Mini'app'les

the Minnesota Apple Computer Users' Group, Inc.

Archives for January 2015

Apple’s Quarterly Report

by Tim Drenk

Apple made their quarterly report on Tuesday and it was good, to say the least. Tim Cook announced that the Apple Watch will ship in April 2015, 74.5 million iPhones were sold, Apple Pay is still in the early days but makes up about 60% of all contactless payments, along with things.

AppleInsider.com broke it down by numbers:

$179 billion: Apple’s cash-on-hand.

$131.4 billion: The total cost of the Apollo program, adjusted for inflation.

$74.6 billion: Apple’s revenue.

$72.9 billion: The combined revenues of Microsoft, IBM, and Procter & Gamble in the same period.

$60.1 billion: Luxembourg’s GDP in 2013.

$18 billion: Apple’s profit. This is the most profit ever reported by a publicly-traded company.

$6.2 billion: The purchase price of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.

1 billion: iOS devices sold by Apple since the introduction of the iPhone.

500 million: Visitors to Apple’s brick-and-mortar and online stores.

474 million: Tourist arrivals to France, the U.S., Spain, China, Italy, Turkey, Germany, the U.K., Russia, and Thailand in 2013.

74.5 million: iPhones sold by Apple in the quarter.

25 million: Apple TVs sold since its release.

21.4 million: iPads sold by Apple in the quarter.

20 million: Copies of the game Skyrim sold since 2011.

5.5 million: Macs sold by Apple in the quarter.

$761,000: Apple’s revenue per employee.

$575,000: Apple’s revenue per minute.

$184,000: Apple’s net profit per employee.

$144,000: Average salary for an Apple software engineer, according to Glassdoor.

$687: The average selling price of the iPhone.

575: The number of iPhones Apple sold every minute of every day.

$45: The average selling price of phones from Microsoft’s handset unit last quarter.

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Not so big after all: Sizing up the Apple Watch

by Jeff Berg

Critics of the unreleased Apple Watch, many and legion, seem quick to call it big and clunky. I had a little time on my hands, and decided to so some investigative research.

Apple has released some sizing information and various Apple Watch sizing templates are available online. I downloaded one from Ryan P. Mack. Next I went hunting for my digital caliper (a device for making precise measurements) and failed to find it—must be in my toolchest at the Hack Factory. No worries, the analog caliper in my rigging bag sufficed. Finally, I pulled the (average sized) Bertucci field watch, my EDC (every day carry) timepiece, from my wrist. The Bertucci isn’t the smallest, thinnest watch I’ve owned, but it isn’t the bulkiest either. (Obviously) I find it to be an acceptable size for everyday wear.

Image comparing actual Bertucci watch to PDF print of Apple Watch Dimensions
Here’s my watch compared to the Apple Watch PDF. The caliper is set to the relevant dimension of the Bertucci watch

The larger Apple Watch case is 42mm tall. Using press images and videos, Ryan estimates that the width of the watch is 37.65mm and the thickness is 10.44mm + a 1mm “bump” for the heartrate sensor. My current watch case is 48mm tall, 39mm wide and 11-12mm thick in round, analog numbers.

Criticizing the styling of the Apple Watch is valid, that’s after all a matter of taste, but calling it “big” or “clunky” seems inaccurate. For all practical purposes, I’m wearing an Apple Watch sized timepiece today and (most) everyday.

I’m planning on ordering a 42mm model in Black Stainless Steel, watch band TBD—ultimately I’ll be tying my own. What’s your choice? Let us know in the comments.

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Mini’app’les Meeting, Tuesday Jan. 20 at 7:00 p.m., Q&A at 6:30 p.m.

by Tim Drenk

The next Mini’app’les meeting is Tuesday, January 20th, the third Tuesday of the month, at the HackFactory (3119 E. 26th Street Minneapolis, MN 55406). At 6:30 p.m., members of the board and other knowledgable people will be available if you have specific questions you would like answered. We will do our best to address your question and help you troubleshoot the issue.

A complete backup system has multiple parts such as a remote backup and a local backup. At 7:00 p.m., we will look at some of the software options for local backups. Aside from Apple’s Time Machine, we will look at some of the more “traditional” backup programs, cloning software, and syncing software and the pros and cons of each. 

We look forward to seeing you there.

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Think you’re getting the best deal on Amazon?

by Tim Drenk

Jason Del Rey over at Re/code has an article about a study from a company that helps clients keep track of competitors’ prices.

The study of Amazon’s pricing uncovered some interesting tactics. First, Amazon doesn’t have the lowest prices across the board, which may not surprise industry insiders but might surprise Amazon shoppers…Amazon identifies the most popular products on its site and consistently prices them under the competition…But when it comes to the HD cables that customers often buy with a new TV, Amazon actually pushed up the price by 33 percent ahead of the holidays. One reason is that the cables weren’t among the most popular in their category, meaning that they have little impact on price perception among shoppers. Secondly, Amazon most likely figures (or knows) it can make a profit on these cables because customers won’t price-compare on them as carefully as they would on more expensive products.

“Amazon may not actually be the lowest-priced seller of a particular product in any given season,” the report reads, “but its consistently low prices on the highest-viewed and best-selling items drive a perception among consumers that Amazon has the best prices overall — even better than Walmart.”

You still need to price-compare while shopping at Amazon. Aside from looking at other stores, looking at the price history of an item can also be helpful. CamelCamelCamel.com offers the price history on items sold by Amazon by using the URL or the ASIN of a product. You can create an account with CamelCamelCamel and set price watches for items. When the item goes below your set price, you will get an email telling you what the current price is. They also have a Chrome browser extension that will display the price history when you are looking at an item on Amazon. Here’s an example of what CamelCamelCamel can show you. It’s a handy tool.

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