QCOM -- 2Q24 -- Earnings

Locator: 47022TECH.

Tag: iPhone chips QCOM suppliers Skyworks Broadcom

Apple Central.

Just six months ago:

Apple suppliers, link here: 

From today, screenshots:

 

Link here.

Other screenshots from older sites:

 We'll discuss this later.

Feature Story -- Part 1 -- April 16, 2022

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. 

For investors:

• Chips: link here. Chips, semiconductor: link here.

Featured story over at The WSJ today. 

Over the twelve years or so of blogging, the few non-Bakken posts or non-Bakken themes of which I am most proud;

• the first, unquestionably was my call on Netflix;
• Devon, tied with Netflix;
  
• T (the jury is still out)
• the death of energy transition (the jury is still out)
• Apple chips, of which I am most proud to have called

I'm sure there are a few others; just don't remember them right now.

Last night I was blown away when I sent to The WSJ and saw this article, top and center of the on-line edition (linked above).

Apple Inc. had a problem. While its iPhones were flying off shelves, sales of Mac computers were stagnating. Customers weren’t thrilled with their design or performance.

Five years later, Mac sales are soaring. The turnaround is due to an unusual, yearslong effort to build one of the world’s most advanced chip-design operations inside the world’s best-known gadget maker.

Led by a onetime Intel Corp.engineer and IBM executive named Johny Srouji, Apple Corp. semiconductor division launched a risky project to replace the Intel processors that powered Apple laptops and desktops for 15 years with chips designed in-house. Those M1 chips, which are far more energy-efficient than Intel’s, enabled Macs to run much faster and generate less heat, laying the groundwork for a resurgence in Apple’s computer line. The company has now gained control over an essential component just as supply-chain disruptions cause disorder in the rest of the chip market.

Mr. Srouji’s chip operation, which already designed chips that power iPhones, has helped Apple improve the profitability of its smartphones and computers. It also has positioned Apple to move into potential future products such as a car or extended-reality headsets.

The fourth and final version of the M1 family—the M1 Ultra—debuted last month and is made for high-end Macs aimed at video and graphics professionals.

Other tech juggernauts are now trying to emulate Apple’s approach. Tesla Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. are working on their own silicon as they chase more powerful computing needs for specialized applications like driverless cars, data centers and virtual reality. Meanwhile, suppliers of chips like Intel are scrambling to alter their strategy in response, investing heavily so they can fabricate chips designed by others.

Deciding to fire a crucial supplier and bring its production in-house can be a wrenching crossroads for any company. Mr. Srouji’s success building the M1 chips was far from a certainty—especially as the coronavirus pandemic threatened the rollout in 2020.

So much more at the link.

This is Part 1. Part 2 is here.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site.  Do not make any investment, financial, job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. 

Notes From All Over -- Semiconductor Update: February 11, 2021

Apple: Intel, Qualcomm, Micron, and AMD ask for government incentives; Apple supplier TSMC expands to meet unprecedented demand. Huge story. Expands? Operative word: "considerable." As in "undertaking a considerable expansion as chip demand outstrips supply."

Apple: led semiconductor buying last year (2020) -- previously posted --

• Apple remained the top semiconductor chip buyer in 2020 with 12% of the overall market
• Samsung was second with an 8% market share
• Huawei spent 23% less on the year compared to the over 20% gains for Apple ans Samsung due to the increased U.S. trade restrictions. The company still came in third with a 4% share
• Lenovo and Dell rounded out the top five with a 4% and 3.7% share, respectively.
  

Apple: car talk? Did Tim Cook just re-run the numbers? Better to become a semiconductor company or a car company. 

Intel, in particular, has suffered from a myriad of problems. With major client Apple dropping Intel for its own custom silicon, and Microsoft expected to follow suit in the near future, Intel has struggled to deliver technological innovations. This is after the company has repeatedly reported delays with its latest processors, while its main competitor, AMD, has proceeded to capture valuable market share. After a major investor pushed Intel to shake up its entire business model, the company is hoping that new CEO Pat Gelsinger will help it to find its way.

Apple/Amazon: on-line retailer drops the Green 64GB wi-fi iPad to $539.99, down from $599. This beats the previous all-time-low price by about $10 -- it's the best online right now among the major Apple retailers. We'll check in on Costco later. 

Apple Safe Browsing: in new updates, Apple will proxy Google's "Safe Browsing" service used in Safari through its own servers instead of relying on Google as a way to limit which personal data Google sees about users. 

Home prices: jump 15% in 4Q20 pandemic real estate rally. Bloomberg.

The Northeast led the way as buyers rushed to the suburbs. Fairfield County, Connecticut, home to Greenwich and other tony towns, rose 39% for the biggest increase in the U.S.

The Market And APPL -- September 11, 2017

The S&P 500 hit an all-time record today. All indices were up 1% today. September is a bad month for investors, they say.

Futures mean squat, but right now:

The Dow was up 250 points today, and right now is holding onto those gains, but the interesting thing is the further jump in S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, or relationship decisions based on anything you read here or think you may have read here.

I assume much of the Nasdaq is being led by tech with Apple announcing new iPhone tomorrow. This is the interesting thing about the iPhone. No analyst or "talking head" seems to be concerned with the $1,000 price tag. This price point has been talked about for such a long time, a $1,000 price point tomorrow won't be a shock. Folks are ready for it.

It will be interesting how Tim Cook announces a $1,000+ iPhone -- lots of comparisons to mobile computers, no doubt. If the price comes in under $1,000 watch APPL shares surge. Of course, the former is not going to happen.

But folks are already talking making these comments:

• the iPhone X will be high-end, marketed to high-end Apple buyers; a premium iPhone; Apple is surrounded by millionaires out in Silicon Valley and knows there is a lot of money out there
• the iPhone X at $1,000+ becomes an "item" for the glitterati
• for the rest of us, an $800 iPhone 8, 8-Plus will look like a bargain
• but then this: for the rest of us, if $800 looks like a bargain, another $200 isn't all that much
• and, besides, the phone companies will tether the $1,000 to a three-year plan making the phone even "more" affordable

My Samsung clam shell that I got about ten years ago seems to be on its last legs; new battery but the display seems to "dying." But no, no Apple iPhone for me; another clam shell if they are even available any more.

***************************

 Tesla Nightmare

Mercedes: announces it will offer "electric versions" of all its cars by 2022. 

VW: announces $84 billion in EV investment.

