The Impact of Apple Products on
Life and Education
Introduction:
Technology plays a great role in our
life. With the advancement in technology, human life is more comfortable and
more convenient. Technology affects our daily lives and education. Everyone
uses a computer in their everyday life for many different reasons, especially
the students. In university campus, you could find the student with diverse
electronic products everywhere. Most are
the Apple products, such as computer, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and iTouch. Apple
products affects our life and education more and more. I will show that the
impact of Apple Products on our life and education through this research
project.
Background:
Now, “Apple” is a very familiar word
for us, not because the meaning of fruit, but electronic products. “Apple is a prominent hardware and software
company best known for its series of personal computers, the iPod and its
innovative marketing strategies for its products. Apple Computer became Apple Inc. in 2007. ” (Rouse, 2012) Each
year, Apple Inc. launch new products. The iphone 4s, the new ipad, and the
iphone 5 that just released in September, 2012 all caused panic buying. Most people
are afraid they are going to miss out on owning one. More and more people like
to use the apple product. Computers Mac, iphone, and ipad could be found
everywhere, “ Apple has sold more than 55 million iPads since its launch in
2010. Because the iPad accounts for over 80 percent of all tablet
computer sales, software developers are creating apps at warp speed for
these new devices.” (Kuzmich,
2012) Now, “Apple” play a very important role in our life.
Technology:
Apple’s iPad is changing the school life and education. There were iPad users
everywhere in campus. Apple has sold more than 55 million iPad since its launch
in 2010. A question that comes to everyone’s mind after seeing the number is
that why there are so many people bought the iPad? John Kuzmich will give us the answer in his
word “Using the iPad in Music Education”. “Because the iPad accounts for over
80 percent of all tablet computer sales, software developers are creating apps
at warp speed for these new devices. The biggest physical difference between
the iPad and a laptop computer is that with the tablet, Apple lopped off die
keyboard in favor of an all-multitouch interface.” (Kuzmich, 2012)
Many apps are great teaching tools
such as SmartMusic, Band-In-A-Box, Garage Band, Scorch, and Practica Musica that
could help to practice music knowledge.
Most students are like to use the iPad not just because it is
lightweight and easy to carry, but also because of the cloud technology that is
great for storing student work from die many iPads used by students during
school day. “Cloud technology means that files aren’t stored locally, and can
be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection.” (Kuzmich, 2012)
Potential Benefits:
Some professors share their teaching
experience with iPad. “Teaching with and iPad is a different approach, a new
paradigm.” Teachers in tertiary education think they need new strategies to
communicate with students and to shape enticing educational experiences for
them. The Apple iPad has the potential to change this situation, offering
access to effective and efficient pedagogy in an easy and intuitive way.
Legal and Ethical:
There are many legal and ethical
issues related to the Apple products.
NYPD say, “Thefts of iphones and iPads in New York City have increased
at a rate ten times higher than other crime during this year.” (Myslewski,
2012) Not only in New York, but many
other police departments also report that spike in iPhone and other apple
products robberies causes crime rate rise. Although apple products provide lot
of positive effects on life and education, many negative effects exist also. One
feature of iPhone is reflected in this situation- “Find my iPhone” This cloudy
phone-finding system was recently used by police to track down a stolen iPhone.
The government and laws are protecting the customer and seller’s interests.
Security and Privacy:
Most information are translating
through the internet, phone and other electronics, like the personal profile,
bank account, password reset and so on.
Privacy and security become the most important problem to everyone. If they
cannot keep the database safe, all the convenient features become the ‘silly joke’. “We have recently seen a lot of angst and
carrying on over reports that a secret database of iPhone users’ movements is
being compiled on every iPhone.” (Perrin, 2011) Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden
released an application called iPhone Tracker at the O’Reilly Where 2.0
conference. They want to find Apple’s security and privacy shortcomings. The
iPhone Tracker site has some interesting things to say about the application:
1.
