Apple’s top 10 U.S. markets

Posted by Philip Elmer-DeWitt
April 16, 2010 2:24 PM

Guess which metropolitan areas are the biggest users of Apple products?

In a report issued Friday, Experian Simmons surveyed 206 so-called DMAs (designated market areas, or what we used to call “cities”) and identified those that have the highest concentration of Apple (AAPL) users.

The idea was to anticipate in what parts of the continental U.S. consumers were most likely to line up for the new iPad based on their known propensity to own or use iPods, iPhones or Macs.

The result is the color coded map shown above and the list of the top 10 markets pasted below (the numbers and the commentary is Experian Simmons’). To see full list, click here.

1. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA: With Silicon Valley and Apple headquarters located squarely within the market’s boundaries, it’s no surprise that the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose DMA ranks number one in the nation for owning or using one of the core Apple products. Residents here are 49% more likely than the average American to own or use an iPod, iPhone or Mac computer.

2. Boston, MA: Almost one-in-three adults in the Boston DMA (31.3%) own or use an iPod, iPhone or Mac computer making area residents 45% more likely than average to be Mac maniacs. And with 11 Apple stores located within the Boston DMA, residents never have to go far for their Apple fix.

3. San Diego, CA: San Diego-area residents are 42% more likely than the average American to be toting around an iPod, chatting on an iPhone or computing on a Mac. In fact, 31.8% of the San Diego DMA’s 2.2 million adults are admitted Mac users.

4. New York, NY: Anyone can tell you that iPhones are about as common in New York City as taxis, which supports the fact that there are roughly 4.9 million Mac-users in the New York DMA. Of the almost 16 million adults in the area, 30.4% use either an iPod, iPhone or Mac computer.

5. Washington, D.C.: Residents of our nation’s capitol can agree on at least one thing: their love for Apple. D.C.-area residents are 39% more likely than average to be found listening to an iPod, chatting on an iPhone or tapping away on a Mac computer.

6. Chicago, IL: The Chicago-area’s eight Apple stores should keep plenty busy serving the DMA’s 2.1 million adults who currently use one of the three core Apple products. An estimated 29.4% of adults in the Chicago DMA use iPods, iPhones or Mac computers, making them 36% more likely than average Americans to be Apple consumers.

7. Denver, CO: An estimated 863,000 adults of the Denver DMA’s 3 million adult residents (29.1%) are Apple users, making Mile High City and surrounding area residents 35% more likely than average to use Apple’s iPods, iPhones and computers.

8. Monterey-Salinas, CA: This upscale, coastal DMA located immediately south of the San Francisco DMA is home to barely a half million adults and only one (busy) Apple store. An estimated 151,000 adults in the area (28.1%) own or use iPods, iPhones and/or Mac computers. In fact, Monterey-Salinas residents rank 30% above average for being Apple users.

9. Santa Barbara-Santa Marina-San Luis Obispo, CA: Aside from breathtaking views and sun-drenched beaches, the Santa Barbara DMA is home to 141,000 Apple users, 27.9% of area adults. Residents can take their pick of two Apple stores—one in Santa Barbara and another in San Luis Obispo—to fill all their Apple needs.

10. Las Vegas, NV: Sin City-area residents are also 29% more likely than average to be users of Apple products. Approximately 408,000 of the DMA’s 1.5 million adults (27.9%) use either an iPod, iPhone or Mac, or all three.

Experian Simmons is the consumer research branch of Dublin-based Experian, a credit information agency.

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]

Tags: Apple, Experian Simmons, iPad, iPhone, iPod, jamadots, jamadots.com, Mac

Local Community Videos Now Playing on myjamadots.com

Are you planning to be out of town on business for the evening and unable to attend your child’s game? Do you wish that you had brought your camcorder or Flip to record the big game so the grandparents could watch it another time? Maybe you want to watch your kid make the game-winning play (just one more time). Now jamadots.com internet customers are able to enjoy a special perk available exclusively to jamadots internet customers by accessing Local Videos from their home or business jamadots internet connected computer.

As your local, community-focused communications provider with over 100 years of commitment to the area and the U.P., the staff at myjamadots.com is pleased to announce that we are now your home for local school sports and activities and also for community event videos. In the future we may add even more broad-based, community interest videos; but for now, we wish to take a “crawl before we run” approach, so to speak. For the time-being, we will primarily be recording and streaming HTC service area activities. However, in the near future and as resources permit, we will begin providing video programming of local events and activities from additional jamadots.com service territories.

This local on-line service enhancement is just one of the many ways we are able to demonstrate our commitment to the communities we both service and also call home, the schools and organizations within those communities we serve, and most importantly to customers like you that support jamadots.com as their internet service provider of choice.

