Week 8 – Summary

Over the past eight weeks, I have obtained a better knowledge on my entrepreneurship project and how it was going to evolve from week 1. My entrepreneurship project was on creating an app for iPhone or any Smartphone devices. An app called Self-Checkout could turn any Smartphone into a handheld scanner. Every time someone needs to go to quick grocery shopping on busy days they can check out any item without having to wait in a line. I thought that this idea would have an effect on many mobile companies because it makes it convenient for everyone to do their grocery shopping. However, throughout the eight weeks as I have been investigating on this project, I realized that this idea would not be as feasible as I thought it would be.

One of the biggest reasons why it was not feasible was because of overall security system. If everyone was to start using this app, we can not ignore the fact that there would be theft problems. There is a possibility that people take advantage of this app and not scan all the items they are buying. Even if we were to launch RFID tags on every single item, this would take a very long time to have them installed in every country. If we were to really make this app work, we would need to think seriously about the cost and the benefit. There could also be a problem with the overall performance with the app. Over time, there could be many lags and bugs which need to be fixed with frequent updates. If we did not upload updated version of the app, people are likely to not use this app as often.

Although this entrepreneurship idea sounds appealing to everyone and they would be for it if they had to decide whether or not to launch this app, we would still need more resources. I personally do not think right now is not a good time because we would need to investigate more and more. Based on my investigation on this idea in the past eight weeks, this app, self-checkout would be a big hit once it launches because people love anything that make their life convenient. Moreover, this app will draw everyone’s attention because it can be fun for people to use and it is something new to use.

I commented on three students on their entrepreneurial blogs. Here is the list of blogs I commented on:

Jessica Giloley (jessicagiloley.blogspot.com)

Julia Pantalone (juliapantalone.blogspot.com)

SooMin Jung (manshou317.blogspot.com)

Week 7 – Blog Review

Richard Branson was born on July 18, 1950 and he is a British entrepreneur for a Virgin Group. There are many products under Virgin Group, such as games, films, internet, mobile phones, and much more. Branson formed Virgin Atlantic Airways in 1984 and launched Virgin Mobile in 1999. He was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Technology from Loughborough University in 1993. Besides this, Branson received many other awards and honors throughout his career.

            While I was skimming his blog entries, one of them came to my attention which was entitled, “Business is about the details.” He writes that delivering an infant business is in the details and it is not just about the first day but getting it right all day, every day. Richard Branson says that every entrepreneur must develop a habit of taking notes in order to lead a company. Owners and leaders of established companies should sample their business products as often as possible. Also, if the boss does not communicate with their employees regularly, they will never learn what importance the CEO places on getting the details right.

            In Branson’s blog, he wrote a subtitle, “BOSSES, GIVE STAFF YOUR PHONE NUMBER.” He hopes that there are communication between a boss and his employee because in order to succeed, it all depends on great communication. Once the employees have a contact information of their boss they will know for sure to not to misuse it. I agree with this because if there is a bond between boss and his or her employee, this will give a psychological boost. The employees will know that they can contact their boss when a problem comes up and it requires attention. Once the company starts to see success, they should stay calm, be sportsmanlike, and play to win.

http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/blog/business-is-all-about-the-details/

Week 7 - Comment on Peers

Here is the list of blogs I commented on

jessicagiloley.blogspot.com

juliapantalone.blogspot.com

manshou317.blogspot.com

Week 6 - Operating Systems

            The app, “Self-Checkout” will be available to any smartphone devices such as iPhone, Android, and Windows phone. All devices have different operating systems but the app will be able to support any of them. The iPhone operates on MAC OS and other phones are operating on Microsoft. The main job of what operating system does is that it manages resources between hardware and software. It also provides a way for software applications to work with the hardware without having to know the details.

            When our company is trying to launch the app on the App Store for iPhone and market for Android phones, there are different processes we need to go through. To launch the app on Market for Android phones, we can easily upload it without any consent. This is because Android is an open source which means it is made available to public and anyone can copy, modify, and redistribute. However, in order for our company to launch an app on App Store for iPhones, we need approval from the Apple Company. If we were to upload an updated version of the app on App Store, it could take about two weeks, if not more to get the approval from Apple and have it available to consumers.