Absolutely fascinating.

Peak oil? What peak oil.

The real winner? Natural gas in the US; coal in most of the rest of the world. GE and any other company that makes transformers.

Busy, Busy Weekend Coming Up

The February hearing dockets should be released tomorrow which is one of the highlights of every month for me.

Mondays are also a huge highlight, when generally, when wells from three days come off the confidential list. If Monday is a holiday, Tuesday is the big day of the week.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on anything you read here or think you may have read here.

CVX will report 4Q13 earnings tomorrow. By the way, from Reuters:

Oil producer ConocoPhillips outshone larger competitors on Thursday with a quarterly profit that beat expectations as it moved to overcome the problems of high costs and lack of fresh reserves that have nagged at Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell.

ConocoPhillips, the largest U.S. oil company without refining operations, said its profits were helped by the sale of its Algerian business and by higher crude oil production in North America.

The company shed its refining business in 2012 and has sold billions of dollars of lower-yielding assets to focus on more profitable oil production from North American shale basins such as the Eagle Ford in south Texas.

Analysts said Conoco's plan is beginning to pay off at a time when the industry faces pressure from shareholders to lift returns despite flat oil prices and rising costs for risky exploration work designed to replace reserves.

By the way, COP is the company Warren took a big bite of some years ago, for which he apologized, and pundits have taken him to task. He should have stuck to his guns and not changed his investing style. Whatever. 

COP has a huge presence in the Bakken through its wholly-owned subsidiary, which Reuters failed to mention, at least in that part of the story I actually read.

*************************

Apple

This is another incredible story.


Steve Jobs always talked about skating to where the puck is going to be, quote #50.

I have gotten tired of all the talk about iTV, iWatch, and how all the pundits suggest that Apple cannot innovate without Steve Jobs. Someone said, maybe it was Mr Jobs himself who said, that he left enough ideas behind to keep the company busy for a hundred years, or at least as long as the Bakken produced oil (okay, he didn't say that part about the Bakken. I made that part up. But he said that other thing).

Now a fact, not a rumor, from MacRumors:

Next week, Major League Baseball will begin rolling out thousands of iBeacons in ballparks around the country according to a source familiar with the plans who shared them with MacRumors.

The league is looking to have twenty parks outfitted with roughly 100 iBeacons each by Opening Day at the end of March. Boston, Milwaukee, San Diego, LA Dodgers, and San Francisco are among the teams that will have iBeacons installed.

The iBeacon deployment is one of the largest rollouts in the world, aside from Apple Retail's 254-store effort. MLB will be using iBeacons sourced from Qualcomm.

The iBeacons will work with primarily with MLB's At The Ballpark app, demonstrated at Citi Field last fall. The app should be updated by Opening Day with iBeacon support.

Functionality will vary by ballpark, with individual teams having significant input and control over what users will see. There are a number of potential use cases including point of interest information, concessions, loyalty and rewards programs, shopping, and more. Specific scenarios have yet to be determined for each ballpark and teams will share more information as it gets closer to Opening Day.

Separately, the NFL is rolling out a limited number of iBeacons at MetLife Stadium, the Super Bowl venue for this year, and in Times Square. The beacons will mostly be used to help users get to entry gates and to find Super Bowl-related tourist attractions in the area.

I can imagine Steve Jobs response when anyone brought up "near field communication."

Jobs: "So how far does NFC reach?"
Techhie: "About two inches."
Jobs: "WTF? Two inches? What can you do with just two inches? Come back when you have NFC out to a hundred yards. Then I'll listen. And we'll call it iBeacon.

This is a big deal. iBeacon capability was quietly slipped into all new iPhones. No one else has it.

Apple iPhone 5s #1 in November; Apple iPhone 5c #3; The Announcement "Pushed All But Samsung" Out Of The Picture; Relegated The Galaxy S4 To Runner-Up Position Across The Board -- Cream Rises To The Top

I was going to post this earlier, but ran out of time, and then forgot. Better late than never.

MacRumors is reporting:

The iPhone was the top-selling smartphone at AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile for September, October and November of this year, according to Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley.

The iPhone 5s, which came out in the second half of September, has proved extremely popular with customers and has only recently gotten close to a supply/demand balance.

Not in a million years would I have expected that. With all the reports in the mainstream media, I wa sure Samsung/Androids would have been #1.

And then get this: what was #3? The much despised, criticized, and minimized Apple iPhone 5c.

From the linked article:

Before the iPhone 5s and 5c's release, Apple, Samsung, HTC, Nokia, Sony, and Motorola all had handsets enjoying top-three sales at at least one of America's big four carriers. Apple's September announcement pushed all but Samsung out of the picture and relegated the South Korean conglomerate's Galaxy S4 to the runner-up position across the board.
Apple has maintained a significant edge outside of the U.S. as well, even before the long-anticipated launch of the company's devices on China Mobile, the world's largest wireless carrier. The iPhone 5s was "by far the top selling smartphone...at most channels where the smartphone launched globally," Walkley notes.

Samsung's Galaxy S 4, the iPhone's chief competitor, now holds second place across all carriers with the iPhone 5c coming in third. Closer to the launch of the 5c and 5s, the 5c held second place at AT&T and Sprint.

I can't wait to read the comments.

***********************************

Note to the Granddaughters

I'm continuing to enjoy Max Tegmark's OurMathematical Universe. The publication date is January 7, 2014.

It's an incredibly enjoyable book and an incredibly difficult book at the same time. It's difficult because of the concepts, not the actual writing. I've learned that with these kinds of difficult books it is best not to get bogged down; slog through it, get to the end and then go back and read the portions that are of most interest.

The nice thing about Tegmark's book is the personal touch and the biographical sketches he provides.

Today this caught my attention; it was nice break from the difficult concepts --

I used to feel there were two kinds of physicists: the titans and the mere mortals. The titans were towering historical figures such as Newton, Einstein, Schrödinger, and Feynman who possessed supernatural powers and were surrounded by legends and myths. The mere mortals were the physicists I had met who, although perhaps brilliant, were clearly just ordinary people like you and me.

And then there was John Wheeler. When I saw him in January 1996, I felt overwhelmed. There he was, eighty-four years old, in the Copenhagen cafeteria where we had our conference lucnh. To me, he was the "last titan."

He had worked with Niels Bohr on nuclear physics. he had coined the term black hole. He had pioneered spacetime foam. He had had Feynman and Everett as grad students. He had become one of my physics superheroes with his passion for wild ideas. And there he was, simply eating, like a mere mortal!   ....

