In the same period, Microsoft generated USD20.9 billion.

That means, the iPhone is bigger than the whole of Microsoft – Xbox, Windows and Office all together.

Microsoft’s figures are a company record, yet it’s still beaten by Apple.

Apple now has USD100 billion in cash, enough to buy Facebook, if it wanted to.

In May 2010, Apple’s market capitalisation became bigger than Microsoft, the first time it did so in 20 years.

When it comes to market cap, in the third quarter of 2011 Apple even managed to become the world’s number one company, bigger than even O&G giant Exxon!

Truly remarkable, considering that the iPhone didn’t even exist 5 years ago.

But perhaps the most amazing thing is that it’s now even bigger than “a company that, 15 years ago, was dragged into court and threatened with forcible break-up because it had amassed an unassailable and unthinkable profitable monopoly.”

Reportedly, there’s an increasing demand for their services – I’d take that to mean there are more incidences of the cheating spouse in Malaysia nowadays.

People are willing to cough up to RM1,500 per day for “proof of unfaithfulness”, which will be used to start divorce proceedings. Perhaps a photo of 2 couples kissing, deftly captured with a flick of camera switches is enough for that.

A spokesperson for a top local detective agency, Kay Spy Solutions was quoted to have said that they get 100 enquiries every month for such services, mostly from the women.

This state of affairs seem to corroborate what the Durex Sexual Well-Being Global Survey 2011 reported, which was that Malaysians are ranked third among 36 countries when it comes to being involved in extra-marital dalliances: a third of Malaysian men and perhaps surprisingly, close to 40% of Malaysian women admitted to being unfaithful.

Now that the popular social network site is nearing its IPO, Choe is set to become a multi-millionaire. To be exact, his share is thought to be worth around USD200 million (RM600 million).

In his blog, Choe described himself as the “highest paid decorator alive”.

Choe, who started on his art in his teens, is already well known:
- his work is displayed in galleries all over the world, and he’s still being engaged by Facebook to paint its offices – currently decorating the new offices in Menlo Park, California.
- he is the creator of the cover art for Jay-Z and Linkin Park’s multi-platinum 2004 album Collision Course.
- his 2008 portrait of then-Senator Obama is now on display in the White House:

The salary cuts will reportedly be backdated to 21 May 2011.

But so well paid is Lee that even if his salary is cut by a third, he is still the world’s highest paid leader by a mile.

Lee currently earns SGD3 million a year – that’s around RM7.2 million a year or RM600,000 a month.

That will be reduced to SGD2.2 million – that’s around RM5.3 million a year or RM440,000 a month.

That is still about 4 times bigger than the world’s second best paid leader, the Hong Kong Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, who is paid USD550,000 a year (RM1.65 million a year or RM137,000 a month).

In comparison, the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is paid about USD500,000 a year while the world’s most powerful man, U.S. President Barack Obama is paid around USD400,000 a year (RM1.2 million a year or RM100,000 a month).

Even more amazingly, even mere ministers in Singapore earns double that of the US president. Their starting salaries, even after the mentioned cut, is SGD1.1 million a year (RM2.66 million a year or RM221,000 a month), meaning they can afford to buy gold even more than the so-called Defender of the Free World.

As usual, these people come in as tourists.

She was nabbed at a service apartment block in Bukit Dumbar on 3rd January 2012.

I can see the comments coming in thick and fast: she must be exceptionally attractive, no?

It’s the 4th largest corporate quarterly earnings of all time, and the only non oil and gas related corporation in the all-time top 19 list. The record holder is Gazprom, the Russian O&G giant which posted a net profit of USD16.24 billion in the 3rd quarter of 2011.

Apple’s feat is the equivalent to about USD1 billion PER WEEK.

The total is equivalent to about RM39 billion – 118% higher than during the same period the previous year.

During this period, Apple sold a staggering 37 million iPhones, double the number they sold exactly a year before.

Even iPads and Macs sold more than previously.

And with the iPad 3 slated for release in March 2012, the future looks bright for the company.

I guess Apple employees will get huge bonuses – now they can treat themselves to the finer things in life, like one of those metal address plaques for the house.

The only downside is the iPod which slumped 21%.

[photo credit: The Age (Aust)]

Today he’s famous in Australia: he’s listed by The Age Melbourne Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in 2012.

In 2007, he founded OzHut, an online retail business.

In a mere 4 years, its revenue jumped to RM8.4 million.

More specifically, she said she has:

- 35 stores
- 17 product lines
- racing team
- 14 fragrances
- latest project: the Paris Hilton Beach Club chain, the first of which is opening soon in the Philippines, touting nightclubs, restaurants, bars & gyms.

So who said Paris is a dumb blonde again?

Never mind that she has storage cabinets of cosmetics…

In terms of price by weight, it also set the new record: USD2,717 per kg (that’s more than RM8,000 per kg!).

This particular type of tuna makes the best sushi.

It was sold at the famous first auction of the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, to Kiyoshi Kimura, proprietor of a sushi eatery chain.

It was caught off Oma, Aomori prefecture, north of the tsunami-struck coast.

Outline of the steps:

Step 1: produce a brilliant idea, which can take many attempts. An example is the now-iconic Angry Birds game which was Rovio’s 52nd game

Step 2: write the app, which can take a few hours to a few months. Developing Android apps is free of charge, while the developer license for Apple apps is not.

Step 3: submit app, which can take 1-2 weeks. You have to comply with the requirements. For example, for Apple apps, you have to specify on what devices the app will run and the lowest firmware it’ll accept. As for Android apps, it’s not so strict, as long as the apps don’t abuse devices it’ll run on.

Step 4: marketing, which entails things like promotions, Twitter/Facebook campaigns etc. It can be free, and it can be expensive.

Step 5: hopefully the money will then start rolling in. There are several models to choose from, example:
- offer a free version (lite), and offer option to upgrade to a full version for payment
- offer option to skip levels in exchange for payment
- advertising in-game, which can be lucrative; eg, Facebook apps.

So finally you can celebrate with cigars.

Step 6: refine app, including updates. A simple update can take a very short time, but a total overhaul can take several months.

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