A juicy class project
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ORANGE JOURNALISM A juicy class project |
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Apple Inc. is one of the leading companies in a time of high-speed Internet and consumer demand for electronic gadgets.
Young people, particularly college students, know how to use their technology well.
Laptop computers, iPods, and cell-phones could be found almost anywhere on campus, even in the possession of some college professors.
Some departments at San Jose State University have a program that train its students to be proficient with their laptops. The department of Journalism and Mass Communication is one of them.
In his Journalism 134 class syllabus, Professor Dr. Craig states, “…all students are required to have a laptop computer and bring it to class. Many assignments will depend on this…”
To acquire the laptop program, the University’s Spartan Bookstore sells laptops at a convenient discount for students. “You’ll save a couple hundred dollars if you buy it here,” said Kerry who works at the bookstore.
The only laptops on display are the Apple MacBooks. Students can touch them, play with them and go through the operating system before they decide if Apple is the better choice.
The only way to purchase a Dell laptop is by ordering it. Dell laptops are not even stocked at the bookstore. “You can order it from here, then they’ll deliver it to your house,” said Kerry who prefers Apple.
“I have three of them. My first was the Titanium, a PowerBook. It was the first generation, and then it died. Plus, I needed something more powerful,” said Kerry about his MacBook.
Since the prevailing of the MacBook, Apple Inc. has discontinued all previous models that were designed to be personal laptops.
“No they’re not obsolete, Apple just stopped manufacturing them. Our new model is the MacBook, it has an Intel Core duo processor,” said an employee at the Apple store of Valley Fair Mall, who just wanted to be quoted as an Apple employee.
Apple’s popularity was boosted with the success of the iPod. According to ConsumerSearch.com, “The iPod dominates the market among hard-drive players.”
“Experts agree that the iPod system by far offers the most fully integrated music experience, a seamless marriage between the iPod hardware and the iTunes software and song library,” stated the article at ConsumerSearch.com.
At the beginning of the semester, Apple had a promotion to encourage students to buy its products. The promotion was called ‘Back To School’ and the Apple website stated, “Buy a Mac by September 16, 2006 and get a free iPod nano after mail-in rebate. Or choose another iPod and get up to $179 back via mail-in rebate*”
Mark Sebastian purchased his MacBook through the university but did something else with his free iPod. “I got my rebate pretty quick,” said Sebastian. “I wouldn’t use it so I sold it to my cousin,” said Sebastian about his iPod.
The only way for the iPod to function is with the program iTunes. The iPod is an Apple product but iTunes was also designed to work with PC computers.
The Apple store at Valley Fair offers help with their products but they usually do not give quality service to non-Apple computer users.
A PC user name Dot whose friends use Mac said, “Several photographer friends of mine are Mac snobs. Sure, Macs are more expensive, look nicer on your desktop and they seem to be set up for the elite artist in mind.”
The battle between Mac and PC is nothing new but prevailing from the competition is a digital lifestyle where consumers get the benefit. Carla of Journalism 134 said, “Yeah I take it on airplanes and stuff. To watch movies,” said journalism student Carla Mancebo, referring to her PC laptop.
Students around campus with laptops could be seen just about anywhere. They are beginning to upgrade what it means to be a bookworm.
The laptop brand varies but Apple Inc. market themselves as the company for designers and the college experience.
In Apple television commercials, they do parodies where PCs are portrayed as the slower, un-cool, and vulnerable to virus attack computers.
It is no longer “dorky” to be a computer whiz. It is rather un-cool to be computer-illiterate, especially around Silicon Valley where the major players, companies in technology development are based.
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