... I very rarely cry, but I did in 2008 when I learned that John Wheeler had died.

************************************

Yesterday, I sent this note to my wife --

I am reading a most fascinating physics book -- helps me talk with Arianna AND understand better "Big Bang Theory."

The author discusses a physicist, Hugh Everett, who made an exiting discovery back in 1957. No one followed up; this particular author did and suggests that Hugh Everett's insight could equal that of Einstein, but for some reason his ideas were so far-fetched, he was ignored and his work ignored. It was his doctoral thesis.

This is what the author wrote about this physicist:

"Because his thesis and he was ignored, he did not get a job; he "became rather bitter and withdrawn, smoked and drank too much, and died of an early heart attack in 1982. I've learned more about him recently because I got to meet his son, Mark, at the shooting of a TV documentary called Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives. The producer wanted me to explain Hugh Everett's work to his son, Mark...... ".....Mark is a rock star, and if you've seen Shrek, you've heard him sing. His dad's fate really tormented his family, and you can hear it in many of his son's songs. He and his sister had almost no contact with their dad even though they lived together. His sister committed suicide, leaving a note saying that she was going to visit her dad in a parallel universe."

A good book for the lay person who loves physics, though grad students with time on their hands might enjoy it also. 

5S, 5C Round-Up

This week will be filled with stories on Apple's new iPhones.  This is going to be a huge story -- the new iPhone.

To get started:

• the new chip
• logistics; kudos to Tim Cook
• TouchId -- NYMagazine
• demand for 5C already outstripping supply in outlying areas

Train Wreck: Wal-Mart Hiring Temporary Workers -- Any Idea Why? A New Poll

Updates

Later, 3:48 pm: on a day that the market surges, up 204 points, Microsoft is one of the losers, dropping more than half a percent. The announcement that MSFT is moving stores into Best Buy is seen as a lose-lose: a) Best Buy is not where folks are buying their electronics; and, b) this is an admission by MSFT that it cannot compete head-on with Apple. When folks can compare the Apple iPad or miniPad side-by-side with the Surface, there is no comparison, especially when priced about the same. It is down right (fill-in-the-blank) when seeing Apple stores across from Microsoft stores in malls. Apple stores are filled; Microsoft stores are empty. In addition, Apple stores are not found in many malls; only in upscale malls. Best Buy is not upscale.

It's also possible this is still a residual effect from the worldwide developers' conference hosted by Apple earlier this week. One can argue whether Apple can still innovate, but Microsoft announced the return of the "Start" button on the upgrade to its new operating system, while Apple announced hundreds of "innovations" to its new operating system.

Disclaimer: I apologize to all my non-Apple friends out there. I am Apple Fanboy #3. I am more passionate about Apple than I am about the Bakken. So, don't take me seriously. I'm just part of the cult. I do not invest in AAPL, never have, and never will. I have not read the Steve Jobs biography but I do have a copy (a gift from my wife), and plan to read it this summer.

Original Post

Reuters is reporting, in an "exclusive":

Wal-Mart Stores Inc has in recent months been only hiring temporary workers at many of its U.S. stores, the first time the world's largest retailer has done so outside of the holiday shopping season.

A Reuters survey of 52 stores run by the largest U.S. private employer in the past month, including one in every U.S. state, showed that 27 were hiring only temps, 20 were hiring a combination of regular full, part-time and temp jobs, and five were not hiring at all.

The survey was based on interviews with managers, sales staff and human resource department employees at the stores.

The new hiring policy is to ensure "we are staffed appropriately," when the stores are busiest and is not a cost-cutting move, said company spokesman David Tovar.

Temporary workers, he said, are paid the same starting pay as other workers.
Using temporary workers enables the company to have adequate staff on busy weeknights and weekends without having to hire additional full-time staff.

The headline is a bit misleading. First of all, it does not seem to be a company-wide policy. Only 27 of 52 stores canvassed were actually limiting new hires to temporary workers. Ninety percent of Wal-Mart employees are full-time. The number of temporary employees generally represents about 1% of their overall workforce; they are now represent about 10%.

Could Wal-Mart be preparing itself for the train wreck? Or is Wal-Mart simply responding to customers needs to improve customer service?

Time for a new poll.

But first, the results of the current poll in which we asked:  Will the US grant any more LNG export licenses in 2013?

• Yes: 65%
• No: 35%

Now, the new poll. In light of the Reuters story about Wal-Mart hiring more temporary workers to staff evenings, weekends, and holidays, is that credible. Is Wal-Mart hiring more temporary workers to improve customer service, to prepare for the Train Wreck, or both?

**********************

Microsoft seems to have trouble finding its home. I don't know how many malls in which I've been in where Apple has a store and  either there is no Microsoft store, or there was one that had closed. Now I see, June 13, 2013, Microsoft has announced they will have a Microsoft store in 600 Best Buy stores across the nation.

They need each other.

Microsoft hardware, the Surface, has been a bust, and worse, Windows 8.0 was a bust. Microsoft was forced to upgrade to Windows 8.1 which included one new feature: a return to the "Start" button. I cannot make this stuff up.

On the other hand, Best Buy is the "last one standing" and this big box is also likely to downsize before it's all over.  I don't know where the argument "go private or die" for Best Buy stands any more. But I doubt it's good news.

As noted above: Best Buy is a good fit for Microsoft.

Long, Long Article on Apple in LA Times -- Worth A Read

Link here to an interesting article. I've read it once, need to read it again. Some excerpts and comments (for newbies, indented paragraphs are from the article; they are not my words):

I should stop here to declare my interests. I don't own Apple shares. My household is 100% Mac, including three MacBook Airs, but we're atypical Apple customers. None of our four smartphones is an iPhone. We don't own iPads or any other tablets (Kindles don't count); I'm still waiting for Apple to make the case that I need one. I've written about Apple in all its various incarnations since 1995. In that time I've read a lot of valid reporting about Apple, and a lot of hooey. The hooey usually gets more widely circulated.

That comes close to describing our family. My wife has an iPhone only because our son-in-law bought it for her and pays the monthly data fee as part of a family plan. I don't have an iPhone. In fact, I don't have a smart phone. However, one big difference: both my wife and I love the iPad. I do wonder about someone who writes about Apple who doesn't understand the iPad. I don't need Apple "to make the case that I need one." I figured that out on my own. I can't imagine using an iPhone or MacBook Air in bed to read the news before I get up or before I fall asleep.  With grocery stores right across the street, I don't need a freezer either, but I have one. No marketer/advertising agency had to make the case that I need a freezer.

