English for professional environment. Учебное пособие
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MODULE 5. Professional environment
BEFORE WATCHING
Task 1. Answer the questions.
a) Whatjobareaswouldyouliketoconsiderinthefuture?Makealistofareas you would like to work in.
b) What are the top companies in your professional area? What do you know about them?
c) Match the names of companies with the services or products they offer.
1. |
Dell Inc. |
a) |
food processing |
2. |
b) |
airline service |
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3. |
Nikon Corp. |
c) |
online retail shopping |
4. |
Amazon |
d) |
pharmaceuticals and life sciences |
5. |
Lexus |
e) |
personal computers |
6. |
LG Electronics |
f) |
optical instruments |
7. |
Lufthansa |
g) |
household appliances |
8. |
Vodaphone |
h) |
internet search engines |
9. |
Cadbury |
i) |
mobile telecommunication services |
10. |
Bayer AG |
j) |
automobiles |
d) Would you like to work for any of these companies? Why? Why not?
Task 2. Answer the questions.
a) What do you know about Apple and its history?
b) What comes to your mind when you think about this brand? c) Have you ever used any of Apple products?
d) In what way are they different from their main market competitors?
Task 3. Match the words from the text with their Russian equivalents.
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1. |
to be valued |
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2. |
to break records |
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3. |
market cap |
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4. |
to hover |
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5. |
margins |
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6. |
motherboard |
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7. |
kit computers |
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8. |
initial |
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9. |
collectible |
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10. |
primarily |
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11.to handle
12.revenue
513. to fail to catch on commercially
14.a leap forward
15.disappointing
16.to dismiss in favor of
17.to serve as
18.strong growth
19.to benefit from
20.to be stalling
21.to turn the tide against
22.Signs of age
23.onward
24.reflection
25.to convince
26.ahead of his time
27.to overthrow
28.to take reins
29.to give credit for
30.aesthetically pleasing
31.a string of hit products
32.tenure
33.appealing
34.tight ecosystem
35.stripped-down apps
36.gets a cut
37.markup
38.solely iterative
39.groundbreaking
40.pronounced gap
READING
How Did Apple Get So Big? The Story Behind Apple’s Success
On August 2, 2018, Apple made history by becoming the first publicly traded U.S. company to be valued at $1 trillion, as measured by market capitalization. In Augustof2020,thecompanybrokerecordsagainbybecomingthefirstU.S.company to reach a $2 trillion market cap. Apple hovered just below that level as of early October 2020.
Since 2010, Apple has been one of the most valuable companies in the world. It
42stayedatornearthetopformanyyearsafterthat.ThereasonAppleissohighlyvalued issimpleonthesurface:thecompanymakespopularproductswithgenerousmargins.
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Understanding why Apple became so successful requires looking back at its |
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origins and history. From the first Apple computer (the Apple I, which was just a |
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motherboard without a monitor or keyboard) to the latest iWatch, here is a brief |
overview of the chronology of Apple’s innovative products. |
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Apple, founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976, started out in the |
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business of kit computers with the Apple I. This initial production run is popular as |
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a collectible now. However, it will mainly be remembered for helping the company |
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get enough capital to build the Apple II in 1977 – the same year Apple officially |
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incorporated. Wozniak primarily built both these computers, and Jobs handled the |
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marketing side. |
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The Apple II drove the company’s revenue until the mid-1980s, despite the |
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hardware remaining largely the same. Apple attempted updates like the Apple III |
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andtheAppleLisa,butthesefailedtocatchoncommercially.AlthoughtheAppleII |
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was still selling, Apple as a company was in trouble when the 1980s began. |
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The 1984 release of the Macintosh was a leap forward for Apple. However, in |
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the intervening years between the Apple II and the Macintosh, IBM had caught up. |
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Disappointing revenues from the Macintosh and internal struggles for control led |
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to Apple’s board dismissing Jobs in favor of John Sculley (some sources say Jobs |
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decided to leave). |
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Sculley served as Apple’s CEO until 1993. During those years, Apple enjoyed |
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strong growth. It created new products, including laser printers, Macintosh Porta- |
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ble,PowerBooks,theNewton,andmuchmore.Appleproductscontinuedtosellat |
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a premium, so the margins were generous for Apple and led to strong financial re- |
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sults.Duringthesameperiod,however,cheapercomputersrunningWindowswere |
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serving a far larger middle market, while Windows also benefited from powerful |
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Intel processors. By comparison, Apple seemed to be stalling. |
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Two CEOs, Michael Spindler and Gil Amelio, failed to turn the tide against the |
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relentlessspreadofsystemsrunningMicrosoftoperatingsystems. Microsoft’snew |
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operating system, Windows, was becoming the industry standard, and the Apple |
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Macintosh was showing signs of age. |
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The Second Chance CEO |
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FromtheMacintoshonward,Applehaseitherbeenareflectionoforareaction |
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to Steve Jobs. In the Macintosh, Apple was trying to create a machine that made |
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computing simple and enjoyable. In particular, Jobs was out to create a user expe- |
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rience that would convince everyone to buy a Mac. |
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Jobs believed a truly revolutionary product couldn’t depend on customers’ |
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needs and wants. He thought customers could not understand the value of a prod- |
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uct until they were actually using it. Unfortunately, Jobs was ahead of his time in |
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1985 – precisely 12 years ahead of his time. |
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When Jobs overthrew Amelio and took Apple’s reins once more in 1997, the |
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hardware had caught up to his vision for all things digital. He launched the iMac |
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with a strong marketing campaign featuring the “Think Different” slogan. Although |
Jobs is often given credit for spending the money and time on marketing, excellent |
marketingandbrandinghavealwaysbeenkeytoApple’sgrowth.Therealdifference between the iMac and all the products preceding it was the beauty and design.
