Dan Knight
- 2007.07.26
iPhone Revenue
Robert Boylin writes in response to The iPhone: Apple's $3 Billion Cash
Cow:
Dear Dan,
You make a mistake in taking the estimated "parts cost" of $250
as Apple's "cost to produce". Manufacturing, distribution,
packaging, support, marketing, and other costs are not included.
It's anyone's guess as to the actual cost of an iPhone to Apple;
but using a 50% "profit" is clearly in error. The one area of
profit not included would be any percentage of "subscription"
revenue rebated from AT&T.
Sincerely,
Robert Boylin
Robert,
It's impossible for us to know Apple's cost of
production, and iSuppli's figures are sometimes way out in left
field, but they're the best thing we have right now. I've worked in
retail, and I know there has to be room for AT&T to make money
(my guess of about $100) selling the iPhone. And most manufacturers
sell to dealers at a markup (Apple's average is 28% over recent
years), which would put cost to produce the iPhone below the $300
mark.
It's all speculation, but the numbers should be in
the ballpark. My guess of 300,000 iPhones sold was only off the
mark by 8%, and I'd estimate Apple's cost to produce the iPhone at
somewhere between $250 and $280.
Whatever the actual numbers, Apple is making more
from AT&T bounties than from selling the iPhone itself, which
accounts for 60% of my $3 billion estimate for profits from
first-year iPhone sales.
Dan
Reading Low End Mac on the iPhone
David Titus writes:
Dan Knight,
Just read subject piece and was surprised at your statement:
"and I discovered that the site seems to be unreadable on the
iPhone." On my iPhone it displays and reads just as well as all the
other sites that I visit, which is terrific compared to all the
other phones with claimed Web browsing capabilities. Maybe the
problem is all the ads on your site. Oh well, since you've been
using Macs since 1986, I guess you're the expert. I guess I won't
bookmark LEM on my iPhone.
PS I bought my first Mac, a Plus in 1987.
Dave T.
Dave,
Thanks for the feedback. I only played with the
iPhone for a few minutes, so I didn't have the time to visit other
sites or figure out how to zoom in as they do on the TV ad. For my
eyes, it looked like 4-5 point text. I'm sure there are ways to
improve that.
Dan
LEM Home Page Refresh
Stephen Plunkett writes:
Hi Dan,
I have been enjoying LEM for years. Of all the Mac news sites on
the Web, my daily stop for what's new in the world of Apple is Low
End Mac. So I am loath to register a complaint. Perhaps just an
observation that you might want to consider.
I like to leave LEM's home page open in one tab in Safari and
use it as a launch pad of sorts as I make my way through the links.
I scroll down the page and leave it parked where I want it
. . . and then it refreshes itself, and when I return, I
have to find my place again. Often, the page refreshes while I'm
reading it. The frequency of this is actually a little
annoying.
Is there any way I can limit this behavior in Safari? Is there
any chance you might want to offer a static version of your home
page? I know nothing about Web development, so I ask these
questions knowing that the answers may be no and no. But I thought
I should share this, just in case it's something that never crossed
your mind. Again, thanks for what I think is the best Macintosh
one-stop out there!
Stephen Plunkett
Stephen,
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I had
the refresh set at 150 seconds (2.5 minutes) because we often have
several updates during the day, but our own content and links
around the Web. I never considered that this might have a negative
impact on readers using Safari. (Camino, my favorite browser,
doesn't seem to suffer from the "rewrite and go to the top of the
page" bug in Safari.)
I'm resetting that to 900 seconds (15 minutes),
which I hope will be a good compromise between getting the freshest
links and the annoyance of a page refresh. (We don't use refresh on
our other pages, just the home page.)
Dan
Using a Flat Panel Monitor with a G3 iMac
After reading External Video
Options for a G3 iMac, JJ Wayne says:
Hello, Dan,
I read Low End Mac every day (I come to it thru MacSurfer), and
I love your site. Thank you for it.
Having just read Kris's piece re external monitors, I came away
knowing he'd successfully used a 17" CRT monitor at 1024 x 768
resolution.
My question is: Are there flat-panel monitors I can use
externally? 17 inch, preferably. What specs should I look for? The
fact that only mirroring is possible is not a concern - I just want
more 'real estate'.
In relation: Would I be able to calibrate that external with my
Gretag EyeOne program?
Thanks in advance,
JJ Wayne
JJ,
Thanks for being a regular. :-) I've been
producing Low End Mac for over a decade and have to be the luckiest
guy in the world, as I make a living doing something I love.
It should be possible to use an LCD monitor with a
G3 iMac. Since G3 iMacs don't have digital video output, the
monitor will have to work with analog VGA input. For best results,
the display should have a 1024 x 768 native resolution.
I don't see any reason your Gretag EyeOne wouldn't
work in this situation. Just ignore the internal display. All the
color correction/calibration settings are in software, so it should
oughta work.
Dan
How to Transfer Files from Old SCSI Drives
Daniel Strickland writes:
Dear Dan,
Great site!
I've got a question and I'm hoping you can help. We have several
old SCSI hard drives here in the office that we pulled from our old
Power Macs before we donated them. All appear to be the SCSI drives
that came with our 7200s, eg
- Quantum Fireball 3.5 Series
- 1.2GB 1280S FS12S023
- 1.2GB 1280S TM12S023
I did some research and found that NewerTechnology sells a USB
2.0 Universal Drive Adapter for ATA, IDE, SATA or ATAPI drives. Do
you know of any adapter that would work for our SCSI drives? Or
some other way to transfer the files from them?
Thanks,
Dan
Dan,
Back when FireWire first came to the Mac, there
were several enclosures available that held a SCSI hard drive and
gave you FireWire connectivity. With the introduction of the iMac,
similar enclosures became available for USB.
Using Google, the only SCSI-to-USB adapters I'm
finding are for external SCSI drives, not for raw drives. If you
have an external SCSI enclosure you can put these drives in, look
into
listings on eBay, where SCSI-to-USB adapters start with a Buy
It Now price of $9.99 plus shipping.
Dan
Sources for Used Mac Games
Ruffin Bailey writes:
Mac-o-rama.com used to be the place, IMO, for used Mac
games at a pretty good price. Now, their site isn't half of what it
once was and Mac games continue to be horribly expensive on
eBay.
Is there a good clearinghouse somewhere for used Mac games?
Ruffin Bailey
Ruffin,
I'd suggest you check out the LEM Swap List and
the Vintage Macs List.
Dan
Dan Knight has been publishing Low
End Mac since April 1997. Mailbag columns come from email responses to his Mac Musings, Mac Daniel, Online Tech Journal, and other columns on the site.