A few notable points should be kept in mind when pondering Apple's stock market behavior. One is that the slide in its shares coincided with a period in which it became the most profitable company in the United States, and by no small margin. In the last quarter of 2012, Apple racked up more than $13 billion in net income. The next two names on the list were ExxonMobil and Chevron, oil companies that rise and fall with the price of crude. To find another industrial company you had to go to No. 4: Microsoft, which reported profit less than half of Apple's.

That was incredible. 

A key error here is the notion that a Samsung or Android user is the equivalent of an iPhone user. The latter are willing to pay more for their phones and use them far more vigorously than the former. They buy more apps and spend more time with them. Market analysts figure that the iPhone, despite being outsold, generates roughly 70% of all operating profit in the mobile device industry, Samsung's devices almost all the rest.

This imbalance confuses pundits. "Rather than see Apple as being in a strong position, and being very good at what it does, a lot of people look at these numbers and think Apple's just had fluke good luck," John Gruber, a technologist and former software developer who blogs about Apple at his website daringfireball.net, told me by email.

A long article by a well-informed writer, but still no mention of the best thing going for Apple: the Apple eco-system.

The second best thing going for Apple: the aesthetics. Once one has an Apple product, they tend to replace their next tech device with an Apple. Example: all those folks on PCs who bought the iPad when it came out. When their PC needed upgrading, they migrated to a MacBook. MacBooks really can't do anything more than a PC, and one can still get "more PC" for a buck. Apocryphal or not, Meg Whitman, when given a company computer when she took over HP, was said to have said, "No, thanks. This is a clunky brick. Get me a MacBook" or something to that effect.

So, a nice long article, but the writer missed an opportunity to talk about the Apple eco-system, and Apple aesthetics. And the writer failed to mention how Apple controls its "apps." All that gibberish about the Steve Jobs myth and Tim Cook is old, and getting older by the minute. That may be the reason that the Ashton Kutcher film on Steve Jobs may have been delayed, and risks coming out at all -- perhaps direct to DVD.

*********************

This morning, in Starbucks, while typing the above, two elementary school-age children sat at the table across from me while their parents sat elsewhere. She looked about 9 years old; he about 7 years old. She was checking her iPhone, while he was on his iPad.  I assume he didn't need Apple to "make the case that he needed one." Now while waiting for my wife's car to be serviced, two of the three people waiting are on their computers or tablets. Both of them are using Apples.

A Note To The Granddaughters: The Next Big Thing

THIS PAGE IS NO LONGER UPDATED.
Go to this link.

Updates

June 10, 2020: BVLOS. 

November 25, 2019: look for Enterprise Rental to partner with Ford EV. Enterprise/Ford to put charging stations in at Enterprise Rental locations; perfect for local test drives. [Again, this has not been announced and I've not seen anyone mention it, just a gut feeling.]

July 11, 2019: NFLX has soared nearly 45% this year.

July 22, 2018: the subscription model. 

January 22, 2018: Netflix: huge earnings report. Results even better than already-high expectations. Shares surge over 8%. Wow.  It looks like Kevin Spacey cost Netflix as much as $39 million. Netflix was the reason I started "The Next Big Thing" post many years ago.

September 14, 2017: Apple's "anemoji." It's a short distance between animated emoji and quadriplegics being able to speak and use computers with facial expressions. This is much, much bigger than folks realize.

July 17, 2017: Netflix shares soar; 2nd quarter usually their worse quarter; analysts: "a blowout quarter"; "an inflection point"; cord-cutting continues; DVD-to-streaming moment;

October 17, 2016: Netflix shares surge. 

July 24, 2014: the next bit thing -- mobile payments. 

January 22, 2014: Netflix surges almost $60 as soon as earnings announced. Almost 20% surge.

December 12, 2013: Today we learned that Netflix earned more Golden Globe nominations than CBSNCBABC combined -- at  least that's the Drudge link; no reason to doubt it, but I'm not going to check. I'm not a detail person; I'm more interested in the big picture.

November 21, 2013: same-day package delivery. [November 25, 2019: Amazon.]

October 21, 2013: Subscriber growth; beats estimates -- Netflix beats by $0.03, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS above consensus.: Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.52 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.49; revenues rose 22.2% year/year to $1.11 bln vs the $1.1 bln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.47-0.73, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.44 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. Up about $55 for the day.

August 20, 2013: Netflix grabs multi-year deal --

... first-run rights to Weinstein films after they appear in theaters will bring new content to Netflix to help the company gain subscribers and compete with cable channels such as HBO and Showtime. 

July 22, 2013: today's earnings headline --incredible -- the next big thing --

• Netflix gains 630K subscribers as 2Q earnings soar Netflix's 2nd-quarter earnings quadruple as 'Arrested Development' attracts more subscriber. The story at CNBC:

Netflix's second-quarter earnings more than quadrupled as the revival of the comedy series "Arrested Development" attracted more subscribers.

Despite the financial gains, the report released Monday flopped on Wall Street because the return of new "Arrested Development" episodes after a seven-year absence didn't add as many U.S. subscribers as many investors had been hoping. Netflix's high-flying stock sank $20.96, or 8 percent, to $241 in extended trading after the numbers came out.

June 17, 2013: DreamWorks becomes a television company; inks exclusive deal with Netflix; Netflix soars. 

June 15, 2013: kiosk ordering in fast-food restaurants, perhaps in sit-down fancy restaurants; employers don't have to buy health care insurance for iPads. [November 25, 2019: Chili's has 'em.]

May 26, 2013: Netflix continues to soar. Now, with "Arrested Development."

April 22, 2013: Netflix soars 20% after earnings beat. 

Netflix shot up more than 20 percent after the movie-rental company reported earnings that beat expectations.

The company posted first-quarter earnings excluding items of 31 cents a share, up from a loss of 8 cents a share in the year-earlier period.

Revenue increased to $1.02 billion from $870 million a year ago.