5iMac almost looked like a racer’s helmet photographed at speed, a colorful blur sweepingbackfromthescreen.In1998,theiMacwasthemostaestheticallypleasing machine on the market. It was the computer no one knew they wanted untilIt was not a tower and monitor setup like every other PC on the market. The
they saw it. It was elegant and, thanks to the OS upgrade, it was user-friendly.
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The iEcosystem |
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The iMac was just the start as Apple released a string of hit products that re- |
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flected the new focus on elegance and user experience. These included the iBook, |
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theiPod,theiPhone,theMacBookAir,andtheiPad.TheiPodbecamethecategory |
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killer in MP3 players, and the iPhone essentially launched and then dominated the |
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smartphone market. |
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All these devices were perceived as being better in quality – and certainly in |
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design–thancompetingproducts.Jobswasrelentlessondesignandindoctrinated |
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the entire culture of Apple into the art of design. |
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The other point he brought Apple back to in his second tenure is the ease of |
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use. After a few minutes of using the wheel on an iPod or tapping icons on an iPad, |
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thesenewformsofcontrolbecamepartofthesimplicitythatmakesAppleappeal- |
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ing.NoweveryproductupdatefromAppleisanticipatedbythemediaandthegen- |
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eral public, in addition to the fans that the company had from the start. |
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Moreimportantly,alloftheseproductsmovedAppleintoanewbusinessmod- |
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el of creating a tight ecosystem of hardware, software, and content. Apple didn›t |
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create iTunes to be a simple program for users to transfer MP3s onto iPods, as was |
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the case with many other manufacturers’ offerings. Instead, the company attacked |
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the concept of an album by breaking them into songs that would be sold individu- |
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ally at a fraction of the whole album’s price. |
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The same process took place with software. Many popular computer functions |
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could be done on Apple’s mobile devices using stripped-down apps – available, of |
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course, on Apple’s App Store. |
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Being the first big mover into many of these markets, Apple built the stadium |
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and set the rules for the game. When you pay for books, movies, apps, or music on |
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anAppledevice,Applegetsacut.Ofcourse,thisbusinessdoesn’tgenerateasmuch |
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revenueassellinganiPhoneoraniPad,wherethemarkupismuchmoregenerous. |
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That said, it is the content you buy through Apple that locks many people into |
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buying Apple again when their i-devices get old. So the content part of the ecosys- |
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tem pays off for Apple in the short-term and the long-term. Once you migrate to |
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Applebecauseofthedesignorthesimplicity,itistheintegrationwithyourcontent |
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that keeps you there. |
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The Post-Jobs Era |
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The post-Jobs era at Apple has nonetheless been a success by most meas- |
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ures. Apple continued to be the dominant tech company in both market share |
and stock price. |
Some analysts feel that without Jobs as the creative force, Apple has become solely iterative in its tech releases rather than transformative. The major release of thepost-JobserahasbeentheAppleWatch.ThefirmalsocreatedAppleTVdevices
5 and launched the Apple TV+ streaming video-on-demand service to go with it.
Intheabsenceofagroundbreakingnewproduct,Appleisheavilyreliantonthe iPhone’sproductioncycletopoweritsfinancialsuccess.CriticssaythatwithoutSteve Jobs at the helm, Apple has lost its innovative edge in recent years and is riding on its brand to drive sales.
The company still produced some of the best products with the most integratedecosystem.However,thegapbetweenAppleandcompetitorslikeSamsungand Google was no longer as pronounced as it once was. Indeed, companies like Samsungwereincreasinglypoisedtotaketheleadwhenitcomestoproductinnovation
in some categories.
Apple in the 20s
Apple’s market capitalization reached new highs in 2020, as the company enjoyed some successes and set new goals for the future. The company’s revenue from wearable technology, such as the Apple Watch, set new records. Apple’s revenue from services also rose to record highs during the 2020 crisis, as contactless payment options like Apple Pay became more popular.
