A New Year, a New Set of Numbers

On January 18th, Apple will release financial reports for the three-month period ended on or around Christmas Day. It’s expected that Apple will announce quarterly revenue exceeding $25 billion for the first time in the company’s history. In the fiscal quarter that ended last September, Apple surpassed Microsoft in revenue, and the maker of Macs, iPhones, and iPads is well on it way to over $100 billion in revenue in the fiscal year ending next September. For readers who have been with ATPM since its beginnings, it’s been a long and scenic ride from the bottom to the top.

Newfound Nemeses

Throughout Apple’s history, nemeses have come and gone, gone and come, and have gone again. For those who remember Apple’s earliest days, IBM was the company’s original arch rival. Through a strange twist of fate, IBM became Apple’s chip maker for Mac prior the Intel transition. In calendar year 2011, Apple may rival even Big Blue in revenue.

The ascent of the Macintosh changed the world of personal computing. Microsoft, one of Apple’s biggest developers, became the company’s chief rival in the development of operating systems. Mimicking much of the Mac’s “look and feel,” Microsoft created an operating system and software empire that nearly put Apple out of business. Today, Microsoft has its own new nemesis named Google that is battling with Microsoft on almost every product front. This calendar year, while Apple rivals IBM in revenue, the company will surpass the Windows maker in profits.

In the 1990s, the mass adoption of the Windows operating system for PCs spawned a number of hardware rivals for Apple. Once the world’s leading maker of PCs, Dell has fallen quickly from the precipice of global success. Through acquisition, Dell has moved aggressively into enterprises services, while Apple increases the Mac’s share of the most lucrative segments of the PC market. In 2011, Apple will regain even more the market share it left behind 16 years ago during what can only be described as Apple’s tumultuous times.

While Google squares off with Microsoft and the search giant releases a PC operating system of its own, the Android vs. iPhone contest provides for an interesting sideshow of its own. Apple doesn’t really lose if Google’s Android OS wins new fans. The two companies take different approaches to the smartphone market, and each is pursuing success in its own way. The more things change, the more things that will change. Competition and rivalries, old and new again, will continue to change the digital lifestyle products we choose and use each day.

There’s a Mac App for That

On January 6th, Apple will unveil the new Mac App Store. The iTunes App Store for iOS-based devices offers hundreds of thousands of apps for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The convenience of online purchases of thousands of apps for the Mac is now only a few days away. The Mac App Store will provide Mac owners with instant access to software tools and resources that will enhance and extend the user experience.

While the iPhone and the iPad garner much attention, the resurgence in Mac sales is often overlooked. In Apple’s most recent fiscal year ended in September, Macintosh unit sales increased 30%. In 2011, there’s plenty more in store for Apple’s line of personal computers.

ATPM Wants You!

The editorial staff of ATPM is comprised of talented writers who started their relationship with our publication as readers of our monthly issues. When we say that we “celebrate the personal computing experience,” we mean it. If you’ve ever had the urge to share your personal computing experiences with a large and influential readership, please contact us at editor@atpm.com.

Please join us each month of the new year for our unique blend of views, news, and product reviews.

Our January issue includes:

Bloggable

A monthly summary of Wes Meltzer’s blogosphere news, originating from his Pinboard feed.

MacMuser: A Tale of Two XPs

Mark Tennent laments how LogMeIn causes him to “go to work” without going to work, then makes an argument for an Apple netbook.

How To: Making the Most of What’s Already on Your Mac

Before buying new software for your Mac, why not first check out the marvelous things that are already there? In the first part of a series aimed mainly at new Mac users, let’s take a look at some of the useful things you can do with just the software that’s already on your Mac.

Desktop Pictures: Flowers of Life

Reader Jay Feuillet shares this month’s desktop pictures featuring flowers at a park in South Florida.

Out at Five

Matt Johnson’s new series, Out at Five, looks at the workplace and its boundaries from all angles, revolving around many of the same characters from his former series, Cortland.

Review: Posterino 2.0.4

Posterino 2 brings along a few more templates and features; should you upgrade?

Review: Simplenote and Notational Velocity 2.0b3

Wes Meltzer has found a combo of Macintosh, iPhone, and Web applications that caters to his obsessive note-taking tendencies.

Copyright © 2011 Robert Paul Leitao. Robert Paul Leitao is a contributing editor at ATPM and is author of the Posts At Eventide and The iPad Chronicles blogs.