Analysts had expected Netflix to report earnings excluding items of 19 cents a share on $1.02 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

March 28, 2013: Netflix: S&P 500′s Best Stock of 2013 (So Far); 

March 22, 2013: I mentioned Apple's iPhone in the original post. It has just been announced (no links, story easily found):

For the ninth time in a row, iPhone ranks “Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Consumer Smartphones” by J.D. Power and Associates. iPhone ranked highest in a study that looked at the following categories: performance, physical design, features, and ease of operation. In fact, iPhone has ranked highest in each of these studies since the first iPhone was introduced.

Original Post

I think everyone enjoys trying to predict the "next big thing." Or at least "a" next big thing.

I was reminded of that at your school's book fair earlier this afternoon. I happened to see "Lego Crazy Action Contraptions" by Klutz.

Thirty years ago I started a Lego collection that eventually took on a life of its own. Our older daughter, your mom, never enjoyed Legos. Our younger daughter loves them as much today as she did then. For awhile, it looked like Lego might not survive (maybe ten, fifteen years ago). And then, with some incredible marketing efforts the company has thrived. Klutz's "Lego Crazy Action Contraptions" was another reminder of folks thinking outside the box.

At the book fair, I saw that Skippyjon Jones has a new book, Cirque de Ole. I happened to run across Skippyjon Jones some years ago, when it first came out, and could tell it was going to be huge, and it appears that it has. Good for Judy Schachner.

Years ago, before it was available, I saw a story in some now-defunct news magazine and told my wife that the "PT Cruiser" would be a huge hit. And it was.

Likewise, before the first episode of "30 Rock" aired, I knew that Tina Fey would be big; I just never imagined that BIG. I didn't think the show would do all that well (I was wrong) but that Tina Fey would do well.

I knew the iPad was going to be huge; I don't recall thinking much about the iPhone, but I knew the iPad had more uses than skeptics realized. The iPad has yet to live up to its potential but that's just a matter of time.  (I knew the "netbook" was doomed the minute I saw it. I think the "Surface" is likewise doomed.)

Back in 2007, when I started the milliondollarway blog, I knew the Bakken was going to be big. I didn't think it would be that BIG, but for North Dakota, I thought it would rank right up there with the last boom. Wow, was I wrong. The Bakken is much bigger than I ever imagined.

By the way, I deleted that first blog in a fit of insanity one night, and then started all over. I think the current milliondollarway blog dates back to 2009. I could be wrong. Haven't checked lately.

With regard to the Bakken, the biggest surprise: multi-well pads and rail.

My son-in-law thinks Vudu will be the next big thing. Perhaps in time. But not for awhile. Our discussion began with Apple and iTV. I suggested that "it" was all about "content," and, of course, that brought us to Netflix, Vudu, and Hulu. Vudu and Hulu have access to new movies sooner than Netflix. Yet Netflix is still well ahead of anyone else in that sector.

That made me question my assumption that "it" was all about "content." I think I'm wrong. "Content" is important, but within a month of release, new movies are available everywhere, so "content" alone is not the discriminator. "Content" is quickly becoming a commodity (with notable exceptions: NFL network, "made-for-Netflix" movies, as prime examples). Once "content" is a commodity, then something else drives the sector.

So, if it's not "content," what is it? "Accessibility." Accessibility includes "ease" of accessibility. All demographics can reach Netflix. Even my parents, well into their 80's and 90's can use snail mail to order Netflix DVDs, but unless it has to do with fishing, my dad would have no idea what "streaming" is,  much less be able to access it.

So, we'll see. For $7.99/month I have unlimited and "easy" access to Netflix; for $5.99 I can stream one movie from Vudu or pay "Target-" or "Wal-Mart-price" for the DVD itself. US mail and $7.99 / month / unlimited still beats the alternative. So we'll see. Vudu might be the next big thing but I don't see that for a few years. At least.

Back packs will become "a" next big thing. They already are in urban settings, not so much in rural areas.

I think LNG corridors will be "a" next big thing.

I think Facebook will surprise us; it will be "a" next big thing but only after it evolves to the next level to include a) gaming; b) better search; c) a music module; d) a YouTube-like video module; and, e) easier "home page" development.

All-electric vehicles as family cars are "dead." Hybrids aren't dead but it will be a long, steady slog for them to become mainstream.

Free wi-fi everywhere is just a matter of time. I don't know if one would call "free wi-fi everywhere" "a next big thing" but within a few years coffee shops won't stay in business if they don't offer free wi-fi. I do think that someone could yet come up with with a Barnes and Noble bookstore-coffee shop-internet cafe business plan that would work.  Except for college-centric Starbucks, most Starbucks coffee shops are pretty quiet after 6:00 pm. Just the opposite for most retail when they are very, very quiet before 10:00 am.

That brings us to a "cashless" society. Cyprus may be a "cashless" society by next Monday. Apple stores are cashless. I do think someone big is going to go cashless and that will change everything. Could Wal-Mart go cashless?  For those who don't have a credit card, or some type of mobile payment (SmartPhone, for example), they pay for a company cash card at customer service when they come in the door.

Apple Data Centers Are Now Running on 100% Renewable Power

MacRumors is reporting:

Bloomberg notes that Apple has posted the 2012 update of its environmental policy pages, noting that the company has now achieved 100% renewable energy usage at all of its data centers. On a worldwide basis, the company's corporate facilities are now running on 75% renewable energy, up from 35% just two years ago.

Awesome, to say the least.  But there is trouble in "carbon footprint land":

Apple estimates that its carbon footprint for 2012 included 30.9 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, with 98% of that total directly related to the life cycles of its products. The total represents a 34% increase over the company's 2011 estimates, but Apple notes that recent increases have been driven primarily by growth in its sales, with emissions per dollar of revenue decreasing by 21.5% from 2008 to 2012.

31 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Not good. Where's the EPA?

Speaking About the Weather, Here's a Story on Clouds ....

.... MacRumors is reporting:

Apple's iCloud and iTunes Match are the most frequently used cloud media services, with a combined usage total of 27%. 

Other "clouds" were not even close, including one that has not worked all that well for me, Dropbox, which came in second. (How many readers have even heard of "Dropbox"?)

Third was Amazon's cloud.

Fourth was Google, and after that, almost not worth reporting. Be that as it may:

Apple: 27%
Dropbox: 17%
Amazon: 15%
Google: 10%
Ultraviolet: 4%
Samsung Music Hub: 3%
OnLive: 3%
LG Cloud: 2%
Gaikai: 2%

I assume Gaikai came in at the bottom because it was a telephone poll and no one knew how to say (or wanted to say) "Gay Kay."

