I’m not a financial guy nor is this blog intended to give financial information about companies.

But Apple is not normal in any meaning of the word and just moments ago announced numbers that are impossible to believe.

This comes right from Barron’s:

Apple (AAPL) shares this afternoon have been halted ahead of its fiscal Q1 report.

Analysts are modeling $39.14 billion in revenue and $10.16 per share in profit. Apple’s own forecast, offered back on October 18th, had called for $37 billion in revenue and $9.30 per share.

Update: Apple reported revenue in the three months ended in December rose to $46.3 billion, yielding EPS of $13.87 per share.

The company sold 37 million iPhones in the quarter, 15.4 million iPads, 5.2 million Mac computers, and 15.4 million iPods, it said. The Mac and iPod numbers seem to be in line with Street expectations, but those iPhone and iPad numbers are way, way above even the most bullish expectations.

CEO Tim Cook remarked, “We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs. Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.”

For the current quarter, Apple side-stepped its tradition of “conservative” forecasts, projecting revenue of $32.5 billion, and EPS of $8.50 a share, above the Street consensus is $32.07 billion and $8.01 per share.

37 Million iPhones. That is 12.333 million a month; 3 million a week; 440,000 a day; 18,000 per hour; 300 per minute.

15.4 Million iPads. About half the above numbers.

Yes, the world is officially Apple-ized and as you know, so am I and so is tng worldwide. We are not alone.

It’s a good day to be Tim Cook.

Happy Tuesday!

The trilogy is almost complete: Essie to L’Oreal; OPI to Coty and rumor has it, CND to Conair. Perhaps we will see Shellac colored hair dryers in 2012. The cottage nail industry sure grew up and the big boys swept up 30 years of hard work with the stroke of a pen.

Big announcement coming Monday. What is it anyways with big announcements, previews and so forth? Movie trailers really made it popular to give sneak peaks before the big announcement.

I am officially “Apple-fied.” I now own the iPod, iPhone and iPad. After using the iPad for the first time, it’s no wonder that Apple is king of technology.

What’s worse: Driving behind a slow driver who doesn’t care about the speed limit or the driver that speeds up so you can’t get into the next lane?

I was in Beverly Hills for business. The official SUV is the Land Rover, the official sedan is the Mercedes, and the official attitude of everyone is Excuse me!

This is the big weekend featuring Fringe and the Tiffany awards at Andiamo’s in Warren. What’s better than a good filet with Zip Sauce?

Speaking of Andiamo’s, Joe Vicari got smart and bought the Joe Muer’s name and recipe list. Now open in the Ren Cen, I can’t wait to try their northern bean salad and tartar sauce in paper cups that made them famous.

Chipolte can’t make enough burritos, now the founder is bringing noodle shops to America as the next big thing. Who says you can’t have your beans and noodles?

The fastest growing snack food: Pork rinds. Sales are up more than 20% and the two big suppliers can’t make them fast enough. How are they made you might ask? From pig skin which is fetching upwards of $.75 a pound. YIKES!

The Tigers are in the play-offs that start tonight. The Lions are 3-0 looking to go 4-0 for the first time since 1980. MSU is looking to beat OSU for the first time at their stadium since 1998. Sports are hot, now if we can get employment hot too.

What’s more popular on TV? Infomercials, HSN or QVC? With the economy in the tank and consumer spending flat, how is it these mediums are doing so well?

I needed a pair of running shoes. I went to Dunham’s (very large super store) and they had two employees for the entire store. I ran out as fast as I could. I then went to Running Fit, specialty chain of stores. They had just as many employees as Dunham’s, all with customers. But they didn’t have my size and weren’t too interested in getting my size from another store. I ran out as fast as I could. I then logged into Amazon.com. They not only had my size in stock, but offered free shipping and no sales tax. To survive today you need superlative customer service or none (i.e. Costco). The middle is now online.

With Christmas around the corner, what will be the two hottest gifts? Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Fire. Both items are sold direct without retailers. Scream if you are Best Buy.

I think chocolate will be bigger than ever and companies like Godiva will have record sales. Have you tried the new Coconut chocolate M&M’s?

Happy Friday!

 

Steve Jobs is not a genius. Steve Jobs is not brilliant. In fact, Steve Jobs most likely is not human. In fact, we can put Steve Jobs and James Cameron together and create an entire new country or better yet, planet, that only God knows what could become of that. Or perhaps another question is, "Is Steve Jobs God?"

On sale late March for a mere $499, Jobs has once again shocked the world with yet another magical device that millions and billions of people won’t be able to live without.

The iPad does so many things that were previously unthinkable that one should ask what the iPad won’t do. The days of turning on a cell phone and making a call are like putting a piece of paper in a fax machine and pressing a button to send.

The iPad can literally destroy the PC industry overnight. It sucks to be Michael Dell today. At only 1/2" thick and weighing in at less than 24 ounces, can you imagine anyone taking a laptop on a plane to watch a movie? Can you imagine anyone not tooling around with one because it’s just too cool?

Not only can you choose from 140,000 app’s, there are a dozen new ones that allow you to create photo albums, documents and other stuff like a pro.

I can go on and on but there are better places to read about iPad’s features than here. The thing is, Jobs has created a phenomenon unlike any other in our lifetime.

Sure, IBM introduced the PC in 1982; the first fax in 1989; the first cell phone in 1995; the first MP3 music player 1999; but nothing like this.

If Avatar can do $2 Billion in two months, what will the iPad do in its first year? Too bad Jobs couldn’t get the device to Cameron in time for production of Avatar. Then truly the God’s would have spoken.

Happy Thursday!