The Web's Worst Privacy Policy

"With much of the web upset over about Google's latest privacy policy changes , it's helpful to remember it could be much worse: A search engine called Skipity offers the world's worst privacy policy , (undoubtedly tongue-in-cheek) filled with lines like this: 

'You may think of using any of our programs or services as the privacy equivalent of living in a webcam fitted glass house under the unblinking eye of Big Brother: you have no privacy with us. If we can use any of your details to legally make a profit, we probably will.' The policy gives the company the right to sell any of your data that it wants to any and all corporate customers, send you limitless spam, track your movements via GPS if possible, watch you through your webcam, and implant a chip in your body that is subject to reinstallation whenever the company chooses."

Netflix Streaming Margins Are 11 Percent, DVD Margins Are 52 Percent

If you look closely at Netflix's fourth quarter earnings , it will become clear why the company wanted to split its DVD and streaming businesses. This is the first quarter that the company is splitting out each business and reporting revenues, profits, and margins separately.
While the streaming business is growing (adding 220 subscribers domestically in the quarter), and the DVD business sis shrinking (it lost 2.76 million subscribers domestically), it's margins are much worse than the legacy DVD business. The streaming business has an 11 percent profit margin, compared to a very healthy 52 percent margin for the DVD business.
Out of Netflix's total $847 million in revenues last quarter, $476 million came from streaming and $370 million came from DVD rentals (the remainder came from international). The streaming business also twice as many subscribers: 21.7 million versus 11.2 million. But the DVD business contributed the vast majority of Netflix's profit: $194 million versus $52 million.
If you break that down, each streaming subscriber is worth only $2.40 in profit each quarter to Netflix, compared to $17.32 for each DVD subscriber. The old business was very lucrative. The new business kind of sucks. The economics are very different. The DVD business had fixed costs, while Netflix is forced to negotiate streaming licenses on a case by case basis with each media company.
Investors are going to have to figure out how long the old DVD business can keep generating cash until the new streaming business takes off, but the stock will be valued based on those future cash flows from streaming. And those future cash flows are worth a lot less than the cash flows from the DVD business. At least that is what it looks like right now.

Mac OS X Leopard and Lion Help: Resetting PRAM

January 25, 2012 10:00:48 PM

Mac OS X 10.6 Help: Resetting PRAM

docs.info.apple.com

A small amount of your computer's memory, called "parameter random-access memory" or PRAM, stores certain settings in a location that Mac OS X can access quickly. The particular settings that are stored depend on your type of Mac and the types of devices connected to it. The settings include your designated startup disk, display resolution, speaker volume, and other information.

To reset your computer's PRAM:

1. Shut down the computer.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Turn on the computer.
4. Immediately press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
   Continue holding the keys down until the computer restarts, and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
5. Release the keys.

Resetting PRAM may change some system settings and preferences. Use System Preferences to restore your settings.

The Best Time To Score Cheap Airfare Is Six Weeks Before The Flight

January 23, 2012 10:32:48 PM

Study: The Best Time To Score Cheap Airfare Is Six Weeks Before The Flight

consumerist.com

Everyone uses their own timing strategies when it comes to buying airfare — too close to the flight and you're bound to pay out the nose, too many months in advance and you'll see that same fare drop in price. A new study puts some science on the issue, coming up with the magic number of six weeks before a flight as the best time to buy.

The L.A. Times cites a study by Airlines Reporting Corp., a company involved in ticket transactions between airlines and travel agents. They took numbers from millions of transaction over the last four years and found that passengers buying six weeks before they fly paid about 6% below the overall average fare for the country.

"We're not advising people to purchase tickets only at this time during the cycle as there is no guarantee they will receive the lowest price of the year," said Chuck Thackston, managing director of data and analytics for the firm. "It is just that the data indicates we have seen this pattern over the last four years."

And as anyone who's ever had to buy a ticket a few days before their trip might know, the study did show that prices jumped sharply a week before travel. If you wait until the day you've gotta go, the price can be as much as 40% higher than the average price.

Adjust your strategies accordingly — or if you've got a method that works, by all means, stick to it.