Apple also announced two major changes to the Mac in 2020. First, Apple is transitioningtheMacawayfromIntelprocessorstoitsowncustom-designedchips. Apple’s new processors are based on the ones used in iPhones and iPads, making them more energy-efficient. The new chips have the potential to give Apple’s laptops longer battery life and more processing power than PCs.
Secondly,AppleischangingthemacOSsothatdeveloperscanmakeiOSandiPadOS apps run on the Mac without modifications. That will dramatically expand the numberofappsavailableontheMacandmakeitmorecompetitivewithPCs.[39]
Task 1. Work in pairs, make a time line of the most important events and dates in the history of Apple, and complete the table. Start with the foundation of the company.
Date |
Event |
1976 |
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple |
Task 2. Discuss the story behind Apple’s success with your partner. Choose three most important reasons why Apple is so highly valued.
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Task 3. Answer the questions. |
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a) What is Steve Job’s role in the company development? What made his role |
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unique? |
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b) Who are the main competitors of Apple? |
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c) WhydosomanypeoplekeepbuyingAppleagainwhentheiri-devicesgetold? |
d) What are the latest trends and changes in the Apple world? How can they help Apple become even more successful today?
5Task 4. Study the profile of the most influential people in the history of Apple and summarize their contribution to the company growth and prosperity.
Steven Paul Jobs : the chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), and co-founder of Apple Inc.. Jobs is widely recognized as a pioneer of the personal computer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, along with his early business partner and fellow Apple co-founderSteveWozniak.
StephenGaryWozniak co-foundedAppleInc.,whichlaterbecametheworld’slarg- estinformationtechnologycompanybyrevenueandthelargestcompanyintheworld bymarketcapitalization.ThroughhisworkatAppleinthe1970sand1980s,heiswidely recognizedasoneoftheprominentpioneersofthepersonal-computerrevolution.
In1975,WozniakstarteddevelopingtheAppleI intothecomputerthatlaunched Apple when he and Jobs first began marketing it the following year. He primarily designed the Apple II, introduced in 1977, known as one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputers, while Jobs oversaw the development of its foam-molded plastic case. Wozniak had a major influence over the initial development of the original Apple Macintosh concepts from 1979 to 1981, when Jobs took overtheprojectfollowingWozniak’sbriefdeparturefromthecompanyduetoatraumaticairplaneaccident.
Jobs became CEO of Apple in 1997. He was largely responsible for helping revive Apple, which had been on the verge of bankruptcy. He developed a line of products beginning in 1997 with the “Think different” advertising campaign and leading to the iMac, iTunes, iTunes Store, Apple Store, iPod, iPhone, App Store, and the iPad. In 2001, the original Mac OS was replaced with the completely new Mac OS X (now known as macOS),givingtheOSamodernUnix-basedfoundationforthefirsttime.[40],[41]
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WHILE WATCHING
Follow the link and watch the video
Script:
In our daily lives we are surrounded by Japanese brands. It is unlikely but you don’t have any Japanese technology in your home. Just check your watch, your phone, your camera, your TV set or your car. But Japanese brands on European markets is a reasonable new phenomenon. Before world war II Japan was secluded exotic country known more for its cultural individuality than for its products. By then Japan was a modernizing and successful country balancing on the border of old traditions and western lifestyle. Japanese car industry was enjoying great success as was the production of home appliances and fine mechanics but their export was non-existent. The post-war Japan which had been forced to surrender unconditionally and had to start from scratch contributed to the development of technologyandseveralbrandswerediscoveredbytheWestwithoutanymarketing strategy. Such were the case of one of the products belonging to the top ten list of Japanese brands, the Nikon camera.
Nikon corporation was established in 1917 and became a manufacturer of opticsforprivatecustomersaswellastotheJapanesemilitaryprovidingamongothers the lenses for the first Canon camera. In the spring of 1948 the first Nikon cameras hittheJapanesemarkets.Thesecamerasfeaturedsimpleyetelegantandfunctional design as well as a reminder of the era made in Occupied Japan.
Photography was one of her favorite amusements of the half times and the camera was well-receivedby theJapanesepublic. Nikon lensesimpresseda photojournalistDavidDouglasDuncanwhobecamethefirstWesternertopopularizethe nameNikon.FromJuly1950toJanuary1951DuncancoveredtheKoreanwarfitting Nikon optics to his Laker rangefinder cameras. These photos once printed in a Life magazine created a buzz among the professionals. Soon the word spread about these Japanese lenses which were just as good as here possibly better than their Germancounterparts.AdemandtofitNicholstobereportersLakerswereimmedi-
ately met at the factory in Tokyo. The camera production received a boost. Models M and S were introduced in 1949 and 1951. The latter becoming the first Nikon on
5barter. The photographic market was revolutionized by the launch of Anakin F-se- ries in 1959. This camera became enormously successful. It was one of the most advanced cameras of its day. Although many of the concepts had already been introducedelsewhere,NikonFwasthefirsttocombinethemallinonecamera.Fwas marketed worldwide and was the first camera to threaten the position of the Germangiants“One,Ms.Theyarecertainlyawonderfulcamera.I’mbuyingthisformy friend, this Nikon for a friend in Los Angeles. I hope you’ll like it”. Nikon proved to bemoredurableandpracticalthanmostofitscontemporarycameras.TheF-series were chosen for the NASA space program and on the Apollo missions were taken to the lunar orbit.