            After getting feedbacks from consumers, our company might try to update a version where you can multitask within the app. For example, once you scan an item you will be able to check-out at the same time without having to search for a place where you need to check out. Consumers’ feedbacks will be very helpful for our company to come up with different ideas on how we can improve this innovation. If we could get this app to multitask, it would draw more people’s attention.

Week 5 - Bits & Bytes

            When you scan an item, the scanner which is your iPhone or smartphone device will store items you scanned temporarily. It will be convenient for you to check out faster if you need to buy the items you bought again on some other day. Most of devices have storage of 15GB or 30 GB which will ensure you to store as many items as possible. Once you scan an item, it will take some kilobytes to save it to your device. It will not take up a lot of your storage capacity because the size of an image will be very small.

            The “Hand-held Scanner” app will also come with an UNICODE system. This system will be able to encode different languages. If you are traveling overseas, you will be able buy items just like you would in the United States. It will allow you to scan, check out, and pay with your credit card internationally. This will be convenient for students who are studying abroad and people who are travelling. However, in order to prevent problems regarding theft, it will be available to certain stores that use RFID tags and its scanner.

            It would be another great innovation if we could get this app to be used internationally because everyone is looking for something new and convenient. Our company will first launch this app in the United States and if people think it is convenient and useful, we will consider whether or not to launch this app to other countries. We hope that self check-out app will draw many people’s attention. If this succeeds, our company will be updating the app more frequently with bug fixes and add new features.

Week 4 - Input

            There have been many concerns from retailers regarding theft and yes, this is a problem we need to consider. If consumers were not required to check out at a register, there may be concern that people would not scan all items in their cart. However, with all the great technologies being put out in the world today, there is an input innovation called RFID, Radio Frequency Identification. This technology would be useful because it would help the retailers to not to worry about the theft problem.

            When our company launches the app, we will be working closely with the RFID innovation. RFID is a system which transmits the identity of an object wirelessly using radio waves. It is an automatic identification technology. Once we get this to work, we will be putting RFID tags on every item that are being sold at the retailers. There are two types of RFID tags, passive and active and we will be using the passive tags which are commonly used. It convenient because it does not need battery power and the cost is much cheaper. If someone tries to steal an item or does not scan an item, the RFID scanners will go off before they leave the store.

            There are some disadvantages of RFID chips as well. Because it is still a developing technology, we can not guarantee 100% whether or not it is completely secure. If this is the case, we can always have someone to check their receipt as it appears on the screen of their device before they leave the store. This is done in many places like BJ’s and COSTCO where you need to show a receipt and check the number of items you have purchased. However, this process would be very hectic if someone purchases more than 20 items. I think we need to work on this issue more in depth to find a way to solve it.

Week 3 – Hardware Components and Digital Video

            The “Hand-held Scanner” will be acting just like a computer device which means it needs a processor, the control unit. The control unit is the component of the processor that directs and coordinates most of the operations. In order this device to be able to read an item that it scans, it needs to go through a control unit. Although not all hardware components will be used for this kind of device, memory will also be used. The bigger the memory you carry, the more it will be convenient for you. Whenever you scan an item and check out, the device will save it for later use. If you need to buy the same an item next time you will be able to check out much faster without having to scan it.

            Our company will be using YouTube most of time to advertise our product. There are billions and billions of YouTube users everyday and once we launch our product and start advertising, the sales of this product will surely be affected. We would need to contact with the YouTube Company to get the contract signed. As soon as YouTube starts advertising our product more and more people will start look into the details and decide whether or not to buy this product. If they find it useful and convenient, even more people will start buying this product and experience it themselves.

            There will be disadvantages of this product as much as there are advantages, hopefully, less. Since this is our company’s first time inventing such technology there could lags among many users. Our goal is to make this device with fewer problems as much as possible. We would want consumers to comment positive reviews on whatever social networking sites they might use to communicate with people. From this point on, we would be communicating with consumers to take their thoughts under consideration.