Lowest airfares found six weeks before flight, study says [L.A. Times]

January 23, 2012 10:22:08 PM

Will the Keystone Pipeline Decision Affect Prices at the Pump?

www.mint.com

Will you be paying more at the pump now that the Obama Administration has rejected plans to build the Keystone XL crude pipeline? At issue is whether the US would allow TransCanada, a large Canadian energy company, to build a massive pipeline that would transport crude oil from Canada and parts of the US, all the way down to the US refining center around Houston, Texas. Those for and against the pipeline have peppered the media with dozens of reasons why the pipeline should, or should not, be built.

Here are a few issues worth considering when assessing the impact of the pipeline on your wallet.

The Pro-Pipeline Argument.

The pro-pipeline advocates say the project is desperately needed because there is not enough takeaway capacity available to fulfill Canadian crude production. They fear lots of Canadian crude could be shut in the ground with nowhere to go if this pipeline isn't built quickly. In addition, they say the few pipelines that do connect Canada's oil production region to the US currently flow where refining capacity is limited. This means less gasoline for your tank. Connecting Canada with the big refineries in Texas, they say, would solve both problems, as it increases takeaway capacity and refining capacity. The result would mean more supply for US consumers, and therefore, lower gasoline prices.

The Anti-Pipeline Argument.

The anti-pipeline advocates say the project will just serve the interest of big oil corporations that want to make more money and it would do nothing to improve the supply picture in the US. They are concerned that the oil flowing to Texas will not go to the US market, but will instead be refined and shipped via Houston's massive port to other parts of the world. They cite a TransCanada study that estimates Canadian crude could fetch as much as $4 billion more per year if the pipeline is built because the pipeline would open up new markets to them.

For now, Canadian crude destined for export has only been able to flow to the US Mid-Continent. This has allowed refiners there to lower prices for the oil, as they were the only player in town. Building this pipeline, they argue, upsets that dynamic and would force refiners to pay more for Canadian crude, which would translate to higher prices at the pump.

When would it affect prices at the pump?

Both sides present compelling arguments on the economic angle of this story but there are a few things you should know. First, as you may have noticed, oil prices did not move radically last week after the administration failed to give the project the green light. That's because the oil price quoted today is for delivery in a month. The pipeline is not expected to be completed until 2015 and a lot can happen between now and then. So, for now, oil traders have just stored this information in the back of their minds.

The major variable.

Second, oil is a relatively fungible commodity, which means a barrel of oil sold in Canada is capable of mutual substitution with most other barrels of oil from around the globe, plus or minus a few dollars, based on how easily the crude can be refined into gasoline and other products. It shouldn't matter too much where the barrel of oil is sold or consumed, as it should be relatively the same price, minus transportation costs, across the globe. The US receives much of its oil from Canada, a strong ally, as well as from Venezuela, where its relationship is problematic, because both are close by. The only real variable to be considered here is the shipping cost and that is determined by the distance and ease of transport of the crude.

The crude export market.

Bearing this in mind, it seems clear why supporters believe adding more export capacity will help world oil markets. If Canadian crude is shut in and cannot get to an export market, then the price of crude around the world should rise. Currently, there is enough export capacity to deliver all available Canadian crude to an export market and the US Mid-Continent for at least the next four to five years. There is around 1 million barrels a day of spare capacity available on current lines.

Is the export market the best place for the crude?

There is an export market but is that market the best place for the crude? There probably won't be more demand for much more crude in the Mid-Continent as its refineries reach peak capacity, which means Canadian crude could be de-facto shut in. Eventually, that crude needs to reach other export markets to impact world supply. Texas is perhaps the best place for the crude, as it has the ability to refine heavy Canadian crude in large quantities.

Currently, there is just one large pipeline, the Seaway pipeline, linking the US Mid-Continent to Houston but the pipeline is flowing refined products up north and not receiving crude. The pipeline was recently sold and the new owner said they would reverse the flow to send crude down to Houston next year. This is expected to erase much of the differential that Mid-Continent refiners enjoyed by being Canada's only export market.

Is the US the only export market for Canadian crude?

Does the US have to be the only export market for Canadian crude? Canada could upgrade its own pipelines to take more of its own crude to its refining center in Ontario. It could also build a pipeline west to facilitate export to China and beyond. While it would cost more money to ship oil to China than to the US, it is better than crude being shut in the ground. Both alternative solutions are in the planning stages, so neither is far-fetched.

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, it is widely believed that the excess Canadian crude will find an export market. The largest differential seems to be the price of shipping extra oil to either Texas by the Keystone XL pipeline, versus somewhere else. Given how massive the world oil market is, that differential in cost will likely be small and should have limited, if any, impact on the price you'll pay at the pump.

