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Common Core State Standard
SL.CCS.1/2/3/4 Grades 6-12: An essay of a current news event is provided for discussion to encourage participation, but also inspire the use of evidence to support logical claims using the main ideas of the article. Students must analyze background information provided about a current event within the news, draw out the main ideas and key details, and review different opinions on the issue. Then, students should present their own claims using facts and analysis for support. FOR THE WEEK OF SEP. 10, 2007 IPhone price cut: iRate owners, iSorry Apple![]() ![]() Have students examine ads for other products that will soon drop in price or continue dropping in price: Hi-def televisions, personal dvd players, other cell phones come to mind, for example. ![]() Should you buy now or should you wait? The question always leaps to mind when shopping for high-tech gadgets, real estate and even cars. Have students find consumer stories that deal with the issue. ![]() Compare cell-phone prices and plans from ads in the paper and determine which might be the best buy today. How do the rates compare with Apple's iPhone. What do students say makes the iPhone so special that people would pay such a high premium? Based on the ads found, which phone would they buy if they had the money? Just 10 weeks after the launch of its iPhone, Apple Computer announced last week it was slashing the cost of the year's most coveted gadget to $399. Suddenly people who had rushed to buy the Apple iPhone over the last two months embarrassingly found that they had overpaid by $200 for the joy of being first . Being an early buyer of new technology always carries a price. Prices drop as electronics components get cheaper over time, improvements make first models obsolete, features don't always work right as bugs surface and are fixed in later models. But the 33 percent price cut coming so soon was unusual since, according to consultancy iSuppli, the iPhone was the best-selling smartphone in the U.S. in July after its June debut. Irate early adopters quickly turned to Internet Blogs and Forums to vent their anger and flooded Apple and CEO Steve Jobs with hundreds of emails. Responding to the backlash a day later, Jobs acknowledged that the company had abused its core customers' trust and extended a $100 store credit to the early iPhone buyers.
"I just felt so used as a consumer. They hyped up the iPhone for six months and built up our expectations, and then they grabbed our extra $200 and ran." -- Kevin Tofel, a blogger in Telford, Pa.
Front Page Talking Points is written by
Alan Stamm for NIEonline.com, Copyright 2024
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