By the way, I dropped "Dropbox" because of its difficulty to use and poor results. That was sometime ago; maybe they have improved. "Gay Kay" is intriguing, to say the least. A Mary Kay "cloud"?

Department of Defense Ordering 650,000 Apple Products

Macrumors is reporting:

The United States Department of Defense is reportedly ordering more than 650,000 iOS devices. 

The report says the DoD will purchase 120,000 iPads, 120,000 iPad minis, 200,000 iPod touches and 210,000 iPhones. The devices will be used in a variety of situations, with more than 50% "headed to the battlefield, afloat, and to associated support commands." The rest will be used in office situations like the Pentagon.

Someone commented at the site:

This is just a small drop in the ocean of sales by a company as big as Apple. It is kind of like Boeing bragging that they sold one more island-hopper type airplane to the military. 

This tells me this individual:

• has never been in the military
• doesn't follow military technology
• is an idiot

This announcement is an endorsement by the Pentagon for all airmen, soldiers, marines, and sailors to "go Apple." It was always known that Apple was the better product but for various reasons Apple was not allowed inside the military (except in graphics departments). This changes everything.

For the better.

For Investors Only: Comcast Pops -- Will Buy GE's 49% Interest In NBC; Also A Bit Of Trivia Probably Missed By Most

Comcast to buy rest of NBC Universal from GE in $16.7 billion deal.-- Reuters. Also at the Wall Street Journal.

Comcast to buy GE's 49% interest in NBC. In pre-market trading, Comcast is surging a couple of dollars. It closed at $38.97 yesterday. So, we'll see where it closes today.

But that's not the big story. This is the much bigger story.

Apple and Apple TV have been in the news for several years now. Everyone was focused on the hardware/software. There was not a lot of talk about content. Apple and Disney have a relationship of which I've long lost track. Important/unimportant? Who knows? (Rhetorical; don't comment.)

My hunch is that Steve Jobs was looking at all the pieces that were required to make Apple TV a success including content.

So, it was interesting to hear Jim Cramer suggest some days ago that Apple could buy CBS.

Today, with the news that CMCSA is buying GE's 49% share of NBC, one has to take Cramer's "off-hand" (?) comment seriously.

Market cap for CBS: <$30 billion.

Apple cash: $130 billion, folks are saying. (Though Yahoo!Finance says a lot less.)

It didn't hurt that Tim Cook, Apple/CEO, was sitting next to Michelle Obama during the State of the Union Address. 

Of course, this all started with Al Gore selling his content / distribution to Al-Jazeera. Things are moving fast in this arena. There is only so much sprectrum.

Other comments:

CNBC anchors saying that CMCSA had lots of cash sitting around not earning much. Yahoo!Finance says CMCSA had about $10 billion in cash (how current?). GE valued NBCU at $40 million; this deal was about $17 billion. Put that in perspective with APPL: at least $130 billion in cash. CBS with a market cap of $30 billion, and with a 50% premium, at about $45 million, similar to NBCU.

Yesterday Apple/CEO, Tim Cook, defended Apple's cash position.

This will be very interesting to watch.

********************

By the way, on a completely different note:

There were several (many?) guests and friends sitting with Michelle Obama at the State of the Union Address. I did not watch the speech so I don't know if any of this was commented upon. I just noted it now. Pretty cool. Very important. Counter-intuitive.  This from Daily Mail (UK):

One of the guests: Tracey Hepner is a co-founder of Military Partners and Families Coalition and her presence comes just days after the Pentagon announced extended benefits for the spouses of military members. Ms Hepner is married to Army Birgadier General Tammy Smith. 

And this from Yahoo!News:

Last week, Brigadier General Tammy Smith became the first openly gay officer of flag rank in the United States army. She was promoted in an Aug. 10 ceremony at Arlington at which Brig. Gen. Smith's wife, Tracey Hepner, pinned the star onto her uniform.

For Apple Users Only -- Absolutely Nothing About the Bakken

Another one bites the dust: Adobe's Flash.

Adobe's announcement came roughly a year and a half after Steve Jobs penned his "Thoughts on Flash" open letter outlining why Apple had decided not to allow Flash to run on its iOS devices.

Now nearly eight months after Adobe's announcement, the company is officially pulling Flash from the Google Play marketplace for Android for new users. 

I remember all the hand-wringing and threats of lawsuits by Adobe. 

Steve is, no doubt, enjoying the view.

And then this little gem: Google's Chrome is crashing and freezing Apple's new notebooks: Lion.

On an unrelated note, Apple's new operating system, Mountain Lion, will be available in July, 2012.

Menard's To Dickinson; A Note For The Granddaughters

Link here, scroll down to June 22, 2012.

********************

A Note For the Granddaughters

I had not planned to visit the Apple store at "The Shops at the Prudential Center" in Boston today but I did. It's a long story why I went today but not worth writing about (which is probably true of the rest of this note, also).

I am always amazed when I go to an Apple store. The one at the Prudential Center, on Boylston Street, is a huge, 3-story building. Again, as usual it was very, very busy when I was there, just after it opened, 10:00 a.m. Friday morning, today.

I found what I had been looking for and struck up a conversation with one of the employees. I asked him -- it was my impression -- that all the "things" Apple talked about at their most recent conference were available now, except for the new operating system, Mountain Lion. He thought for a moment, and then agreed, to the best of his knowledge that was true. He said that anyone buying an Apple product after June 11, and, requiring the new operating system could get it as a free upgrade when it becomes available later this summer. I think I heard him say the new operating system would be out sometime in July.

I asked him what he thought of the new Microsoft mock-up, the Surface. He suggested I look at this video:

We both agreed that one has to give Microsoft credit for the keyboard cover. If Apple can "copy" that without really "copying" Microsoft, that would be great.

The Apple store is as amazing as ever. I think there were ten employees behind the Genius Bar on the third flood; customers were waiting their turn to be helped. Meanwhile in the front section of the third floor, they had individual tables for group training and individual training. In all, I counted 22 -- twenty-two -- Apple employees on the third floor. On the second floor there were ten employees. I forgot to count those on the first floor -- I got engaged in a conversation with one of the employees, but I think there were about six employees on the first floor. That's a total of at least 38 employees. And they were all engaged with customers.

