitive pricing, what nontechie consumers really want is simplicity. (MORE: The Inventor Of the Future) 4. Offer great customer service and in-store experiences Jobs understood one of the major conundrums of technology: even if you create products that are easy to use, the variety of things that people want to use technology for often creates complexity.Because of this, consumers at all levels may need some hand holding from time to time. I was one of the most vocal critics of Apple when it introduced its first retail store in Tokyo in 2002. I thought it was crazy for Apple to try and go into retail. At the time, and even today, tech retail stores are in decline while big-box stores like Costco and Walmart sell products on price and nothing else. I thought that if price were the issue, an upscale retail store would be DOA. Wow, were other naysayers and I wrong about Appleââ¬â ¢s retail strategy. Apple uses this conundrum to its advantage.Because it keeps product SKUs simple, the salespeople inside the stores know the products really well. Notice that when you go into an Apple store and are greeted by one of the sales staff, youââ¬â¢re not asked, ââ¬Å"How can I help you? â⬠Instead they ask, ââ¬Å"What would you like to do today? â⬠They go right to the heart of any technology userââ¬â¢s question, a question thatââ¬â¢s always related to what they want to do with the technology the user is interested in. And once you explain your needs, they take care of it on the spot in most cases. Or if you need more hand holding, they turn you over to the Apple Geniuses.No wonder 50% of people buying Apple products are new to Apple. Appleââ¬â¢s products are simple to understand and use, but if you do have a problem, Apple can take care of it at their stores or over the phone quickly. (PHOTOS: Apple Announces New iPad) 5. Apple only makes a pro duct if Apple can do it better Apple normally doesnââ¬â¢t invent a new product or product category. Sure, the company did invent the first commercial PC with the Apple II, and the Mac improved on PCs with a graphical user interface and mouse input. But since then, all of Appleââ¬â¢s other products have been recreations of existing products.Apple did not invent the MP3 player; Apple reinvented it and made it better. Apple did not invent the smart phone; Apple reinvented it and made it better. And Apple did not invent the tablet; Apple reinvented it and made it better. As Apple designer Jonathan Ive said recently, ââ¬Å"Our goals are very simple ââ¬â to design and make better products. If we canââ¬â¢t make something that is better, we wonââ¬â¢t do it. â⬠Clearly, Apple applied that thinking first to iPods, then smart phones and more recently, to the iPad. 6. Apple stays at least two years ahead of its competitors This is the one that scares Appleââ¬â¢s competi tors the most.While those competing with Apple are just getting products to market that are competitive, Apple is already working on the products at least two years out. For example, the new iPhone that will most likely go to market in October was designed and signed off on two years ago. And the iPhone the company is working on now is for the fall of 2014. The same goes for the iPad. The new iPad that we will most likely see next March was signed off on two years ago. The one thatââ¬â¢s being worked on now we will probably see in 2015. This is a nightmare for Appleââ¬â¢s competitors and will continue to be for some time. (MORE: What Would Steve Jobs Do? Besides having geniuses in design, software and retail, Apple also has the cash to invent components, manufacturing processes and things like that, which almost makes it impossible for the competition to make any real headway against Apple. And donââ¬â¢t let the fact that Android has become the No. 1 smart-phone operating s ystem make you think that itââ¬â¢s the big winner. Yes, Android has gained ground by the sheer numbers of companies and products pushing Android. But the real measure of success is in the profits, and Apple is making as much as 70% of all the profits in smart phones and about 85% of the profits in tablets.Just ask any Android competitor which they would like more, market share or profits. Youââ¬â¢ll get the answer relating to the real measure of success in this market. These six principles may seem a bit simplistic given the fact that Apple also has great software, industrial design and a powerful ecosystem of content, apps and services as part of the companyââ¬â¢s success equation. However, I can tell you that from my three decades of following Apple, itââ¬â¢s these six key principles that are what really makes it successful.And as long as it adheres to them, itââ¬â¢s pretty likely that Apple will continue to grow and command a relatively large share of the market in the companyââ¬â¢s product categories where it competes. Bajarin is the president of Creative Strategies Inc. , a technology-industry-analysis and market-intelligence firm in Silicon Valley The secret of Apple's success: simplicity Apple's success ââ¬â driven by the vision of Steve Jobs ââ¬â has been to distil its ideas to their essence. By contrast, too many companies are overly complicated [pic] Steve Jobs speaks during an Apple special event in 2010 in Cupertino, California.Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Apple's package-design team had just returned from its presentation to Steve Jobs, and the faces told the story ââ¬â they had that ââ¬Å"things didn't go exactly as we plannedâ⬠look. ââ¬Å"The suspense is killing me,â⬠I said to the project leader. ââ¬Å"How'd it go this morning? â⬠ââ¬Å"Well,â⬠he said, ââ¬Å"Steve hit us with the Simple Stick. â⬠Translation: Jobs had rejected their work ââ¬â not because it was bad bu t because, in some way, it failed to distil the idea to its essence. The person leading the project had directed the team to create packaging for two versions of the same product.Jobs had decided this was brain-dead. ââ¬Å"Just combine them,â⬠he said. ââ¬Å"One product, one box. â⬠There was no need to explore the idea of a second package. He was right. It was simpler, quicker, better. The conversation was over in minutes, and it left one very smart and talented group of people wondering why they hadn't thought of that before. The Simple Stick symbolises a core value within Apple. Sometimes it's held up as inspiration; other times it's wielded like a caveman's club: a deep, almost religious belief in the power of simplicity. If you're prepared to do battle with complexity, you'll have no trouble finding a fight.Chances are you're surrounded by it. Unless you work in the rarest of environments, complexity lives inside your organisation's hierarchy, its goals, and probabl y most of your colleagues as well. If your company ever fails, you can be sure it won't be the fault of simplicity ââ¬â it will be the result of its absence. Think brutal Clarity propels an organisation. Not occasional clarity but pervasive, 24-hour, in-your-face, take-no-prisoners clarity. Most people never perceive that this is lacking in their organisation, but 90% of the time it is. Just open a few random emails, activate your ââ¬Å"brutal-visionâ⬠, and read.The muddying messages are rampant. If people were brutally honest in their emails, the time we spend sorting through our in-boxes would surely decrease by half. Steve Jobs demanded straightforward communication from others as much as he dished it out himself. He'd cut you off if you rambled. He ran his business as if there were precious little time to waste, which well reflected the reality for Apple ââ¬â as surely it does for any company serious about competing. This is probably the one element of Simplicity t hat's easiest to institute. Just be honest and never hold back.Demand the same from those you work with. You'll make some people squirm, but everyone will know where they stand; 100% of your group's time will be focused on forward progress ââ¬â no need to decode what people are really saying. There is a general perception that Jobs was the nasty tyrant who demanded allegiance, barked commands, and instilled the fear of God in those around him. While Jobs certainly did exhibit these behaviours, this portrait is incomplete. The man could also be funny, warm, and even charming. There is a huge difference between being brutally honest and simply being brutal.You can't let yourself be talked into going along with something when you know it can be better. Ever. To settle for second best is a violation of the rules of simplicity, and it plants the seeds for disappointment, extra work, and more meetings. Most disturbing, it puts you in the worst possible business position: having to def end an idea you never believed in. Your challenge is to become unbending when it comes to enforcing your standards. Mercilessly so. If you submit only the work you believe in 100% and approve only the work you believe in 100%, you own something that no one can take away from you: integrity.As often happens in life, one must often suffer the consequences of doubting before becoming a believer. I'm not proud of it, but that's the way I learned my lesson about standards. There was a certain amount of theatre that went on inside Apple. The rules were well known, and a number of dramas played out with predictability. That Jobs was intolerant of stupidity is a matter of record. He wasn't at all polite when stupidity reared its ugly head. He especially wasn't fond of employing stupidity, so if you were on Apple's staff and wanted to retain that status, it was wise not to display your lack of smarts in a meeting with him.You'd just set him off and get it right between the eyes. A former App le senior staffer remembers a routine that he saw played out often during his time as a direct report to Jobs. He calls it ââ¬Å"the rotating turretâ⬠. There was no predicting when it would happen, as it depended on how conversations evolved. But in some meeting, at some random time, some poor soul in the room would say something that everyone in the room could tell was going to light Jobs's fuse. First came the uncomfortable pause.The offending comment would reverberate in the air, and it would seem as if the entire world went into slow motion as Jobs's internal sensors fixed on the origin of the sound wave. You could almost hear the meshing of gears as his ââ¬Å"turretâ⬠slowly turned toward the guilty party. Everyone knew what was comingââ¬âbut was powerless to stop it. Finally, the turret would lock on to its target. In a split second Jobs would activate his firing mechanism, and without a second thought he'd unload all his ammunition. It was uncomfortable to wat ch and even more