January 22, 2012 9:59:44 AM

Why Apple's products are 'Designed in California' but 'Assembled in China'

www.tuaw.com

Look at the back of your iPhone, or your iPad, or on the bottom of your Mac. You'll see the following words embossed somewhere: "Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China." Many Americans, all the way up to the President himself, have wondered why Apple has outsourced virtually all of its manufacturing overseas. At a dinner with several top US technology executives last year , President Obama asked Steve Jobs flat out what it would take to bring those jobs back to the US. According to Jobs, there's simply no way for it to happen.

Why not? Why can't iPhones, iPads, and all the rest of Apple's magic gadgets be built in the States? More generally, why can't more US-based consumer electronics and computer companies do their manufacturing work domestically, helping to create American jobs and boost the struggling economy?

The New York Times asked that question, and after an extremely well-researched report involving interviews with both former and current executives at Apple, the answer the Times found is both simple and chilling: iPhones aren't made in America because they just can't be. The infrastructure and labor force doesn't exist at the levels necessary to support Apple's operations — it's not even close.

The Chinese factory where most iPhones reach final assembly employs 230,000 workers. I just asked Siri how many cities in the US have a population higher than that, and the answer was a mere 83 cities — and that's total population, not workforce. With an average labor force of around 65 percent of the population, only 50 US cities are large enough to provide that kind of labor pool… and even in the biggest US city of them all, New York, 230,000 people still amounts to almost three percent of the city's entire population. Can you imagine three out of every hundred New Yorkers on an assembly line, cranking out iPhones every day?

Over the past couple of years, we have heard a great deal concerning working conditions at factories owned by Foxconn . The Chinese manufacturing company is responsible for assembling consumer electronics for most of the major vendors out there, including Apple. Around a fourth of those 230,000 people live in company-owned dorms or barracks right on factory property; that's almost 60,000 people living andworking at the factory. Many of the people at "Foxconn City" work six days a week, twelve hours a day, and they earn less than US$17 per day. It may sound inhumane by American standards, but these jobs are in high demand in China — so much so that Jennifer Rigoni, former worldwide supply demand manager for Apple, told the New York Times that Foxconn "could hire 3,000 people overnight."

Those are just a couple examples of how the scale, speed, and efficiency of Chinese manufacturing outstrips anything the US is currently capable of. But the Times' report is full of more evidence, and it's damning. Even though the 200,000 assembly-line workers putting part A into slot B could potentially be classified as unskilled labor, the 8700 industrial engineers overseeing the process can't be — and according to the Times, finding that many qualified engineers in the States would take nine months. Chinese manufacturers found them all in 15 days .

With the notable exception of the A5 processor , most of the components used to make the iPhone are also manufactured overseas, many of them within a relatively short distance of the final assembly plant. Shipping those components to any potential US-based factories would incur greater costs, and even worse from Apple's perspective, manufacturing delays.

Traditional defenses of outsourcing of manufacturing jobs have revolved around cost. "It costs more money to build in America," the reasoning goes; "You have to pay your workers more, you have to pay benefits, insurance, higher taxes. Everything costs more." Since companies want to make a profit, that added cost inevitably gets passed on to the consumer in inflated prices for goods.

To exaggerate the point, many have claimed that an American-manufactured iPhone would cost thousands of dollars. It turns out that's hyperbole; according to the New York Times, the increased cost of paying American wages to workers would add $65 to the cost of an iPhone. The other costs, added together, probably wouldn't drive the unsubsidized price of a 16 GB iPhone 4S over US$1000. But the dollar cost of manufacturing in America isn't the biggest issue that's driving Apple's decision to outsource manufacturing to China. Instead, it's about who can build the greatest number of iPhones within the shortest period of time, all while remaining flexible and instantaneously adaptable to Apple's needs. According to one current Apple executive, "The US has stopped producing people with the skills we need."

The Times provides a telling example from the early days of the iPhone, before it ever hit the market. It's hard to believe now, but originally the iPhone's screen was going to be made from the same scratch-prone plastic that graced the fronts of its contemporaneous iPod models. In mid-2007, just over a month before the iPhone was scheduled to hit stores for the first time ever, Jobs realized the folly of using that plastic when the screen of the iPhone prototype he was carrying in his jeans pocket had accumulated dozens of scratches. "I won't sell a product that gets scratched. I want a glass screen, and I want it perfect in six weeks."

