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.