ART AND LEISURE ARTICLE

http://www.theage.com.au/news/digital-life/smart-phone/iphone-games-put-the-heat-on-sony-nintendo/2008/11/24/1227491429903.html

CRITERIA E

Bibliography
• GCSE bitesize, 18th October 2008, http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ict/measurecontrol/0computercontrolrev3.shtml
• ITGSQA, 9th October 2008, http://itgsqa.qataracademy.wikispaces.net/11+Ethical+Issues
• LaMonica, Martin, September 18 2008, http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10044239-54.html
• Makower, Joel, 24th October 2008 http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/003671.html
• Petterson, Gary, 24th October 2008, http://ezinearticles.com/?Are-Smart-Grids-the-Wave-of-the-Future?&id=1419720
• Shiels, Maggie, 18th September 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7622347.stm
• Smalltimes.com, 15th October 2008, http://www.smalltimes.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?ARTICLE_ID=269575&p=109
• U.S. Department of energy, 24th October 2008, http://www.oe.energy.gov/smartgrid.htm
• Wikipedia, 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_grid
• Wikipedia, 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_grid#Technology

CRITERIA D

Perhaps of all the issues mentioned above, the one which will impact society most is the price of the grid. As stated before, the price is higher than that of its predecessor –this could be disadvantageous not only to potential customers, but also to the business itself. Since the grid is an environment-friendly product that both businesses intend to expand the use of in the near future, it is not a luxury product and hence the target customer group is the middle class society (people with an average income). But if this price is low, the business might not benefit due to low income and the product manufacturing could be shut down completely. The price, therefore, should be at a competitive level (at least to start with) and then the tactic of promotional pricing could be used –this is when the price is slowly raised as the sales of the product increase with time. Psychological pricing is another effective method of pricing where the price of the product seems less than it actually is. (E.g.: $499, $999.99 –these prices don’t seem as high as $500 and $1000 when, in fact they are almost the same!) Google and GE should conduct market research and perhaps find out the price that most people would agree to buy the smart grid for (they could compare the price of their competitors’ and their product and evaluate the results to find out the perfect price for the grid-which would attain high sales at a reasonable price).The promotion, advertising and marketing of the grid should also be appropriate, to make the public aware of the product.