Jamadots.com internet customers may access the videos by clicking on the above ‘local videos’ box. If you wish to become a jamadots.com internet customer and begin watching these HD-quality, full-length games and videos, we encourage you to contact your local jamadots.com customer service center. Our local staff is ready to expedite your high-speed internet installation and welcome you to the jamadots.com internet family with a priority appointment.

On-demand Conference Calling Added – Excellent quality. Fantastic value.

On-demand Conferencing allows you to be available to your clients, both near and far, on your schedule or on a moments notice. Now you can stop worrying about long airline check-in lines, delayed flights and travel, leaner budgets and reduced office personnel that cause your office to be unstaffed in your absence. On-demand Conferencing is the perfect voice and web conferencing solution that allows you to place greater emphasis on satisfying client needs and less time figuring out how to further reduce your expenses.

On-demand Conferencing provides your business with a low-cost, efficient, complete solution capable of hosting up to 500 attendees with no reservations required and no time limits imposed. Simply dial the number of your virtual conference and enter your identification code. It’s that simple to access your personal, easy-to-use voice conference and web interface dashboard that is sure to enhance your business productivity.

Once you’ve entered your virtual conference room, easy-to-follow audio prompts and a suite of user friendly features let you take complete control of your conference. Use the Moderator Web Interface for even greater functionality and control of features including:

Conference Recording

Record your conversations for future review and transcriptions. Simply initiate audio recording through your phone or moderator web interface. At the end of the conference call your recording will be available in .wav audio format for download through the moderator web interface. Audio file may be easily archived or available to distribute to others via email.

Muting

Mute participants as the conversation or topic requires. You can also enable individual participants to mute themselves to minimize line static or background noise.

Dial-In or Dial-Out

Participants can easily dial in to the scheduled meeting. On-demand Conferencing also allows you to add participants to the call by dialing out during the conference.

Lock and Roll Call Conference Attendees

For enhanced security, and to prevent interruptions, you may take a participant roll call and even lock your virtual conference room once all participants are present.

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Your Junk, Their Treasure: 11 Garage Sale Tips

From “Junk Beautiful: Outdoor Edition,” by Sue Whitney with Kimberly Melamed.

Need to clean out your house and make yourself some money? Have a garage sale! The summer season is the perfect time to get rid of your junk, and help someone else find themselves a treasure. Sue Whitney, author of “Junk Beautiful: Outdoor Edition,” shares tips for having a successful garage sale.

See the signs
Signage is of utmost importance. You can count on a lot of garage sale competition this summer so be creative, spend some extra time, and a little extra cash making sure your signs will stand out in the crowd!

If it’s open, they will come
Early bird shoppers will arrive well before the opening bell. You can take this one to the bank! Some people discourage early shopping, but I welcome it. These bright-eyed and bushy-tailed shoppers tend to be serious buyers like shop owners and antique/flea market vendors. An open and closed sign is a good way to let everyone know when you will be ready for the fun to begin. Block the entrance of your driveway with a closed sign indicating time of opening and when you are ready, take the rope down, flip the sign to open, and stake it in the grass.

Be bright
Get noticed from the street. Bright, vibrant colors will draw attention to your sale from those who pass by. Covering your market tables with colorful, oilcloth and tarps is a great way to add a little punch to your sale.

Get organized
If you are having a multi-family sale(which I highly recommend) you will need to keep track of sales per family. Make a fun garage sale notebook to record all transactions.

Color coding
Each family should be assigned a different color for tagging their items. This will simplify the check-out process and keep the line moving along quickly.

Get creative
Have a little fun and get creative with your price tags. I like to use hang tags whenever possible. Let’s face it, removing gummy stickers is just plain annoying! Vintage snapshots, game cards, old coin wrappers, and paper measuring strips are just a few playful ideas.

Dust it off
Vintage items can bring more money. Package them nicely and supply a description of the item. This photo shows a vintage kitchen item.

Let them see
If your sale item is in a box open it up so people can easily see the contents. This box was missing a bar of soap so I threw a scrubbie in for good measure!

Be honest
If something is broken, tell the shopper and then provide ideas for alternate uses. The inside of this crock pot can still be used in the oven and the outer shell can be used as a fruit bowl on your kitchen island or even as a beautiful floral centerpiece on the dining room table.

Make it easy for moms
All mothers of small children will love this one. Divide that bucket of teeny-tiny toys, put them into small, clear grab bags, and tie them up with a ribbon. Attach them to a sandwich board and kiss them good-bye!

Ahhhh! Refreshments
Offer up some lemonade or ice water to parched and weary moms and kids.

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Moon in Google Earth

5 Airlines That Offer Easy, Cheap Seat Upgrades

Dress nice, ask nicely, be patient. When it comes to first class upgrades, these are some of the old favorites that you’ll hear experts leaning on constantly, as if it were still the 1980s, when a starched shirt and a handsome tie could get you everywhere.

