Apple's dedication to the Community

Apple's reputation lends itself to being a calm, cool, and collected company. So of course, its only natural that the organizations they donate to and volunteer with are considered "cool" as well.

Apple's most popular community relations campaign was the RED Campaign. Apple along with various other large companies formed a partnership with U2's "Bono" in order to create awareness about AIDS/HIV in Africa. Apple's slogan throughout the entire campaign was

"PLAY MORE THAN MUSIC. PLAY A PART."

Although the RED Campaign is not as popular as it was when it was initially put into effect, Apple is still donating alot of their time and effort to the cause.

On their page about the Product(Red) Campaign they write:

Choose (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition iPod models and iTunes Gift Cards, and Apple gives a portion of the purchase price to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa.

*Official RED Campaign Commercial*

And of course, what kind of company would Apple be if they weren't to donate some of their earnings to causes they believed in?

Back in 2008, when California was in the midst of voting on the same-sex marriage ballot, Apple came to the aid and donated $100,000 to fight the ban.

"Our campaign is a campaign of the people," Sonja Eddings Brown, deputy communications director on Yes on 8, said today following Apple's announcement. "We knew we would never be able to compete with the large corporations and Hollywood. We represent the families. We are standing up and pushing back with everything we have."

And last but not least, what is Apple most often known for? Their Mac's you say....Well, that would be CORRECT!

Anyways, getting back to Apple in the community. Often times during tragedies, such as after September 11, the california wildfires, and for schools that are desperately in need, Apple will donate a large portion of its products.

Unfortunately, with all good companies, there is always that one skeleton in the closet.

"As a bit of background, A Real Tree is an app that is used to help plant trees in areas hurt by deforestation. You purchase the app, they plant a tree. Simple.

In the email, Mokugift’s representative describes how Apple called them a week ago to inform them that A Real Tree would need to be altered or would be removed from the App Store. The reason given was that a new policy was in place prohibiting apps from claiming to do anything beyond themselves, and that any and all applications related to charity were also no longer permitted."

Now, although Apple shunning a charity iphone app may not seem like the brightest idea in hindsight, it must not be ignored all of the good that Apple has done not only in its local community, the Silicon Valley in California, but what community efforts they have put forth both domestically and internationally. (And if the rumors are true that Apple will be creating a red iphone in order to refuel the RED Campaign, then COUNT me IN for an UPGRADE!!!!)

AT&T No Longer the Only iPhone Provider

So this blog may be a few hours late, but rather then writing about a dry Apple announcement I decided to wait until today to see if the rumors were true, and SURPRISE, they are! For the past few years AT&T has been the exclusive provider for the Apple iPhone in the United States and Canada. Yay for AT&T users, but "nay" for those of us that have other providers. (Or "yay" for those who switched over :)

Wait for it though..... this will ONLY be happening in Canada, at least for the moment.

Only hours after midnight, TELUS and Bell both confirmed that the Apple iphone would be available starting in November.

Since this announcement is only hours old, public relations at Apple must sure be having a good day. Imagine, for years AT&T has been the exclusive provider and for years people have been waiting for other phone providers to offer the iphone; and finally, it's here!

Rather then spending hundreds of thousands of dollars using the media to relay this announcement, Apple should owe a big fat thank-you to all of its fans! Amongst Apple fans, which are in the millions, news manages to spread faster then wildfire!

However, I do believe that Apple often relies too much on their fan base. When googling "Apple annoouncements" to check the latest news, the blogs providing information outnumber the news stories drastically. Now I understand that this news has just been confirmed, but come on Apple, publicize yourselves!! Don't make your bloggers do it for you (even if it is free)

So then I thought, what about YouTube? I'm sure there have already been dozens of news stories about the iphone's release in Canada, right? WRONG! In fact, there is only one story about it, and its by a blogger!

The iPhone is Coming to Bell and TELUS

As the day goes on I will definitely be updating on how Apple is using the media to make people aware about the two addition iphone providers!!