uncomfortable to experience, but at Apple it was just a fact of life.Think small How many overpopulated meetings do you sit through in a year? How many of those meetings get sidetracked or lose focus in a way that would never occur if the group were half the size? The small group rule requires enforcement, but it's worth the cost. Out in the real world, when I talk about small groups of smart people, I rarely get any pushback. That's because common sense tells us it's the right way to go. Most people know from experience that the fastest way to lose focus, squander valuable time, and water down great ideas is to entrust them to a larger group.Just as we know that there is equal danger in putting ideas at the mercy of a large group of approvers. One reason why large, unwieldy groups tend to be created in many companies is that the culture of a company is bigger than any one person. It's hard to change ââ¬Å"the way we do things hereâ⬠. This is where the zealots of simplicity need to step in and overcome the inertia. One must be judicious and realistic about applying the small-group principle. Simply making groups smaller will obviously not solve all problems, and ââ¬Å"smallâ⬠is a relative term.Only you know your business and the nature of your projects, so only you can draw the line between too few people and too many. You need to be the enforcer and be prepared to hit the process with the Simple Stick when the group is threatened with unnecessary expansion. In one iconic technology company with which I worked I found a framed sign in every conference room designed to nudge the employees toward greater productivity. The headline on the sign was how to have a successful meeting. The content read like it came right out of a corporate manual, which it likely did.It featured a bullet-pointed list of things like: ââ¬Å"State the agenda at the start of your meeting,â⬠ââ¬Å"Encourage participation by all attendees,â⬠and â⠬Å"Conclude your meeting with agreement on next stepsâ⬠. What these signs really said, though, was: ââ¬Å"Welcome to a very big company! Just follow these signs and you'll fit in well. â⬠It's not hard to imagine Jobs, who actively fought big-company behaviour, gleefully ripping these signs off the wall and replacing them with Ansel Adams prints that might provide a moment of reflection or inspiration. If you ever work at Apple there will be no signs on the wall telling you how to run a meeting.Likewise, there will be no signs telling you how to tie your shoes or fill a glass of water. The assumption is that you are well equipped with brains and common sense and that you're a fully functioning adult. If you're not already a disciple of simplicity, you'll become one soon. Either that, or you'll decide you'd rather not be part of such a thing, which is okay too. Simplicity prefers not having to train a bucking bronco. If big companies really feel compelled to put something on their walls, a better sign might read: How to Have a Great Meeting 1. Throw out the least necessary person at the table. . Walk out of this meeting if it lasts more than 30 minutes. 3. Do something productive today to make up for the time you spent here. Think clarity This is an area where just about every business needs more work. Words are powerful, but more words are not more powerful ââ¬â they're often just confusing. Understand that in your company's internal business and in communications with your customers, dissertations tend to drive people away. Though many writers never seem to grasp the point, using intelligent words does not necessarily make you appear smarter.The best way to make yourself or your company look smart is to express an idea simply and with perfect clarity. No matter who your audience is, it's more effective to communicate as people do naturally. In simple sentences. Using simple words. Simplicity is its own form of cleverness ââ¬â saying a grea t deal by saying little. Think human Unless you're in the business of sterilising things, business is no place to be sterile. Have the boldness to look beyond numbers and spreadsheets and allow your heart to have a say in the matter. Bear in mind that the intangibles are every bit as real as the metrics ââ¬â are often even more important.The simplest and most effective way to connect with human beings is to speak with a human voice. It may be necessary in your business to market to specific target groups, but bear in mind that every target is a human being, and human beings respond to simplicity. Best advice: Just be true to your species. This is an edited extract from Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple's Success by Ken Segall (Portfolio Penguin, ? 14. 99) or at Guardian Bookshop for ? 11. 