That’s not to say that looking smart can’t still work miracles today, but why leave anything to chance when you can buy a first class seat for next to nothing?

Ever eager to squeeze every penny out of every flight they possibly can, the airlines aren’t always keen to reward their frequent flyers by handing out free upgrades like candy. Nope —now, some carriers are just unloading them more democratically — first willing to pay, first served.

Don’t wait for them to write it in the sky or slap it up on a billboard, however– even though buying an upgrade can be extremely simple, finding out about availability is sometimes anything but. For example, US Airways advertises its GoUpgrade program when you check in for your flight, but on the most popular routes, you’ll often find the seats you wanted are long gone unless you know how to book them ahead.

What you probably didn’t know: You can call (800) 428-4322 starting 24 hours (to the minute) before your flight is scheduled to depart, and snag any seats before the web check-in crowd starts logging on. More often than not, being on the ball pays off.

Then there’s Virgin America. On this small but seriously cool airline, the first class seats are worth every penny. Although many of their coast-to-coast flights can be had for as little as $89 to $119 each way, their ultra-luxe first class product costs over ten times as much. But, with impeccable timing and a little bit of luck (consider that there are only 6 First Class seats on each Virgin America Flight) you can snag the remainders exactly 6 hours before your flight for a lot less (airfarewatchdog.com was saddened to learn that the airline recently reduced the check in window from a previous 24 hours) depending on how far you’re going. (For transcontinental, you could be looking at a $270 upgrade — pricey, but trust us: Worth it.)

Many other airlines are less willing to shell out the good seats to commoners like us; at least not until they absolutely have to. Say hello to the surprise kiosk upgrades. Say you’re flying from New York to Denver on an early weekday morning in the middle of November. It’s not ski season, nobody really needs to be in Denver. You check in for your (let’s say United) flight on your own, using the automated system, and suddenly, the machine wants to know: Would you like to sit in First today, for just $75? Yes, please.

Then again, hoping for a miracle at a kiosk is often as reliable as hoping for a miracle at the video poker machines in Vegas. If you choose your airline right, you may not have to wonder at all. Well, unless, of course, they’ve already sold out.

Full details on how and when to snag these coveted seats on five US domestic airlines here .

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Addicted Rats ‘Starved Themselves’ Rather Than Give Up Junk Food In Study

JUPITER — In a study that compares cupcakes and cookies to cocaine, scientists at Scripps Florida say rats fed a diet of junk food grew addicted to high-calorie, high-fat fare.

The fat rats became so hooked on junk food that when researchers took away the bad stuff and replaced it with healthy food, the rodents chose to starve themselves.

Scripps Florida scientists Paul Kenny and Paul Johnson say junk food changed the rats’ brain chemistry in the same way that chronic cocaine use alters an addict’s brain function. Their study, published Sunday in the journal Nature Neuroscience, bolsters the increasingly popular theory that Americans’ bulging waistlines can be blamed in part on the addictive attributes of unhealthy food.

As part of three years of experiments, Kenny, an associate professor, and Johnson, a graduate student, served one group of rats healthy, nutritionally balanced fare. Another group got unlimited access to the worst stuff Johnson could find at Publix, including bacon, sausage, cheesecake, pound cake, Ding Dongs and frosting.

Not surprisingly, the rats fed junk food put on weight and became less active.

More surprisingly, the fat rats exhibited the sort of self-destructive behavior associated with human junkies. The rats would eat junk food even if they knew doing so would result in a mild but distinctly uncomfortable electrical shock to their feet.

When Kenny and Johnson replaced the unhealthy food with the healthy diet the rats had been raised on, the animals refused to eat at all.

“They actually voluntarily starved themselves,” Kenny said.

Kenny blames the same culprit that afflicts cocaine addicts: the brain’s dopamine D2 receptor. The brain releases dopamine in response to enjoyable experiences such as eating cheesecake, having sex or snorting cocaine.

But, scientists believe, too much pleasure skews the brain’s reward pathways by overstimulating the D2 receptor and causing it to shut down. For the rats addicted to junk food, Kenny said, the only way to stimulate their pleasure centers was to eat more high-fat, high-calorie food.

“They’re not experiencing rewards the way they should,” Kenny said. “When you experience that, one way of feeling better is to go back to the junk food.”

As part of his research, Kenny used a virus to essentially block healthy rats’ D2 receptors. Those rats quickly developed compulsive eating habits.

Kenny hopes his research might lead to a drug or vaccine to treat overeating. The experiments were supported by a $250,000-a-year grant from the National Institutes of Health and smaller grants from Bank of America and The Margaret Q. Landenberger Research Foundation.

Intriguingly, nearly all the rats given junk food became obese. But despite the fact that Americans are faced with a smorgasbord of easily available junk food, most of us can handle the temptation.

