MAC TREAT #175: Expand Collapsed Mail Threads in Lion

The Netgear Wireless-N Router with 5-Port Switch is a fast, reliable router and a great alternative to an Apple router if you’re pinching the pennies in order to become a billionaire (see above).

With this router, you’ll be able to take advantage of top DSL or cable speeds in your area (provided there are some) and gives you parental controls to help tame the internet (SOPA and PIPA can leave the censorship to you).

*Kibbles readers save $10 this week only!*

Everyone expected Apple to post great numbers for the holiday quarter (Oct-Dec), but the financial results released this week by Apple were off of anyone’s radar.   Led by the iPhone with its great margins, Apple posted the most profitable quarter ever–not only for Apple, but for any tech company EVER. They were close to the all-time record earnings for any company, and Apple easily surpassed ExxonMobil as the most valuable business.

Apple posted sales of $46.3 billion which was nearly double the $26.7 billion from the same quarter last year, which was a record-setting quarter by itself. I clearly remember about a decade ago when Apple was talking about their goal of being a $5 billion company; we have sure come a long way with close to $50 billion in three short months.

The profit was just over $13 billion which exceeded Google’s revenues for that same period and is the second highest quarterly profit in history behind ExxonMobil’s $14 billion at the height of the high oil prices in 2008. This profit was 118% greater than last year and yes, once again, Apple destroyed the analysts’ per share earnings forecast of $10/share by posting a $13.87/share number. This is really not a case of Apple low-balling the numbers, but a case of Apple, while making a big bet on big numbers, still being unable to predict the insatiable demand for their extraordinary products.

Now let’s talk about cash. Granted that a sizable chunk of Apple’s war chest of nearly $100 billion is overseas, but that amount of cash exceeds the net worth of all but 50 companies in world and a few dozen countries, too.  There are always questions about what Apple will do with the hoard of cash but I have confidence in the Apple team to make the right choices. There are technologies to acquire, supplies to corner, shareholders to satisfy and opportunities that may arise where $100 billion might come in handy. As a shareholder, I am less interested in dividends than I am in those opportunities.

Apple spent over $750 million on Research and Development in that three months and is launching a new R&D center in Israel with the acquisition of chip-maker Anobit. When Tim Cook talks about the exciting pipeline of products coming from Apple, I know we can expect more than speed bumps and color changes!

Here are some highlights from the financial results:

*Macs*
Apple desktop sales were up 21% year-over-year with a 12% increase in revenue, while MacBooks grew by 28% in units and 22% in revenue. The lineup was led by the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and the iMac. Interesting numbers, but it becomes even more astounding when you realize Apple sold 5.2 million Macs in that three month period.

Overall, Apple’s Mac market grew by 26% while the overall growth for the PC market was a paltry 0%. Mac sales set a company quarterly record.

*iPhones*
Simply off anyone’s charts. Apple sold over 37 million iPhones in the quarter which is 128% greater than the previous year. I guess all the concern that the new iPhone was not an “iPhone 5” was a bit overblown. Apple reported that nearly all of the Fortune 500 Companies now approve and support the iPhone on their networks with many creating custom applications to enhance their functionality. iPhone sales were a company record.

*iPads*
Tim Cook has predicted that some time in the near future, tablet computers will be faster sellers than laptops and desktops. Apple’s iPad sales were 15.43 million units, which is 111% over the year-ago quarter. This was also a company record.

Apple’s recent announcement regarding “*textbooks for the iPad*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/new-education-apps-for-ipad/ were foreshadowed by the nearly 1.5 million iPads already in educational settings.

*iPods*
Apple sold 15.4 million iPods in the quarter, which while it does represent a 21% decline year-over-year, is still one boat load (or actually several boat loads) of iPods. It is natural that the iPod will decline as people have other ways (i.e. iPhone and iPad) to carry their music with them. One bright spot in the iPod market is that the iPod touch continues to be a very hot product.

*Apple TV*
It’s just a hobby. Yeah, right. It is a hobby that resulted in sales of 1.4 million units in the quarter and 2.8 million units last year. Nice little hobby.

*App Store*
In the week since iBooks Author was announced, over 600,000 copies have been downloaded and there have been more than 3 million downloads of the iTunes U application. iCloud has 85 million customers and the App Store has paid out over $4 billion to software developers.

