Dear Friends,

The deep freeze is heading our way as low temps for Saturday and Sunday night may reach as low as -30 degrees F. While those are dangerously low temperatures, I actually enjoy the noises and crisp (and I do mean CRISP) fresh air. Just walking to the car, the crunching of the snow makes a different sound when it is that cold and my house creaks and groans as if it were stretching to keep warm.

I always make it a point to take a hot tub outside on the coldest night of the year where the steam coming off the tub combines with the creaking of the house and trees and a clear sky watching for a shooting star while my hair freezes like one of those old hats the band DEVO used to wear.

The big news from Apple this week was the unprecedented financial results from the holiday quarter that shows Apple firing on all cylinders and posting numbers that were beyond the most bullish numbers from the analysts. It was all good financial news from Cupertino and I have given the highlights and analysis of the financial results below in this issue of Kibbles & Bytes.

It was also announced that Apple CEO and visionary, Steve Jobs will be taking a medical leave of absence to allow him to concentrate on his health. Steve deserves both the break from the day to day grind of leading Apple and the privacy and time to deal with his health. Apple is much much more than Steve Jobs and I think it would be very foolish to think that Apple is not prepared to thrive even while Steve is reducing his workload.

There is a very deep bench of leadership and vision at Apple and I think you will find that 2011 will be another year of innovation and record-setting performance for Apple. Who knows what Steve will cook up while he’s resting, the last time he came back from medical leave we got the iPad.