It
doesn’t record anything itself, it only displays files that are already hidden
on your computer.
2.
The
fact that it’s transferred across devices when you restore or migrate is
evidence the data-gathering isn’t accidental.
3.
There’s
no evidence that it’s being transmitted beyond your device and any machines you
sync it with.
4.
The
most immediate problem is that this data is stored in an easily-readable form
on your machine. Any other program you run or user with access to your machine
can look through it.
At
the end, they found that Apple has no “accident” defense for the existence of
this collected data, and iPhone tracking only part of Apple’s security and
privacy shortcomings.
Social Problems:
As
millions of people across the country line up to purchase the iPhone 5, one
phone is not only a person’s problem, but also become a social problems. Based
on predictions that Apple would sell 8 million iPhone 5 over opening weekend.
Do you know what that mean is? That means $3.2 billion boost to fourth-quarter
GDP, that means it would raise the
annualized fourth-quarter growth rate by a third of a percentage point. “JP Morgan's
Michael Feroli’s calculations were straightforward: If each unit sells for
about $600 and contains about $200 in imported parts, then each
individual iPhone 5 sale adds about $400 to GDP.” (Seligman,
2012)
The Related
Information:
I
saw a picture from the Washington Post that about a fifth-grader girl is
researching a definition of an adverb on her iPad, and her fingers are flying
across the screen. The fifth-grader girl Nguyen said that her 20 classmates are
hunched over their own tablets doing the same.
We have to think about the other question caused by iPad- the mouse and
keyboard face extinction as computer interaction evolves. “This fall, for the first time, sales of iPads are
cannibalizing sales of PCs in schools. John
Underkoffler, a former MIT researcher who was the adviser for the high-tech
wizardry that Tom Cruise used in “Minority Report,” says that the transition is
inevitable and that it will happen in as soon as a few years.” (Cha, 2012) As
Nguyen said the clunky desktop computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse setup was too
much for her. Convenience and shortcut are the requirement of most modern
people.
Conclusion
Technology
play a very important role in our life. The diverse electronics make our lives
easier and more convenient. “Apple” become a key point on the electronics
whatever in daily life, work field or school education. “Apple” could be found
everywhere, computer, iPhone and iPad. Apple products make our lives more
convenient and their positive effects on education is obvious. But many
attendant problems cannot be ignored either, such as “thefts of iPhone cause
crime rate rise” and “security and privacy on iPhone”. Everything has two
faces, the development of technology improve our lives, but also caused many
trouble. Nobody want to see the news like “thefts of iPhone cause crime rate
rise”. Everyone together for a better tomorrow.
Reference
Cha, Ariana Eunjung (2012). The Mouse
Faces Extinction as Computer Interaction Evolves. The
Washington Post, Published: October 7, from
John, K.,Jr. (2012). Using the iPad in
music education. School
Band and Orchestra, 15,
42-46. Retrieved from
Manuguerra, M.,
& Petocz, P. (2011). Promoting student engagement by integrating new technology
into tertiary education: The role of the iPad. Asian Social
Science, 7(11), 61-65. Retrieved from
Myslewski, Rik (2012). NYPD: iPhone
Thefts Rising Ten Times Rate of Other Crimes. Tech Investor News 9(25),
from
Perrin,
Chad (2011). iPhone Tracking only Part of Apple’s Security and Privacy Shortcomings.
Web
site from
Rouse,
Margaret (2009). What is Apple? Web sites form
Seligman, L. (2012, Oct 01). Sales of
iPhone 5 could boost GDP. National
Journal, Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1081728834?accountid=14541; http://sfx.wrlc.org/gm??url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&genre=unknown&sid=ProQ:ProQ%3Apqrl&atitle=Sales+of+iPhone+5+Could+Boost+GDP&title=National+Journal&issn=03604217&date=2012-10-01&volume=&issue=&spage=&au=Seligman%2C+Lara&isbn=&jtitle=National+Journal&btitle=
