How does the other half live? Apparently rather poorly because 49 percent of American households don’t have a single Apple product and that’s worse than a day without sunshine, a lot worse. On the brighter side, more than half do and a highly evolved subset thereof proudly claims five or more Apple-branded widgets in their homes.
Bacon wrapped shrimp samples and Apple’s latest MacBook Air — could there be a better combination? Both Walmart and Sam’s Club stores in these oddly dysfunctional United States both carry the iPod, iPhone and iPad. Soon, however, America’s second-favorite warehouse chain might offer Apple’s Macintosh product line, as well, or so the rumor goes.
From the late 19th Century through mid-20th Century, it was the United States that was the world’s workshop and we have the human, social and environmental scars to prove it. China’s now going through those growing pains and the people actually living there in the here and now have a very different response to Apple’s second-hand abuses than the Western news media.
Record Mac, iPad and iPhone sales, and the company didn’t just exceed expectations. For example, whereas there was discussion about how many iPhones Apple sold, with the most optimistic estimates in the 35 million range, the company actually sold more than 37 million units. The Cupertino kids likewise well exceeded iPad guestimates, shipping nearly 15.5 million of their category defining mobile computers.
More than a decade after Steve Jobs introduced the world to iTunes and the iPod, digital music sales have surpassed physical media. Although the Apple visionary didn’t live to see the day, he certainly foresaw the eventually and played a pivotal role and, in fact, declared way back then that he was out revolutionize music.
Come Monday morning, or whenever he gets back to his 1 Infinite Loop studio in Cupertino, California, I suspect Apple senior vice president of design will be in for a bit of good natured ribbing. To whit he could reply, whilst looking condescendingly down his nose, “That’s, Sir Jonny, to you, peasant.”
For many members of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, it must be more than a little galling to give the Apple co-founder and erstwhile an award for in essence taking the lead role in the ongoing dismantling of their business model. Alternately, isn’t it tellingly cheap and myopic that they only got ’round to bestowing this largess after the instrument of the industry’s collective salvation died.
The timing of this just wrong. More than six years since the first affected products shipped and three years after the company first formally acknowledged and began fixing the problem in other countries, Apple is spreading the first generation iPod nano replacement program worldwide.
No single individual has Jobs’ chops, taste, silvery (acid) tongue or authority — will Apple continue to make insanely great products and services now that Steve’s gone? Though some have their doubts, the man himself seemed rather confident the team and company he built was ready to continue on.
Life goes on. Halloween is a tradition at Steve Jobs’ Palo Alto home and this year was no different. Decorated with jack-lanterns, lights and swathed in dry ice fog and scary sounds, a gaggle of parents and kids queued Monday outside the house ahead of Trick or Treat’s 6:30pm start.
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