Good for them! Their laser-focused branding strategy coupled with tight execution continues to pay off handsomely. It’s truly amazing to realize how few products are actually IN an Apple Store and think about the prices & volumes behind those revenues.

Interestingly, if you look at NRF’s 2011 Top-100 Retailers, there’s only ONE retailer (Costco) who reported higher sales per store than Apple. So, from a retail efficiency stand-point, Apple is #2 in the US according to NRF’s data and my quick-n-dirty calculator work. ;-)

infoneer-pulse:

“Apple’s retail stores, coupled with its iTunes media service, saw its position rise 30 spots – moving from No. 52 to No. 21 – with U.S sales increasing by 32.3% to reach $18 billion.”

— Apple Is Now The 21st Biggest US Retailer - TNW Apple (via thenextweb)

It will be interesting to see what Direct Brands / Najafi Co. does with Borders. They were getting creamed by Amazon and Barnes & Noble for physical media sales, let alone ebooks, etc. When you add in retailers like Walmart & Costco, it’s a brutal market for Borders. They need to dig-deep, refocus their brand, and find their right-to-win.

Book Sales Stats for Amazon, B&N, and Borders

Remember the online book price war in 2009?

infoneer-pulse:

Borders Group announced last night that it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Direct Brands, a portfolio company of Najafi Companies.

Under the terms of the agreement, Direct Brands would purchase substantially all of Borders’ assets for $215.1 million, as well as assume $220 million of liabilities, subject to the auction and Bankruptcy Court approval.

» via GalleyCat

Did ya miss me?

Sorry for the long absence tumblr. I used this site for awhile and then fell out of the habit when the next new shiny fell in my lap.

Well, I’m back and using tumblr again for those articles I want to comment on in more detail than twitter or more public than my Facebook / LinkedIn networks.

1. Most new mobile sales in US are now smartphones (55%).
2. Android is still the most popular OS with 38% of surveyed consumers reporting they owned an Android device.
3. Android’s share of new smartphone buyers is flat while Apple’s iOS / iPhone is still growing.

This is great news. Yes, HTML5 is years away from a fully developed standard. Yes, Flash still has a place on the Web. And yes, HTML5 is probably over-hyped. Despite all of that, moving away from Flash over-dependence is LONG OVERDUE!

Say it ain’t so Yelp! The quickest way to kill Yelp is to destroy people’s trust in the reviews. If some sales people thought they were Sopranos, I hope they were isolated incidents and quickly resolved by Yelp. On the other hand, if the practice was encouraged or sanctioned instead, Yelp has only itself to blame for the impending crash-n-burn.

Note: This is directly from my buzz about this article: The new Courier’s are really interesting. I’m a big fan of mobility, but usability is even more important. The features look interesting—possibly even compelling—especially since I’m in the market for a new messenger. I’m slightly concerned about easy of use, but I need to see a review or check one out in person. I’m also disappointed by the lack of “green” or sustainable design. The materials don’t appear to be easily recyclable or reusable.

Morgan (@morganb) tweeted earlier asking for “entrepreneurship, marketing, business, and tech” podcast recommendations. Here’s an alphabetical list of the profession-related podcasts I follow:

1. The Accidental Creative
2. App Advice Daily
3. BrainStuff
4. Buddhist Geeks
5. Buzz Out Loud (BOL)
6. Circuits with David Pogue (Video)
7. The Digital Marketer
8. The Economist
9. Freakonomics Radio
10. Get-It-Done Guy
11. Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips
12. Harvard Business IdeaCast
13. Internet Business Mastery
14. Knowledge@Wharton Interviews
15. Managing the Gray
16. Modern Manners Guy Quick and Dirty Tips
17. NPR Intelligence Squared
18. NPR Planet Money
19. NPR Science Friday
20. The Project Management Podcast
21. A Quiet Mind
22. Sales Guy Quick and Dirty Tips
23. Six Pixels of Separation
24. Stuff You Should Know
25. TechStuff
26. TEDTalks (video)
27. this WEEK in TECH (TWiT)
28. Urban Dharma
29. Wall Street Journal This Morning
30. Zencast

And yes, you read correctly. These are only podcasts related to professional-development. If you ever see me walking around town, you now know why I almost always have FMJ’s in my ears. :)

Very interesting.

infoneer-pulse:

Next Front in Chip Wars Pits ARM and Rivals Against Intel

The semiconductor industry has long been a game for titans.

The going rate for a state-of-the-art chip factory is about $3 billion. The plants typically take years to build. And the microscopic size of chip circuitry requires engineering that practically defies the laws of physics.

Over the decades, legions of companies have found themselves reeling, even wiped out financially, from trying to produce some of the most complex objects made by humans for the lowest possible price.

Now, the chip wars are about to become even more bloody. In this next phase, the manufacturers will be fighting to supply the silicon for one of the fastest-growing segments of computing: smartphones, tiny laptops and tablet-style devices.

» via The New York Times

Solid marketing ideas.