The previous-generation MacBook Pros that we have in stock have been selling surprisingly well. They have an excellent specification-to-cost ratio. They’re up $400 – $700 less than the new models announced a couple of weeks ago, have similar performance, and also have matte screens.

We are trying to keep these in stock, but they are moving pretty fast. Visit our MacBook Pro page to see them all, or check out the model below that features a 4GB RAM upgrade and free shipping for only $100 over base price!

http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/x/Apple|MacBook_Pro

Here at Small Dog Electronics, we always make a big deal of Halloween. It’s an all day event. Why not; it’s a chance to get together and have fun as a company, act a little silly and eat candy corn. Or pretend to eat candy corn.

The centerpiece of Halloween at Small Dog is our mandatory costume policy. Every employee must wear a costume to work. If you don’t wear a costume, you will be Photoshopped into a costume without mercy, and that image is posted to our website. Part of the fun of our Halloween is seeing what other people will wear; the other part is seeing what happens to people who don’t dress up.

The best part is that customers get to see and vote on the winning costume. If you’d like to vote, visit Small Dog’s blog “Barkings”:http://blog.smalldog.com/ on Halloween. We’ll post all of our pictures. Voting will happen throughout the day. The winning costumer will be announced at the end of the day.

Now I’ve got to find a white sheet to cut up into a ghost costume.

View specials while on-hand supplies last. Please note that some specials may not be available in our retail stores; check for availability.

Also, check out our brand-spanking-new Specials Page by clicking on any special below, or by clicking here: “Smalldog.com/specials”:http://www.smalldog.com/specials

_Dear Friends,_

We had our first snow of the season on Tuesday, and Artie, who drives over the mountain each day, reported cars slipping and sliding as they tried to get up the Appalacian Gap without snow tires. I’m holding off for another week or so before I give in to the weather and put the snow tires on and start putting the motorcycles away for the winter. It is starting to be stick season here in Vermont; the trees have all lost their leaves and the tourists have gone home. This is one of my favorite times of year since the roads are clear and you can see through the naked trees to see wildlife, brooks and fields. There are always geese heading south honking their way overhead, and occasionally they will make a noisy landing in the corn field or at the pond by the warehouse. There is a geese-viewing area on Route 17 near the bridge to New York that has a field full of thousands of both Canada and Snow geese. I usually manage to make my way there at least once a year.

We just received word that our shipment of portable speakers hit the New York port of entry. I think you will like this new product called the Chill Pill. This is a very compact, great-sounding portable speaker system with a rechargeable battery that will work with your iPod or any audio device with a standard headphone jack. You can learn all about it at “www.chillpillaudio.com”:http://www.chillpillaudio.com. We should have them ready to ship to you next week! I envision expanding this line of products, so please give us your feedback. We are also re-stocking our popular CAR Tune FM transmitter and charger–this time in Black. These are updated to work with all iPods and iPhone and should be here in a few weeks.

By the way, iPod celebrated its seventh birthday yesterday. It is hard to put the success of this product in perspective; however, before the iPod, the MP3 market was tiny and now it’s a multi-billion dollar market with Apple maintaining a 70%+ share of the market. As I’ve said before, who needs computer market share when you can create new markets?

Who’s Got $25 Billion in the Bank and No Debt?

In these hard economic times, there was a glimmer of hope as Apple once again trounced the street when they announced their quarterly earnings on Tuesday. Their spectacular earnings were outstanding on their own, but when you take a deeper look and understand the impact of the iPhone, they are significantly more impressive. One of the things that Apple does to maintain compliance with GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) is to recognize revenue from the sale of the iPhone (and Apple TV) over 24 months, rather than at the point of sale.

This means that the revenue from the sale of over 10 million iPhones is only recognized about 12% of the revenue for the current quarter. If you compare their results with GAAP and non-GAAP analysis, you can see that the year-over-year growth for Apple is 75.1% with GAAP accounting, but if you count __all__ the iPhone sales, it soars to 124.6% and the net income rises from $1.1 billion to over $2.4 billion. Considering this massive success of the iPhone, Apple’s financial performance is simply unprecedented.

In a surprise to the analysts gathered for the regular quarterly phone conference, Steve Jobs joined the call to answer questions. Among other things, Steve talked about the impact of the economic downturn and said that Apple “just reported one of the best quarters in its history, with a spectacular performance by the iPhone–we sold more phones than RIM. We don’t yet know how this economic downturn will affect Apple. But we’re armed with the strongest product line in our history, the most talented employees and the best customers in our industry. And $25 billion of cash safely in the bank with zero debt.”

Here are some notes of interest from the Apple financial results:

*Macs*
* Apple sold 2.611 million Macs, which is the most Apple has ever sold in a single quarter!

* Macs accounted for less than half of Apple’s total revenue at 45.9 percent. They did account for the largest dollar volume, however.

* Over 90 percent of the new Mac notebooks now ship with LED backlights. Apple has also taken several important steps in making their products greener and have less impact upon the environment. “You’ll hear more about this in the future,” Steve said.

*iPhone*
* Apple sold almost 7 million iPhones during the quarter and earned about $806M from these and related products over the quarter; this is more than all previous quarters combined.

* Apple has already beat their goal of selling 10 million iPhones in 2008.

* If revenue wasn’t deferred over 24 months, the iPhone would have represented 39 percent of all of Apple’s revenue for the quarter!!

*iPods*
* Over 11 million iPods were shipped this quarter, generating $1.678 billion in revenue. The unit shipments climbed 8 percent year-over-year, while revenues rose by 3 percent.

* Apple sold the most iPods ever in a non-holiday quarter.

Apple now has $24.5 billion of cash in the bank, having added $3.7 billion in the quarter that ended in September. Apple is in an extraordinary liquid position with lots of cash and no debt. That is an enviable position during a down economy. Steve Jobs simply said that during an economic downturn, this financial strength creates “extraordinary opportunities.” And of course, once again, Steve Jobs is correct. The amazing story of Apple continues to show how great products, great design, world-class customer service and a visionary at the helm can create more than just money.

Chill Pill Mobile Speakers are coming to Small Dog Electronics! Designed for people who enjoy listening to music out loud and on the go, they’re compact, lightweight and bold speakers for your iPod, Mac or other device (MP3 player, etc.).

*Suggested Uses:*
* Listening to music while traveling, camping, or kicking it on the back porch.
* Listening to music in the office or at school.
* Sharing audiobooks or podcasts.
* Providing music or narration for Keynote, PowerPoint, and other presentations.

Check out “www.chillpillaudio.com”:http://www.chillpillaudio.com for all the details!