Barkings! | The Small Dog Apple Blog

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You all probably know that I am not a fan of nuclear energy as a path for energy independence, but even if I was put in charge of Vermont’s only nuclear plant, I could not have done a better job of undermining their chances for a license renewal than they did on their own.

First it was a failed cooling tower, then a barely competitive power purchase offer but the straw that really broke the camel’s back was the leaking tritium that had found its way into the ground water. After testing, it was revealed that despite their testimony that there were not underground pipes carrying radioactive water, there were many, and they were leaking.

The Vermont Senate, after several hours of debate, in a non-partisan vote, defeated the request for a 20-year license renewal by a vote of 26-4. While this was a vote about a specific antique leaking nuclear power plant, it reflects a sentiment in our state that we should rely upon sustainable renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and conservation for our energy needs in the future.

The Vermont legislature could be an example for our national legislature. Many initiatives are the result of republicans, democrats and progressives working together to fashion legislation for the good of the entire state. Having spent quite a bit of time up in Montpelier talking to these part-time legislators, I find them to all be committed to providing the best for our state. They work together using persuasion and compromise to achieve this goal.

Vermont’s annual exercise of basic democratic rights comes next week with Town Meeting day. All of the towns in Vermont—there are 255 of them—hold annual town meetings to elect local officials, from constable to selectman to cemetery commissioner, and to pass town and school budgets. In my town of Warren, with a population of about 1500, there is a potluck lunch in between the town and school meetings.

Vermont’s legislature reserved the right to approve any extension of the State’s only nuclear plant many years ago. Yesterday’s vote is the elected representatives of the people exercising their right to protect the people from a potentially dangerous license extension and a poor economic deal. Kudos to the Vermont Senate for their courage and foresight!

END SOAPBOX

With analysts estimates for Apple’s first Quarter (Oct-Dec) hovering around $10.4 Billion in sales and earnings of $1.77 per share, Apple announced their actual earnings and once again posted best ever revenue of $15.7 Billion and profit of $3.4 Billion or $3.67 per share. While some of that difference is due to an accounting change where Apple no longer needs to report iPhone and AppleTV sales over 24 months.

Nevertheless, Apple sold a record 3,360,000 Macs during the three months which represents a 33% year over year growth. They sold 8,700.000 iPhones and 21,000,000 iPods! With all eyes on Wednesday’s announcement which was hyped by Apple during the analyst’s call, one analyst said dryly that the financial report was “not bad for a warm-up act.”

The big news was the overseas strength of the brand for Macs, iPhone and iPod with 58 percent of Apple’s revenue coming from international sales. Mac sales grew over 40 percent in Italy, France, Switzerland and Spain while Australia was up 70 percent and China up 100%.

Apple added about $5 Billion in cash to the war chest, which has swollen to just under $40 Billion. Hapy speculated that Apple may be doing its shareholders a disservice by hoarding all that cash and not either paying dividends or investing it in more than low-yield short-term investments. I disagree and feel that in addition to the intrinsic support of the shares value that this cash represents, it also gives Apple unprecedented flexibility in terms of new product development, acquisitions and new initiatives.

While the number of iPhones sold appeared to be less than some analysts were expecting, the impact of 8.7 million iPhone is significant with Apple now reporting that over 70% of the Fortune 100 are deploying the iPhone and this is double the penetration since the iPhone 3GS was shipped in the summer of ’09.

While iPod sales were down year over year, Apple sold almost 21 million iPods with increased revenue. Their MP3 market share remains steady at around 70%. One particularly bright spot was the iPod touch with 55 percent growth.

Apple reported that it now has 283 retail stores with average revenue per store at $7.1 million and a record 50.9 million retail visitors.

Steve Jobs seemed pleased and said “ If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it’s surprising that Apple is now a $50+ Billion company. The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product the we’re really excited about.”

Apple is growing at nearly twice the industry’s 17% rate and with about 50% of the Macs sold at Apple retail (and most resellers as well) to new-to-Mac customers the prospects for market share growth are spectacular. On the other hand, you do not need market share when you can invent new markets the way that Apple has done with the iPod, iPhone and now a new game-changing product to be announced tomorrow.

The Apple story just keeps getting better and better and as a shareholder and Apple reseller I have to put the credit for this spectacular story on the extraordinary management team at Apple. The success story is fascinating alone but to continue to post record revenue and earnings during the worst economic conditions in decades is simply remarkable. Thank you Steve and the whole management team at Apple. Keep us smiling with new greatness!

Apple sent the invites out to the press and others for the big January 27th unveiling of their “latest creation”. There is so much speculation around the office about what Apple might be announcing, that I thought I would open up the comments section here on Barkings! to see what you think.