99 Doing business the Steve Jobs way It's natural for people to be resistant to change, large or small, so trying to change attitudes within an organisation can be difficult.But when you spread the word about the value of simplicity you are not spreading some oddball theory, you're echoing one of the most successful people in business history, Steve Jobs (right). If you refer to the benefits Apple has enjoyed by embracing simplicity, and make the appropriate parallels to your own business, you'll build a compelling case. You can spread the religion of simplicity project by project, by interacting with people and groups one at a time. Getting people to buy into a concept to the point where they start contributing their own ideas can literally create a movement within an organisation.Simplicity is a way of looking at every part of your job, the jobs of those around you, and the way your company operates. Once you start seeing the world through the lens of simplicity you'll be astounded at how many opportunities exist to improve the way your business works What are the Keys to Appleââ¬â¢s Success in Emerging Technologies? by Bill Halal [pic]Apple did not co me by its present success easily. Before the iPod, iPhone, and iPad became profitable icons of high-tech fashion, Steve Jobs suffered a long series of failures.Appleââ¬â¢s Pippin game player, the Next computer, Apple TV, the Lisa computer, the Newton PDA, and the Apple mouse are among the many products that are barely known because they were dismal flops. For many years, there were serious doubts if Apple could survive the battles it was losing to competitors like Microsoft. In contrast, Apple is now expected to sell 30 million iPads in 2011 ââ¬â two-thirds of all tablet computers sold globally. Although the iPhone is fighting off 90 different smart phones, Appleââ¬â¢s sales are up 60% and could reach 100 million iPhones in 2011.The source of this staying power is seen in the fact that the Apple iPhone has the highest consumer satisfaction scores ever recorded. Appleââ¬â¢s profits exceed those of IBM, and it is considered one of the most Innovative and valuable companie s in the world, Such stunning success always raises questions over its origins. How did a struggling company run by a charismatic but somewhat erratic CEO learn to excel in the brutal battle among emerging technologies? Can the factors of this success be identified and used to guide others? The most striking conclusion about Appleââ¬â¢s rise is that Steve Jobs learned bitter but crucial lessons from failure.After years of autocratic leadership, dismal sales, and temperamental behavior demoralized the company, John Sculley became CEO in 1985 and Jobs was sent into the computing wilderness. For 12 years, he suffered losses such as the Next computer, which was overpriced and sold only 50,000 units in seven years. When Jobs returned to head Apple, he had learned to focus on good design, to treat people well, and to develop winning strategy. Tim Bajarin, president of a consulting firm, said ââ¬Å"[Steve Jobs] would not have been successful if he hadnââ¬â¢t gone through his wildern ess experience. The main lesson from Appleââ¬â¢s success, however, is the central importance of focusing on strong products that are well-designed for the market. Jobs is a genius at minimalist designs that integrate technology breakthroughs to fill a newly emerging need with unusual style. He thinks success requires ââ¬Å"listening to the technologyâ⬠in order to ââ¬Å"discoverâ⬠the potential products waiting to be invented. The result can be seen in the way Jobs describes the attraction of the iPad ââ¬â ââ¬Å"Itââ¬â¢s like holding the Internet in your hands,â⬠he told a crowd. Itââ¬â¢s so much more intimate than a laptop and more capable than an iPhone. Itââ¬â¢s truly magical. â⬠This keen sense of anticipating where emerging technologies are leading comprises the central talent that allowed Jobs to create revolutionary breakthroughs like the first personal computer (Apple 1), the first graphical interface (Mac), the first Unix PC (Next), th e first successor to Sonyââ¬â¢s Walkman (iPod), the first online music store (iTunes), the first widely used smart phone (iPhone), and the first successful tablet (iPad).Serious processes are needed to closely follow advances in technologies that will impact your organization and to find creative new solutions for the market. Thatââ¬â¢s why Apple does far less conventional product research than other companies, and focuses instead on product discovery. Hereââ¬â¢s how Jobs described his approach: If I had asked someone who only used a calculator what a Mac should be like, they couldnââ¬â¢t have told me. Thereââ¬â¢s no way to do consumer research so I had to go and create it, and then show it to them. Behind such great products, Apple thrives because it has been described as a ââ¬Å"well-oiled machine. â⬠Jobs learned to delegate, so his COO, Tim Cook, now runs a tight ship, and a cadre of managers and designers have learned to ââ¬Å"think like Steve. â⬠The company has outsourced its manufacturing operations, while 317 Apple stores are wildly popular and profitable. The Apple music store ââ¬â iTunes ââ¬â has expanded into a powerful vehicle for trading videos, movies, and possibly other information products.Even with these stunning achievements, Apple faces enormous new challenges as competition among other smart phones and tablets heats up. There are at least 20 versions of Android phones alone, slowly taking Appleââ¬â¢s market share. In 2011, Americans will buy more Androids than iPhones. The main issue, of course, is what happens when Jobsââ¬â¢ illness requires a successor? Despite claims that Apple has institutionalized practices that foster creativity, innovation, good design, and other legacies of Steve Jobs, it is really impossible to replace true genius. When Jobs returned from the wilderness to save Apple, John Sculley