There were at least two security men which I had not seen before, one each on the second and third floor, and I assume there was one on the first floor that I simply didn't see. Again, there was no cashier per se, but unlike before where any number of employees might be walking around able to make a sale, this time there were specific locations where folks made their purchases. No cash. All credit cards. And no paper receipts unless one wants one. The receipt is e-mailed to your home address. Upon swiping my credit card, my e-mail address popped up on the screen. He confirmed with me that it was my address. I think the entire process took 30 seconds; it would have been faster had I been focused on the task at hand.

Oh, the retinal display. Simply incredible. One has to see it to believe it. It is not a gimmick. It is real.

For Investors Only -- Obama, Saudis, and Spiking Oil Prices -- Boston Apple Store iPad Update -- Absolutely Nothing To Do With The Bakken

Updates

May 5, 2013: US imports of Saudi Arabia have come down significantly.

http://205.254.135.7/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MTTIMUSSA1&f=M

March 17, 2012: So, the update on the Boston Apple store and the iPad. Taking public transportation I got to the Apple store, downtown Boston (Boylston Street) about 8:00 p.m. No line, but I had to wait a few minutes to touch the iPad; the table of eight (8) store units was surrounded by a score of folks. Yes, it was amazing. I was there for the entire hour, before they told us the store was closed (9:00 p.m.) and would open in the morrow at 8:00 a.m. It seemed to load faster, but hard to say. I honestly didn't expect "retinal resolution" to be all that great, but I was surprised. It was outstanding.

Today's Boston Globe data points:

• 8:00 a.m., launch day: 200 people in line; a small line until 5:00 a.m. when it "exploded"
• the line stretched around the corner up the next street (the Apple store sits in the middle of the block, directly across the street from the Prudential Center, food court entrance, Boylston Street)
• by 8:30 a.m., the line was gone; everyone able to get into the store (it's a three-floor store; a huge store)
• dictation app is exception; can take eight dictated sentences in one take -- transcribed in under a second, the Siri app

March 17, 2012: Don found the site for the government data referenced in the post below. It is:

http://205.254.135.7/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MTTIMUSSA1&f=M

Note, when you click on that URL, you may get a warning that the site is formatted in a strange way and could have viruses. I took the chance, clicked on it, and found it to be a US government site, an Energy Information Agency Site. Go figure.

The data is current through December, 2011, and there is minimal evidence that Saudi imports have increased. Comparing the numbers from the first six months of 2011 with the last six months of 2011, yes, Saudi imports have increased 20% but nothing to the degree suggested in the story below.

I assume Reuters in the story below has their facts straight; if so, Reuters has access to data for the months of January and February. It will be interesting to track the official US data over the next few months. If I forget to do that, someone remind me.

Original Post

I might come back to this story later, but I have to run. I want to see what is going on at the Apple store in downtown Boston before it closes this evening.

But this Reuters story is very, very interesting.

Saudi Arabia is preparing to extend this year's unexpected jump in oil sales to the United States, adding to speculation about the response of the world's top oil exporter to sanctions against Iran and a rally in prices.

The kingdom's shipments to the United States have quietly risen 25 percent to the highest level since mid-2008, according to preliminary U.S. government data, a sizeable leap that appears at least partly related to the imminent completion of a major expansion at its joint-venture Motiva refinery in Texas.

Go to the link. I thought our "dependence" on mideast oil had been dropping, but now we learn that Saudi's shipments of crude to the US have quietly risen 25 percent to the highest level since mid-2008. Hmmm....Keystone XL shut down....Saudi oil and Canadian oil competing for same end-users? And we opted for Saudi? Shut off Canada?

Remember, Saudi's oil is heavy, like....drum roll... Canada's.

Something is being choreographed, folks.

The on-again, off-again news that Obama was going to release oil from the SPR provided a nice benchmark for the administration, regardless of the accuracy/origin of the initial story. 

Go to the link. Huge amount of information for investors. Huge opportunities.

Hey, by the way, did folks notice the significant move up for EOG today, BEFORE the price of oil spiked $2.00? The price of WTI was essentially flat the entire day, until mid-afternoon. Sometime earlier, I was surprised to see EOG moving up quickly -- the price of oil was essentially flat before EOG started going up. Then, oil spiked. KOG was flat to down most of the day, but by the end of the day was up almost 3 percent, AFTER the surge in the price of oil. And KOG has a P/E of 545.  OAS started moving about 12:30 p.m. KOG moved in the last hour. EOG shot up about 12:15 p.m.

Simply idle rambling, waiting for the daily activity report. This is not an investment site. No recommendations are being made with regard to any buying or selling securities. See disclaimer at the sidebar at the right.

Finally: USAF Likes the iPad (Maybe) -- Absolutely Nothing To Do With The Bakken

Link here to LA Times.

After years of denying its members access to Apple products (except at headquarters and graphics shops) the USAF is now embracing the iPad (maybe).

The U.S. Air Force is thinking about buying some iPads — somewhere between 63 and 18,000 of them.

In a notice posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website, the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command office says it is specifically interested in purchasing the iPad 2, but will also consider other brand-name tablet devices. The tablets will be used as electronic flight bags for flight crew members and trainers — replacing the hefty bag of manuals and navigation charts currently used by pilots and navigators that can weigh as much as 40 pounds.

“The airline industry is way ahead of us on this,” Capt. Kathleen Ferrero, a spokeswoman for the command, told Bloomberg News. “Most if not all the major airlines are already switching to tablets.”

Apple products are increasingly being embraced at the federal level, both by the military and other federal agencies. As of September the U.S. Marines had more than 30 iPads in cockpits across their fleet of helicopters and fighter jets, The Times reported, and just this week the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said its employees would be getting iPhones rather than BlackBerry smartphones.

All I can say is "about time." The USAF has always prided itself in being a leader in technology, but by refusing to "go Apple," it is lagging. Privately, many USAF members already use Apple computers and tablets. 

And if they go with another tablet, ... sad. I guess the Kindle or the Nook will give Air Force officers something to read on those long flights.

Apple Computer -- Absolutely Nothing To Do With The Bakken

Updates

January 18, 2012: More Apples landing on corporate desks. I noticed the same thing in the military. Graphics shops, intel shops, and headquarters were the first to get Apples; the rest of us were stuck with WinTel.

Original Post

Link here.

According to IDC estimates, Apple shipped 2 million Macs in the U.S. during the quarter ending Dec. 31, an increase of 18 percent over the same quarter of 2010. Gartner’s number of 2.1 million was slightly higher, as was its 21 percent year-over-year gain by Apple.