Anyone who knows how Jobs worked knows that he wasn't bluffing — if the iPhone didn't meet his standards, it wouldn't go on sale, period. Six months of anticipation had driven demand for the first iPhone into a frenzy, so Apple knew it was going to have to crank them out as quickly as possible. But the last-second change to what was arguably one of the iPhone's most central components meant initiating the kind of mad scramble that simply wouldn't be possible in US manufacturing. Apple would have been an industry laughingstock for as long as it took to overcome the manufacturing delay. Instead, what might have taken months to transpire in the US took place in six short weeks; Apple sourced a virtually scratchproof glass from Corning , and Chinese factories rapidly managed to integrate it into the existing iPhone design.

As it's an American company reaping unprecedented financial rewards , many Americans have lamented the fact that the rewards coming back into America are so comparatively meager. Apple employs 43,000 people in the United States, less than a fifth the number of contractor employees assembling iPhones at one Chinese factory. One could argue that Apple's success has come at the expense of the American manufacturing workforce, but if the New York Times' report is anything to go by, it seems the workforce Apple would have needed in America never existed to begin with.

Source : http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and…

January 21, 2012 10:18:56 AM

Top 10 Tools for Finding and Moving into a Great New Home

lifehacker.com

Whether you want to rent or buy, finding a new home can be pretty tough without a little help. Thanks to the internet, that help is freely available. There are tons of tips and tools that can help make finding and moving to a new home a lot easier. Here are our top 10 favorites.
Title image remixed from an original by Ben Freedman .

10. Know Your Rights

Whether you plan to rent or buy, you need to know your rights. Renters can quickly find this information in their state's tenant handbook. To make things simple, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has a tenants rights page for every state . Just choose yours and start reading. Although homeowner rights will vary from state to state as well, the American Bar Association Family Legal Guide provides some broad answers . To find state-specific rights, just do a web search for "homeowner rights" and the name of your state. In most cases you'll find a government web site and/or PDF document filled with everything you want to know.
Image via CB Blog Estate .

9. Hire a Reputable Mover

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When you're heading to a new home, hiring a reputable mover is obviously a better idea than hiring a crappy company that's going to hijack your stuff. Still, it has been known to happen . To make sure you don't fall victim to a moving scam, you need to sufficiently investigate the moving company you want to use. Consumer rights blog The Consumerist suggests that you check movingscam.com and movingsham.com to make sure the company isn't blacklisted, know your rights as a customer , check out the mover's Better Business Bureau record , check the mover's D.O.T. number , and get at least three estimates in writing before making a decision. You may also want to consider using a tool like Angie's List to avoid misleading, fake reviews.

8. Figure Out Your Budget for Owning a Home

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Want to own a home but aren't sure how much you can afford? MSN has an home affordability calculator that can help you out. You just enter the cost of your current financial obligations, how much you make, and a few other statistics to find out the cost of a home you can afford. If you're thinking of buying, this is a quick way to get an approximate idea of what's in your price range.

7. Score Free Moving Boxes and Packing Supplies

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You don't have to pay (much) for packing supplies. To start, there are plenty of ways to get free moving boxes . Craigslist , Freecycle , restaurants, grocery stores, furniture stores, and liquor stores are all great options. If you can't locate any for free, however, you can always buy them on the cheap at UsedCardboardBoxes.com . If you want them new you're definitely going to pay a bit more, but ULine is a great resource for getting everything you need delivered for a reasonable price.

6. Find a Realtor and Find Homes

If you're buying a home, the first thing you're going to need to do is find one and chances are you'll need a realtor's help to do that.Homethinking provides a realtor search for both buyers and sellers and includes some helpful statistics on your options. If you're just looking to search existing listings, Redfincan show you plenty of options in a given area with helpful statistics. It even includes a mortgage calculator on each listing page to help you figure out what you'll need to pay per month depending on your term. Both are helpful tools when you're getting started in your search for a new home.

5. Simplify the Moving Process

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Moving isn't fun or easy, but you can make it a little less painful. We've offered up a complete guide to a smooth move , but there are a couple of tools that are particularly helpful. WordLabel's Moving Label Kit can make organizing and labeling your boxes a breeze with very little effort. Templating your furniture by outlining each piece with paper can save a ton of time when you're figuring out where to put everything in your new place. When you're done moving, you're going to have a ton of leftover boxes. Post them on Craigslist or Freecycle so others can use them and move on the cheap (like you did, presuming you followed item #7).