TodayNikonisoneofitsgiantsofadigitalSLRmarketthankstoarangeofcam- erasthatencompassestheabsolutebeginnermodelsandthehigh-endprofession- al workhorses. In recent years Nikon has also concentrated on slim, stylish, simple tousemodels.ThoughthelatestCoolpixgenerationalsocontainssomeenthusiasts and superzoom cameras and the own cameras with a built-in projector. Many happy returns, Nikon!
Task1.Workinpairs.MakenotesaboutwhatyouknowabouttheNikoncompany before you start watching the video.
•headquarters
•type of company
•services and productsthe US market. The Americans were glad to accept Japanese quality products as
Task 2. Read the sentences. The words in bold are used in the video. Guess the meaning of the words.
1. From the next room came a buzz of conversation and laughter.
2. Itwouldbearrogantfoolishnesstoignorethatexperienceandtostartfrom scratch designing a stringing by ear.
3. Such were the case of one of the products belonging to the top ten list of Japanese brands
4. The cordless telephone featured 900-megahertz circuitry. 5. Belgian officials are discussing this with their French counterparts.
6. The camera production received a boost.
7. Rangefindercameraswerepopularwithstreetphotographersbecausethey were a lot smaller.
Match the words in bold in Task 2 with these definitions.
a) include or show something as a special or important part of something, or to be included as an important part
48 b) something that gives someone more confidence, or that helps something increase, improve, or become successful
c) an instrument used to measure the distance from the instrument to a selected point or object
d) a lot of activity, noise, and excitement
5 e) someone or something that has the same job or purpose as someone or something else in a different place
f) begin doing a job or activity completely from the beginning g) an example of a particular situation or of something happening
Task 3. Watch the video and answer the questions.
a) What represents Japanese technology in every home nowadays? b) What was Japan known for before world war II?
c) When was Nikon corporation established? d) What did Nikon corporation manufacture? e) When were the first Nikon cameras produced? f) Who made the Nikon cameras well known and liked?
g) Which Nikon camera became greatly successful? Why?
h) What makes Nikon one of the giants of a digital SLM market today?
Task 4. Watch the video again and write down all the adjectives used to describe thecameras.Whatoverallimpressiondoesthedescriptionprovide,toyourmind?
Task 5. Complete the Nikon company profile.
a) Name __________
b) Nationality __________
c) Headquarters __________
d) Type of company __________
e) How old __________
f) Application __________
g) Main competitor __________
h) Cameras’ features __________ .
Complete the sentences using the information about the company in Task 4. Make use of the Functional language+your own words.
a) The company is called _________ . b) It’s a __________ company. c) The headquarters is in __________ .
d) It’s a/an __________ company. It produces/designs/sells __________ . e) It was established in _________ .
f) The cameras were chosen for/on __________ . g) Its main competitor is __________ .
h) The cameras feature __________ design.
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AFTER WATCHING
5Task 1. Search the Internet for the company you’d like to work for. Tell the class about it. Follow the guideline:
•Name
•Nationality
•Headquarters
•Type of company
•How old
•Main milestones in history
•Main competitor
•Services and products
Glossary
David Douglas Duncan was among the most influential photographers of the 20th century, a Life magazine peer of Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White and Carl Mydans. In addition to his war work, Mr. Duncan spent years with Pablo Picasso,creatinga pictorialrecord of theartist’s life,androamed theworldmaking photographic essays on the Kremlin, the city of Paris and the panorama of peoples
in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. [36]
Rangefinders are the original mirrorless cameras. They were popular with street photographers because they were a lot smaller and more unobtrusive than thebulkyfilmSLRcamerasavailableatthetime.Theyusedthesame35mmfilmas
SLRs, but they had a different focusing method that didn’t need a mirror. [37] The Nikon Coolpix series are digital compact cameras in many variants pro-
duced by Nikon. It includes superzoom, bridge, travel-zoom, miniature compact and waterproof/rugged cameras. [38]
Word list
Translate the words into Russian. Use the dictionary if necessary.
English |
Russian |
counterpart
start from scratch
secluded
rangefinder camera
buzz
encompass
handle
revenue 50 dismiss