Once again, Apple, under the leadership of Tim Cook, has written another chapter in the most remarkable story in American business. The entire Apple team deserves a series of “attaboys and attagirls” and Tim Cook delivered with deep discounts for Apple employees on Macs and iPads. Great work Apple–keep wowing us!

I really don’t belong in Vermont in the winter. I do not even like going outside this time of year and although I vowed to ride my motorcycle every month of the year, January looks like it will be a failure due to my icy driveway and the snow bank that has fallen off the roof.

I guess I’ll just have to find some inside stuff to do this weekend. However, I sure do notice that the days are getting longer and that is always good to see.

Thank you so much for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
_Don & Kali_

*Start Soapbox*

On January 18th, there were some high-profile websites–Wikipedia among them–that actively opposed two pieces of intellectual property rights and privacy legislation by adding black banners in protest. The outcry was so effective that the legislation was, at least temporarily, blocked.

In the US Senate it was the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) and in the House it was the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). We have had a longtime belief that copyrights, patents and intellectual property need protection. There is a problem in that there is widespread illegal copying and distribution of protected content. So, on the face of things, these bills might be a good idea.

But when you look at the details of the bills, it looks like the medicine is way worse than the cure. Rather than really providing protection, the bill uses the atomic bomb approach which would require that internet service providers block access to foreign websites that are suspected of containing pirated content. This is way too intrusive and gives the government too much control over the internet.  

The internet is really the best and last bastion of free speech and innovation.  You need not look further than the revolution in Egypt to see what the impact can be of free, open access to information. This legislation would require the blocking of entire internet domains if just one blog entry or web page had infringing material. There is a real danger that this legislation would trigger an explosion of internet and search engine censorship.

Make no mistake about it–I support the protection of intellectual property and artistic creations. It is essential to ensure that innovation and art flourish; however, this legislation–PIPA and SOPA–goes too far and is not the right solution to the problem.

*End Soapbox*

Have thoughts? “*Weigh in here.*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/sopa-pipa-and-why-it-matters/

“__Image source__”:http://ammar.gr/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/StopSOPA.png

_Dear Friends,_

Our mild, relatively snowless winter continues up here in the north country.  I am beginning to feel like one of the old guys at the general store waxing about the good old days. “Why, I remember when we had snow so deep…” I do notice a significant trend toward milder winters, though. I brewed beer for many years; in fact, the original business plan for Small Dog Electronics was to make enough money so we could open a brewery. My best beer was called “Prickly Mountain -40 Degree Ale”  and yes, it was -40 when I brewed that batch. I haven’t seen temperatures under -15 for some time and maybe I can think about planting some Zone 5 or Zone 6 plants here in Vermont.

[Editor’s note: Want to watch Don and Hapy talk about that brew and the beginning of Small Dog? “*Click here.*”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJa6sIbMQ88]

We knew that Apple was doing well because our first quarter was spectacular, but to actually see the financial results from Apple was simply otherworldly. I will go over the numbers in a bit, but if there was any doubt that Apple is firing on all cylinders, it should be safely put to bed.  Congratulations to Apple and the Apple team for an outstanding quarter and of course, for awesome products!

I have been struggling with the enormous amount of spam that I have been receiving lately. It has gotten as bad as 100 junk mails in an hour, so I have been searching for a solution. One thing that appears (at least after a few days) to be working well for me is “*SpemSieve*”:http://www.c-command.com/spamsieve/ by Michael Tsai at C-Command. I will write a more comprehensive review of this mail client filtering system next week, but if you are having spam issues, I suggest at least downloading their demo and giving it a try.

Working on the next “it product”? Knee-deep in a manuscript that will give Twilight a run for its money in copies sold? OK, maybe you just have some funny email attachments that you don’t want to lose. (No judgement.)

In any case, all of your data probably feels important enough that if you lost it, you’d lose it. (We’ve seen rage, tears shed, things thrown, etc. and this isn’t even an episode of Real Housewives.)

LaCie is a trusted name in data security and protection, and the Neil Poulton 1TB USB Hard Drive is one of our most popular drives. This week, it’s on sale for *$20 off its regular price* for Kibbles readers.