Saturday, January 4, 2020
University of Minnesota Morris Acceptance Rate, SAT/ACT Scores
The University of Minnesota Morris is a public liberal arts college with an acceptance rate of 63%. Founded in 1860, UMN Morris is one of the five campuses in the University of Minnesota System. Morris is a town of about 5,000 located on the western side of the state. Students can choose from over 35 majors, and they enjoy the close relationships with faculty that come with a 13-to-1 student / faculty ratio and an average class size of 16. On the athletic front, the Morris Cougars compete in the NCAA Division III Upper Midwest Athletic Conference. Considering applying to University of Minnesota Morris? Here are the admissions statistics you should know, including average SAT/ACT scores of admitted students. Acceptance Rate During the 2017-18 admissions cycle, UMN Morris had an acceptance rate of 63%. This means that for every 100 students who applied, 63 students were admitted, making University of Minnesota Morris admissions process competitive. Admissions Statistics (2017-18) Number of Applicants 3,139 Percent Admitted 63% Percent Admitted Who Enrolled (Yield) 19% SAT Scores and Requirements University of Minnesota Morris requires that all applicants submit either SAT or ACT scores. During the 2017-18 admissions cycle, 6% of admitted students submitted SAT scores. SAT Range (Admitted Students) Section 25th Percentile 75th Percentile ERW 530 660 Math 550 690 ERW=Evidence-Based Reading and Writing This admissions data tells us that most of UMN Morris admitted students fall within the top 35% nationally on the SAT. For the evidence-based reading and writing section, 50% of students admitted to University of Minnesota Morris scored between 530 and 660, while 25% scored below 530 and 25% scored above 660. On the math section, 50% of admitted students scored between 550 and 690, while 25% scored below 550 and 25% scored above 690. Applicants with a composite SAT score of 1350 or higher will have particularly competitive chances at University of Minnesota Morris. Requirements Note that University of Minnesota Morris does not superscore SAT results; your highest composite SAT score will be considered. While UMN Morris does not require the SAT writing section, the admissions office will consider the writing results in the review process. ACT Scores and Requirements University of Minnesota Morris requires that all applicants submit either SAT or ACT scores. During the 2017-18 admissions cycle, 95% of admitted students submitted ACT scores. ACT Range (Admitted Students) Section 25th Percentile 75th Percentile English 20 27 Math 21 27 Composite 22 27 This admissions data tells us that most of UMN Morris admitted students fall within the top 37% nationally on the ACT. The middle 50% of students admitted to University of Minnesota Morris received a composite ACT score between 22 and 27, while 25% scored above 27 and 25% scored below 22. Requirements Note that University of Minnesota Morris does not superscore ACT results; your highest composite ACT score will be considered. While UMN Morris does not require the ACT writing section, the admissions office will consider your writing results in the review process. GPA University of Minnesota Morris does not provide data about admitted students high school GPAs. Self-Reported GPA/SAT/ACT Graph University of Minnesota Morris Applicants Self-Reported GPA/SAT/ACT Graph. Data courtesy of Cappex. The admissions data in the graph is self-reported by applicants to University of Minnesota Morris. GPAs are unweighted. Find out how you compare to accepted students, see the real-time graph, and calculate your chances of getting inà with a free Cappex account. Admissions Chances The University of Minnesota Morris, which accepts fewer than two-thirds of applicants, has a somewhat selective admissions process. However, UMN Morris has aà holistic admissions process involving factors beyond grades and test scores. The admissions office is looking for applicants who have completed a college preparatory curriculum that includes four years of English and math (including algebra and geometry); three years of science and social studies; and two years of a single foreign language. Rigorous coursework, including Advanced Placement, IB, Honors, and Dual Enrollment classes, can strengthen your application, as can participation in meaningful extracurricular activities and glowingà letters of recommendation. UMN also gives consideration to the personal interview and the SAT or ACT writing sample in the review process. In the scattergram above, the blue and green dots represent accepted students. You can see that most successful applicants had B or higher averages, and the great majority had grades of B or better. Standardized test scores also tended to be above average: nearly all admitted students had SAT scores of about 1000 or higher, and ACT composite scores of 20 or above. If You Like University of Minnesota Morris, You May Also Like These Schools: University of Minnesota - Twin CitiesCollege of CharlestonSt. Marys College of MarylandTruman State University All admissions data has been sourced from the National Center for Education Statistics and University of Minnesota Morris Undergraduate Admissions Office.
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