4. Bring This Printable Checklist Form When You're Apartment Hunting

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If you're looking for a new apartment, you need to know what questions to ask so you don't end up moving in to a place that looks great but is actually terrible. We decided to help you out and put together this printable checklist form that you can take with you to a showing. It includes all the common questions you should ask (plus a few tech-friendly ones) so you'll learn everything you need to learn and have it nicely organized for when it comes time to weigh your options and make a decision.

3. Map Apartment Listings In Your Area with PadMapper

PadMapper is a fantastic tool for finding a new apartment. You type in the area where you want to look, and it lays out your options on Google Maps. From there you can filter based on tons of criteria like price, bedrooms, and listing age. PadMapper also offers helpful statistics, such as crime in the area and if a particular listing is more or less expensive than the area's average. It's a great web app, but if you'd prefer to conduct your search on your mobile device you can pick up the free PadMapper mobile app for iPhone and Android .

2. Find Out If You Should Buy or Rent

Buying isn't always better than renting . In many cases it can be more costly, or at least not the best way to invest your money. It's best to compare your options first. The New York Times offers this renting versus buying calculator that can help you figure out what's currently in your best interest.

1. Get Neighborhood and Property Statistics

Whether you want to look at property statistics in a given area or check out tons of information on a specific home, Trulia is a great resource for both. Just type in the location you want to investigate and it will provide you with tons of statistics. It's kind of like stalking a house. You can find purchase histories, property tax information, how the area rates in various categories, the selling cost of nearby homes (if you're looking at something specific), and much more. Another tool you'll want to check out is Zillow , which also provides many useful statistics. As an added bonus, it has a mobile app for most platforms so you can look up information on the go.

To Top

January 25, 2012 9:05:20 PM

Lesser-known facts from Apple's earnings statement

www.tuaw.com

The attention-grabbing numbers from Apple's most recent earnings statement have already made the rounds — US$46 billion in revenue, net profit of $13 billion, 37 million iPhones sold — and all of that within three months. Apple didn't just turn in record-breaking performance for a tech company; only Exxon has ever managed to have a more profitable quarter than the one Apple just reported.

Combing through the spreadsheets on Apple's earnings statement provides some additional insight into the company's overall performance, where its strengths and weaknesses lie, and where the company might be headed in the future. These numbers aren't as headline-grabbing as Apple's profits or unit sales, but they tell an important story all the same.

Research and Development

In three months, Apple's expenditures on R&D totalled a staggering $758 million. This compares to expenditures of "only" $575 million the year before. To get an idea of how much money Apple's pouring into R&D, compare its three-month expenditures to the production costs of Avatar , one of the most expensive films ever produced. Avatarcost $237 million; in just three months, Apple's R&D expenditures are enough to finance an entire Avatar trilogy.

The $575 million in R&D Apple spent in Q1 2011 likely went into the iPad 2, iCloud, the iPhone 4S, iOS 5, OS X Lion, the newest MacBook Air, and a whole host of things we haven't even seen yet. Apple's R&D expenditures for Q1 2012 have increased by an additional $183 million, so the company is still clearly focused on innovating like mad.

Mac sales

One of the few minus signs visible in Apple's sales data was its North American Mac sales. Though sales were up by 19 percent compared to a year earlier, compared to the previous quarter Mac sales actually declined by 6 percent. North America was the only market to see a decline in Mac sales during the quarter, but at the same time only Europe and Asia Pacific had double-digit growth in Mac sales.

Oddly enough, sales of Mac desktops actually seemed to perform better over the quarter compared to portable sales (by trend, not by number of units sold):

Desktops

• Unit sales up 16 percent
• Revenue up 15 percent

Portables

• Unit sales up 3 percent
• Revenue up 2 percent

Both types of Mac vastly outperformed the year-ago quarter, but the tapering off of portable Mac sales and the overall decline in Mac sales in North America during the Christmas sales period is intriguing. Several factors may explain this phenomenon.

First, there were no significant Mac notebook updates during the quarter; the MacBook Pro's late October refresh was quite modest, and the MacBook Air hasn't been updated since July. Second, the mid-2011 discontinuation of the plastic MacBook eliminated Apple's "entry level" offering; the smaller and less capacious 11-inch MacBook Air costs the same as the old MacBook, but it may not be as attractive an offering to budget-minded notebook shoppers. Larger economic factors may have been at play, too; North American shoppers in particular simply may not have had the discretionary funds for a Mac purchase over the holiday quarter.