All other computer makers in the top five shipped fewer machines in 2011 than they did the year before, IDC and Gartner said.

Again, to repeat: Apple shipped 20 percent more computers in 4Q11 than in 4Q10. All other computer makers shipped fewer. 

I doubt I would have posted that story, but it confirms what I see when I stop in the Starbucks coffee shop on Harvard Square, Cambridge. Yes, one sees a few non-Apple computers, but one is struck by the number of Apple computers in the coffee shop. It is truly amazing.

The most interesting thing: one can spot an Apple computer from across the room. One can identify non-Apple computers, but one cannot identify the brand. Non-Apple computers have been commoditized by WinTel. Apple remains a name-brand computer company.

Apple has become the "new" Gucci. Except "average" folks can afford Apple products and it is not considered too pretentious to use an Apple. It has become bourgeois, if that makes sense, but yet the elite use them. Jean Valjean would have carried an iPhone, if only to coordinate the flash mob at the barricades.

One buys Apple or one doesn't.

I remember articles a couple years ago that iPads would cannibalize iMac (Apple computers); in fact, I argued that first-time buyers of Apple products (via the iPads) would convert to Apple. With Apple one gets the entire community of devices: smart phones, tablets, light laptops, laptops, desktops. And TV to follow.

****************

On a completely different note, for the past week, I've been enjoying coffee at the Starbucks overlooking Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The most incredible moment: when I turnright to go up the stairs, I feel as if I am back in Yorkshire. The stairs are wooden, worn, and the passageway is dark. One small difference: in Yorkshire the stairway would be only as third as wide. And if the thoroughfare below the Starbucks was much narrower and if the cars were driving on the "wrong" side of the road, I would think I was back in Harrogate. And I wouldn't be on the computer. Smile.

***************

Diamonds and Rust, Joan Baez
Perhaps one of the most poignant love-songs ever written led me down a rabbit path to this little bit of trivia:

In 1958, her father accepted a faculty position at MIT, and moved his family to Belmont, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. At that time, it was within the center of the up-and-coming folk-music scene, and Baez began busking near home in Boston and nearby Cambridge. She also performed in clubs, and attended Boston University for about six weeks. In 1958, at the Club 47 in Cambridge, she gave her first concert. The audience consisted of her parents, her sister Mimi, and a small group of friends to a total of eight patrons. She was paid ten dollars. Baez was later asked back and began performing twice a week for $25 per show. -- Wiki

"Our" home when "in Boston," is in Belmont, a 20-minute ride on bus route 73 to Harvard Square, Cambridge. A subway stop or two on the Red Line and one is at MIT.


Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word, Joan Baez
A country-western song. I wonder if Norah Jones will cover this one?

The title, "Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word" comes from a line in the Tennessee Williams play, Camino Real (no wonder the country-western flavor) in which:

A main theme that the play deals with is coming to terms with the thought of growing older and possibly becoming irrelevant. -- Wiki

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Idle rambling; for the archives; something to share with my granddaughter, Arianna, who at age 8 loves Greek mythology.

From The War That Killed Achilles, Caroline Alexander, c. 2009, remaindered.

The Iliad covers a 2-week period in the 10-year long Greek siege of Troy. The Greek commander, Agamemnon, is the son of one of the most, if not the most, powerful king in "Greece," and is the equivalent of the 5-star general leading the seige. One of his lieutenants, Achilles, is himself a son of a Greek king, but is at best equivalent to a brigadier general (one star); based on his argumentative personality is more like a colonel.

The Iliad starts off with a quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon, bordering on, if not outright, insubordination. Achilles is upset with Agamemnon's leadership style and war strategy and has told Agamemnon he has not come to the Troad to die:

I, for my part, did not come here to fight the Trojans for their sake, since they have done nothing to me.  Never yet have they driven away my cattle or my horses, nor spoil my harvest; for indeed there is much that lies between us, the shadowy mountains and the echoing sea.

And then Caroline does this, recalls Muhammed Ali's famous refusal to fight in Vietnam:

I ain't got no quarrel with the Viet Cong ... No Viet Cong ever called me nigger ... I am not going 10,000 miles to help murder, kill, and burn other people to help simply continue the domination of white slavemasters over dark people.

Some irony that I am reading that on the weekend of celebrating Martin Luther King's birthday and life. It is also interesting to see Ali's use of "dark people." When my five-year-old granddaughter tells me the story of Martin Luther King, she always refers to "dark people," not using other terms. Interesting.

Like WWI, I have never been able to understand the Iliad. Twenty pages in to Caroline's book and I have already had an epiphany. Wow.

Apple/iPad/ATT Fan: Nothing To Do With The Bakken

I noticed that Verizon's 4G LTE network is down and out for some unknown reason.

That's not a big deal; these things come and go. What surprised me was what I learned reading some of the comments from Verizon's Thunderbolt users -- the smart phone that uses Verizon's 4G LTE.

It turns out that the battery life of the smart phone is as little as 2.5 hours of "normal" usage.

Batteries are the bane of the early 21st century. Once someone cracks the code on battery technology, an entire new world of mobility will dawn -- including electric vehicles.

Apple Corp. and Steve Jobs got a lot of grief when the original iPad was released because of what it couldn't do or didn't have: a) could not multi-task; b) did not have Flash (YouTube in many cases); c) no still camera; and, d) no video camera. There were a number of reasons for these but a common denominator for all was the strain on battery life each of these "add-on's" impossed.

I have been waiting to see the real-world results for battery life for new smart phones and new tablets competing with Apple products.

I don't know about the iPad 2 yet (Apple says it has the same battery life as the original iPad), but I know that no one, absolutely no one, complains about the battery life of the original iPad. Apple says it will last ten hours under continuous usage and 30 days on standby. It's been my experience that when traveling I can go as much as five days in between charges just using it for essential e-mail.

On another note, now that I am in Boston for awhile, I visit the Apple Store on Boylston Street when I get a chance. On the last two occasions I visited I asked about the availability of the iPad 2. It is the same answer one sees elsewhere: the folks at the Boylson Street Apple Store generally get a shipment of iPads every other day or so, maybe every day for a stretch. They never know ahead of time what they will be getting and it's always a mix of the various models. Customers arrive each day at 9:00 a.m. to find out what has arrived; folks are given numbered tickets and are served in order. The last two times I visited the Apple Store on Boylston Street, about 2:00 p.m. each time, they still had at least one Verizon 3G 64GB model available, but no ATT models.

FYI.