Personally, I can only say — I’m getting one!

2009 was a great year for Apple. Apple experienced record growth in revenue and profit regardless of the most serious downturn in the economy in a generation. While not recession-proof, Apple has shown that it doesn’t hurt to have the hottest products on the planet even when the planet’s financial system is being stressed.

January – The last year of Apple’s presence at Macworld Expo in January. The show had an aura of finality to it and even though there is a Macworld again this year in February, there will be no Apple presence at the show. This year iLife ’09 was released with great new features that made it a compelling upgrade, especially for iPhoto. iWork ’09 was also released as well as a new 17-inch MacBook Pro.

February – Apple updated the entire range of Mac desktops with new iMacs, new Mac Pros and new Mac minis. Apple also updated the Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme with simultaneous Dual-Band WiFi.

March – Apple introduces the tiny 4GB iPod shuffle! Later in the month Apple introduced iPhone 3.0 software.

April – Apple introduces new Xserves with Intel Nehalem processors. They also announced the end of DRM for iTunes and introduced variable pricing for songs. Apple announced their financial results for the quarter with an astounding $1.21 billion in profit.

June – Apple introduces new MacBook Pros including the new 13-inch MacBook Pro. They also released the iPhone 3GS updated phone.

July – New versions of Final Cut Studio and Logic are released and Apple’s financial report indicates another $1.3 Billion in profit on spectacular Mac and iPhone sales. Steve Jobs is out sick and Tim Cook announced that “The Mac has now outgrown the market a staggering 18 of the last 19 quarters.”

August – Another update to the Time Capsules pushing the storage to a large 2TB! Snow Leopard is released at just $29 for the upgrade and the Mac Box set with Snow Leopard, iLife ’09 and iWork ’09 is released, too.

September – iPods! The iPod touch goes down in price and up in features and capacity, the iPod nano adds a video camera, the iPod shuffle adds colors and more choices in capacity and the iPod classic is moved from 120GB to 160GB without a price increase. To coincide, iTunes 9 is released.

October – Apple crushes the street again posting their most profitable quarter, ever, with a profit of $1.67 Billion. Apple sold more Macs and iPhones than any quarter. To complete the product offerings for 2009 Apple also released a slew of new products and updates.

iMacs were updated and the beautiful 27-inch wide screen iMac was introduced along with a new unibody white MacBook. Apple brought out the new Magic Mouse and even a new Apple remote. They updated the Mac mini again and introduced a server version of the Mac mini bundled with Snow Leopard server for only $999. Time Capsules were updated again, too.

November and December – not a time for product announcements but a time for sales and all signs point to another amazing holiday quarter for Apple with their common stock hovering around $200/share.

I am pretty fussy with my pointing devices so when the new Apple Magic Mouse appeared in the warehouse, Jaime was quick to set one aside for me. My initial first impression was that the packaging is spectacular. The iPod-like plastic case showcased the Magic Mouse as a slick, sci-fi device that would fit right in on the deck of the Starship Enterprise.

See my first photos of the Magic Mouse here on Flickr.

I stopped ogling the packaging and was pleased to see that batteries were included and installed. There is a small latch to get to the battery compartment on the bottom and it takes two AA batteries. When the alkaline batteries die, I will replace them with lithium AAs which tend to last about 3-4 times longer.

I activated the Magic Mouse by moving the little on-off switch to the on position and then using the Bluetooth assistant to locate and connect to the mouse. It worked great as a nice lightweight mouse, but the scrolling and other features did not work. I noticed that the Mouse preferences did not have any reference to the Magic Mouse either, so I concluded that I needed to download software. Luckily, the Apple Wireless Mouse Update was waiting for download at the Software Update panel. You will need to download this 67MB file and restart your Mac to activate all the Magic Mouse features.

Once I had updated my software, the Magic Mouse was fully functional and I could right click, left click, scroll horizontally and vertically and swipe with two fingers left or right to navigate. I have to say that I am hooked. I love the Magic Mouse. I am getting used to the feel and know that in a few days the mouse will feel like an extension of my hand with flowing motions and easy navigation.

The Mouse system preference panel now supports the Magic Mouse and lets you customize the tracking, scrolling and double-click speeds. It also will allow you to set the right click to the right or left, set scroll with or without momentum (I love momentum!) and gives options for screen zooming with the control, command or option key held down. I also allows you to toggle two-finger navigation (why would you turn that off?). The panel also has a video demonstrating each of these features and a battery meter so you know when to change the batteries on the Magic Mouse.

Kali keeps trying to convince me to give up the Magic Mouse so she can have it but no way—this is now my pointing device of choice!

Editor’s note: When the cat is away, the mice will play…