April 2012
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Month April 2012

Entries 5 Total

Sponsor: World War Hack

Apr 19, ’12 1:13 PM

Inspired by true events and told in a graphic novel format, World War Hack is a  U.S. Government sponsored hacking competition where top hackers unknowingly help solve a pressing national security crisis. Little does the government know that eighteen-year-old Wyatt Dyer, is both the cause and solution to their crisis.

As a special for the readers of Asymco, you can preview the first full chapter online for free. Pre-order before May 6 and you’ll also receive free shipping.

Having been to one of these Hack events, I can see how this might just work…

Comments (1)

5by5 | The Critical Path #34: Climax and Anti-climax

Apr 18, ’12 11:17 PM

Horace and Dan talk about Asymconf 1.0 focusing on the risks taken and rewards obtained. We cover the concept, technical implementation, dynamics and where the show will go from here. Horace describes the fascinating “lost tapes” of Steve Jobs and Nokia’s latest anticlimactic results.

via 5by5 | The Critical Path #34: Climax and Anti-climax.

Show notes:

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Apple Stores have seventeen times better performance than the average retailer

Apr 18, ’12 11:52 AM

Thanks to RetailSails we have some data on retailers in the US which can be used to calibrate the performance of Apple retail. RetailSails compiled a table of the top 20 chains by sales per square foot (annual basis). The total sample was 160 American retailers (excluding restaurants) that publicly report results.

Sales per unit area is a standard and usually the primary measurement of store success. Here are some benchmark figures:

  • Annual store sales in the range of $300 per square foot is considered respectable in the US.
  • The US national average for regional malls is $341.
  • The average for specialty apparel retailers is $400 per square foot.
  • The average for jewelers is in the range of $600 per square foot.
  • The median for the best 20 US retailers is $787/sq. ft.

The data for the top 20 is shown in the following chart:

The data shows Apple leading by a significant margin. It’s more than twice as efficient as the second place Tiffany and Co. It’s also more than seven times the median of the top 20 and seventeen times better than the average mall retail space.

Note also that this data includes only physical retail and excludes e-commerce, catalog or services revenues. It should only be used to compare physical retail performance.

 

The achievement is also remarkable when measuring growth in overall sales.

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Asymconf 1.0

Apr 16, ’12 11:48 AM

The first Asymconf was conducted on Friday, April 13th, 2012 in Amsterdam. Here are some statistics from the show:

  1. 155 registered participants and over 1000 participation hours
  2. Over 500 tweets generated during the day (#asymconf)
  3. Eight hours of conference executed on schedule
  4. Three iPads used to facilitate: one as a whiteboard, one as a slide presenter and one as an interactive motion chart.
  5. Seven video cameras used to capture over 1 terabyte of video data.
  6. Four cases conducted with majority of time spent on audience participation

Overall, feedback has been very positive. We will now edit the video to make it available for download. We will also analyze all aspects of the event to understand how it can be improved and post our findings.

We plan to hold Asymconf 2.0 in approximately six months somewhere on the West Coast of the US. We are already scouting for locations.

If you have photos or additional comments regarding the event that you’d like to share, please post them below.

My thanks to those who made Asymconf possible:

 

Comments (32)

How Samsung beat Nokia

Apr 12, ’12 3:07 PM

Nokia currently estimates that Devices & Services net sales in the first quarter 2012 were EUR 4.2 billion, comprised of Mobile Phones net sales of EUR 2.3 billion (71 million units), Smart Devices net sales of EUR 1.7 billion (12 million units),

via Nokia lowers Devices & Services first quarter 2012 outlook and provides second quarter 2012 outlook » Nokia – Press.

We don’t have the total number of Samsung shipments, however estimates exist. They range between 41 and 44 million smartphones and 44 and 47 million feature phones. The low end of that range would imply Samsung shipped 85 million phones.

Nokia’s press release indicates that it shipped 83 million.

This would be the first quarter that Samsung beat Nokia in total phone shipments. It had already overtaken Nokia in sales volume and profitability last year but this is the most cited metric of market performance: being the biggest in volume. Here is the tale of the shipments:

How did this happen?

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