While all of those things likely had an impact on sales of Mac portables, I think what we're really seeing here is the effect of the iPad's cannibalization of the lineup. Over the quarter, the iPad outsold all Mac portables by nearly 4 to 1, and outsold all Macs combined by 3 to 1. Apple has admitted in the past that the iPad has "slightly" cannibalized Mac sales, and classified it as a "nice problem to have." It looks like that so-called "problem" is showing signs of getting worse.

None of this is to say that the Mac is in any danger; in a sharp contrast from the rest of the PC industry, the Mac is still seeing unit sales and revenue growths well into the double digits. Whether that trend continues or not is going to depend greatly on the iPad's growth; Tim Cook has said he expects the iPad to eclipse the PC industry eventually , but in terms of both unit sales and revenues, the iPad has already supplanted the Mac after less than two years on the market.

iPod sales

During its earnings conference call, Tim Cook revealed that the company sold a total of 62 million iOS devices in the past quarter. Subtracting the iPhone and iPad from that number yields a total of approximately 10 million iPod touches sold (assuming Cook wasn't also counting the Apple TV as an "iOS device," that is). This means the iPod touch now accounts for almost two-thirds of all iPods sold; the iPod nano, shuffle, and classic combined are now essentially one drop in Apple's massive bucket. Small wonder, then, that Apple's music-only iPods weren't updated at all this year .

The steep year-over-year decline in iPod sales came as no surprise. The iPod reached its all-time sales peak in Q1 of 2009, with 22.7 million units sold. Three years later, the iPod has clearly lost its mojo. With only 15.4 million iPods sold during the holiday quarter, the iPod barely outperformed its sales during the 2006 holidays. Apple sold five million fewer iPods this holiday season compared to the previous year.

As a matter of fact, Apple sold more iPads than iPods over the holiday quarter. This is a sharp contrast to the 2010 holiday season, when the iPod outsold both the iPhone and iPad. In late 2010, iPod sales were a few million units higher than the iPhone and exceeded those of the iPad by nearly 3 to 1. In late 2011, the iPad pulled just ahead of the iPod, and the iPhone outsold the iPod by more than two to one.

As recently as four years ago, the iPod was by far Apple's biggest cash cow; revenues from iPod sales exceeded even Mac sales by a healthy margin during the 2007 holiday season. iPod sales are rapidly falling, however, making it clear that the device is no longer among Apple's high-priority projects.

Given the yearly declines in iPod sales, it's easy to envision a not-too-distant future where the iPod is relegated to niche status. It's unlikely Apple will stop selling the device altogether, as it still addresses markets not served by the iPhone, but the days when the iPod was central to Apple's fortunes are long gone.

iTunes

Apple's revenues from the iTunes Store, App Store, iBookstore, and iPod-related accessories totalled more than $2 billion over the quarter. Look back to exactly ten years earlier, to the first quarter of 2002; quarterly revenues were a mere $1.375 billion for the entire company.

It's long been speculated that the various iTunes-related retail services operate at break-even or, at best, at a modest profit, and the services exist merely to spur growth in Apple's hardware sales. That scenario may have been true years ago, but with a 42 percent year-over-year growth in revenue, iTunes is starting to look like a pretty lucrative business all on its own.

Peripherals

Apple sold $766 million in peripherals during the past quarter. Again, when you compare that to the company Apple was 10 years ago, the difference is stunning; sales of all Macs combined during Q1 2002 amounted to barely over $1 billion. If Apple's sales of peripherals continue to increase by the same rate, by Q1 2013 it'll be taking in nearly as much money from peripheral sales as it made from the Mac in 2002.

If Apple counts the Apple TV among its peripherals, then the device accounted for a fairly significant portion of the overall sales. With 1.4 million units sold during the quarter , Apple's "hobby" would account for nearly a fifth of all peripheral sales.

iOS

Apple sold 37 million iPhones, 15.4 million iPads, and (going by Tim Cook's numbers as revealed during the conference call) around ten million iPod touches over the holiday quarter. That's a grand total of 62 million iOS devices sold in three months — all running the latest release of iOS, not some year-old version of it, and all of them virtually guaranteed OS updates for several years.

