Wharton MBA for Executives

I wrote an entry a few months ago comparing the various PDAs that are available.  Since I work with various mobile phones every day, I can’t help but check out the phones that our classmates are using.

Since many of us are corporate employees, I think by far the most common PDA is the Blackberry (Curve) to be exact. I think there are a few Pearls out there but I’d say that over 90% of Blackberry users in our class are using the Curve.

I have actually be playing around with the Blackberry Bold.  I have a pre-release version.  It’s the new Blackberry that’s coming out in a couple of months.  It’s pretty nice and does eveything that I think most Blackberry Curve users have been complaining about.  It works on the faster 3G network, has both GPS and Wifi, and records video as well as pictures.  I can’t talk about it too much (NDAs, etc.) but the user interface is sleek and cook and the screen is very nice.  The form factor is a little larger than the Curve but the keys are much nicer.

Anyway, with the new iPhone 3G out, I expect to see a few more iPhones in the class.  I’ve only seen one iPhone so far.

On Fridays, most of the people that I work with don’t know that I’m in school so I still get a lot of incoming email messages.  I try not to read them during class but I usually check my Blackberry every break and return email or make short phone calls when I need to stay in touch.  I think the professors also don’t seem to mind quite as much if you surrepticiously look at your Blackberry during class (some Professors don’t allow laptops to be opened in class).  The Blackberry certainly helps me get at least some work done.

And finally, I’ve been text messaging for many years.  I’m glad to see that it’s finally become part of everyday life here in the US.  I remember sending messages to friends all the time only to get a call from them later asking me what it is or finding out that they didn’t know how to check sms messages or that they didn’t want to check because it costs them money.

But the cell phone has caused a lot of issues as well.  California recently started it’s law against talking on the phone while driving unless you have a hands free device.  I hate to admit that I’ve been distracted many times while driving because I was on the phone.

(Ariel Skelley / Getty Images stock)

The worst is when you send sms messages while driving.  I’ve done this a few times but usually try to wait until there’s a red light (although one never seems to come when I need it).

To tie all of this into microeconomics theory, when I originally got the iPhone last year, I stood in some long lines and eventually bought one for almost $700.  It was expensive but it was a good way for Apple to extract consumer surplus from those of us with a high reservation price.  Once all of the early adopters got it, Apple lowered the price by $200.  Of course this enraged the early adopters since Apple was basically punishing us.  I’m not a big fan of Apple (their products remind me a little too much of hello kitty for some reason) but I was an early adopter for the iPhone.  Apple was seen as punishing the early adopters (usually their most loyal advocates) with higher prices to maximize profit.  Well…that’s exactlywhat they were doing but microeconomics theory doesn’t take into consideration the subjective feelings of the consumer.  The consumers were unhappy, disappointed, and hurt that Apple did this so Apple went ahead and gave us all a $100 credit to use at the apple store (to buy more apple products…).