During the last quarter, iPhone sales reportedly exceeded sales of all Android handsets, from all vendors, combined . The iPad continues to utterly dominate the tablet market; Tim Cook reported no measurable impact on iPad sales even after the debut of the most popular Android (forked ) tablet so far, the Kindle Fire.

Apple earned almost $34 billion in revenue from iPhone and iPad sales — in three months. Google's revenue for 2011 — all of Google, for the entire year — was $37 billion.

Clearly, Android is winning.

Average revenue per unit sold

Comparing Apple's unit sales versus its revenues gives us an opportunity to see, on average, how much money Apple takes in with each sale in each product category. In turn, this gives us a general idea of which items in each category gain the most sales.

• Desktop Macs: $1309

With 11 different models ranged over the Mac mini, iMac, and Mac Pro, the average selling price of a desktop Mac is $2072. The Mac Pro's high prices drive that average selling price much higher than the actual revenue/unit number, which leads me to believe that sales of the Mac Pro are negligible at best.

Looking at the numbers, it seems the 21.5-inch iMac is very likely Apple's most popular desktop model, followed by the 27-inch iMac, then the Mac mini. I would be shocked if the Mac Pro accounted for more than 10 percent of overall Mac desktop sales last quarter.

• Portable Macs: $1254

The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro combine for a total of 9 different models at an average selling price of $1588. The revenue/unit numbers from Apple's earnings suggest that the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro account for a majority of Apple's portable sales, with much lower sales for the 15 and 17-inch MacBook Pro models.

• iPods: $164

The revenue/unit numbers for the iPod line are lower than the lowest-priced iPod touch, but higher than the highest-priced iPod nano. With the iPod touch accounting for at least 50 percent and as high as 66 percent of overall iPod sales, this suggests that the 8 GB $199 iPod touch is Apple's most popular iPod, with significantly lower numbers of 32 or 64 GB iPod touches sold.

• iPhones: $659

Unsubsidized iPhones range from $375 for an iPhone 3GS up to $849 for a 64 GB iPhone 4S. With five total models on offer, the average sale price across the iPhone line is $634, lower than the actual revenue/unit numbers in Apple's earnings.

To perhaps no one's surprise, this suggests the iPhone 4S is Apple's most popular iPhone. Given that the revenue/unit average is slightly higher than the $649 price for an unsubsidized 16 GB iPhone 4S, I'd theorize that while Apple's most popular iPhone is likely the 16 GB iPhone 4S, sales of the more expensive 32 GB and 64 GB models must also be fairly brisk to counterbalance the the (admittedly much less popular) iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 on the low end.

In other words, despite being labelled as a "disappointment" by a tech press weaned on months of rumors about a substantially redesigned iPhone 5, it appears Apple sold every iPhone 4S that came off the assembly line.

• iPads: $593

Between the Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi + 3G options, the iPad 2 is available in six models at an average selling price of $664. With the iPad's revenue/unit number falling below that, but still significantly higher than the $499 price of the low-end Wi-Fi model, the numbers suggest that Apple's mid-range iPads are fairly high sellers.

Sales numbers of the iPad very likely map closely to the models' prices, with brisk sales of 16 GB models, decent sales for the 32 GB option, and comparatively lower (but still more than satisfactory) sales of the 64 GB iPad 2. Unsurprisingly, the revenue/unit number suggests the Wi-Fi only iPads significantly outsell their Wi-Fi + 3G cousins.

Overall

To put it mildly, Apple's earnings report shows a company in a very robust state of health. While iPod sales are in steep decline and some segments of Mac sales are showing signs of levelling off, the astonishing uptick in iPhone and iPad sales more than makes up for it.

The iPad by itself, in one quarter, brought in more revenue than 230 out of the Fortune 500 companies earn in an entire year.

The iPhone by itself, in three months, brought in more revenue than McDonald's made in all of 2010.

Apple has $97 billion in cash. It could buy an iTunes copy of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey for everyone on Earth and still have $27 billion left over. How about a potentially better use of its money? After adjusting for inflation, Apple is a little over halfway to being able to finance its own version of the Apollo Program , all by itself. If you cut it down to just one mission, Apple is easily capable of building its own spaceport, developing and building its own launch vehicle, training its own astronauts, and sending a team of humans to the moon and back — and it would still have tens of billions of dollars left over.

Apple may not enjoy this level of success forever, but it's showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Source : http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120124006782/en/Appl…