Kenny says that’s because overeating is driven by not just the genetic factors that make us crave junk food but also by social pressures. Humans know junk food is bad for us, and we try to avoid it. But rats don’t find their impulses tempered by clothes that no longer fit or by books by Dr. Oz, TV shows like The Biggest Loser and movies such as Super Size Me.

“The rats don’t suffer from the same social pressures that we do,” Kenny said.

Nutrition experts aren’t surprised by the Scripps researchers’ conclusion that junk food is addictive. In last year’s best-selling book The End of Overeating, former FDA Commissioner David Kessler argued that salty, sugary, fatty food triggers dopamine production.

“Certainly, we see this addictive pattern in humans,” said Sandy Livingston, a licensed nutritionist in Palm Beach Gardens. “They know they shouldn’t overeat, but they do it anyway.”

Livingston hopes research like this helps overeaters better deal with their gluttony by realizing that the behavior is driven not by personal failings but by powerful chemical reactions in the brain.

“A lot of people blame themselves — ‘Why don’t I have any willpower?’” Livingston said. “It’s very hard to rely on willpower, because willpower will lose. If your body wants something enough, you’re always going to lose.”

Jordan Rubin, author of The Maker’s Diet and founder of nutritional supplements firm Garden of Life in West Palm Beach, said he’d like to see more research into exactly which types of food and food additives are addictive. For instance, foods such as beef and avocados are high in fat, but Rubin believes addiction is caused not by fat alone but by fat in combination with other foods, such as white flour or the additive MSG.

“Food can be highly addictive,” Rubin said. “When people describe overeating and weight loss as a battle, this is why.”

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Pete Cashmore: How To Create An $850M Fad

London, England (CNN) — Do you remember Bebo? AOL bought the hot social networking Web site for $850 million in 2008. This week, the company threw in the towel — Bebo will either be sold or shut down in 2010, according to an internal memo.

How did Bebo devolve from an $850 million sale to a dud in two years? And how do we tell whether the Web startup du jour is a long-term bet or a passing fad?

The fall of Bebo and MySpace

Bebo was once a real contender — it rose to become the United Kingdom’s biggest social network in 2007, according to comScore. Following News Corp.’s $580 million acquisition of MySpace in 2005, leading Web companies were desperate to have a stake in the social networking game, and multiple suitors were said to be appraising the site. In May 2007, it was rumored that Yahoo may acquire Bebo for $1 billion — but it was AOL that scooped up the service the following year.

MySpace too turned out to be a bad bet: It has long since conceded the social networking crown to Facebook, and continues to be an albatross for News Corp.

The reigning social networking champions come in the form of Twitter and Facebook — but who’s to say they won’t go the same way as Bebo and MySpace? Won’t users just hop to the next hot social network when it comes along?

Continued innovation

It’s unlikely that Facebook and Twitter will fall off a precipice this year — although they soon will if they cease to innovate.

The signals of success are numerous — from investors to market positioning to their founding teams. Key among those seems to be the need for continued innovation and consistent service: MySpace in fact stole its lead from Friendster, which struggled to maintain uptime as its popularity spiked. (Friendster has since become popular in Asia, particularly the Philippines.)

Bebo, meanwhile, was a MySpace clone which was able to gain an early foothold in U.K. schools — it too lacked a long-term vision beyond getting big fast.

Fittingly, MySpace’s failings were similar to Friendster’s. A lack of technical innovation led to crowded, slow-loading profile pages, spam messages and a slew of hacking attempts. MySpace also failed to keep up with the rapidly evolving demands of Web users: While Facebook introduced its continually-updated “news feed” in 2006 (the year of Twitter’s launch), MySpace took more than a year to respond with a similar feature.

MySpace stagnated; Facebook blossomed.

A similar fate awaited Bebo: Post-acquisition, innovation ground to a halt and U.K. users embarked on an exodus to Facebook’s more fertile shores.

The platform play

Facebook and Twitter aren’t banking solely on their own technical prowess to keep things fresh. For both companies, survival is about the innovative services that developers build on their platforms.

From Twitter photo hosts (TwitPic, YFrog, Tweetphoto) to the countless Web sites leveraging Facebook Connect for their log-in systems, these companies are enabling Web developers to discover new “use-cases.” This month, both will host developer conferences which aim to foster innovative new ideas and developments around their respective services. Neither Bebo nor MySpace were able to cultivate such healthy ecosystems around their products.

How do you build an $850 million fad?

Simple: Start strong, then fail to evolve. Just like Bebo.

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Bike Theft Foiled, Courtesy Of Twitter

Last week this messenger Austin Horse’s worst nightmare came true — his bike was stolen on a routine delivery.

“This is one I go to a lot. It only takes 30 seconds. My eyes are on it pretty much the whole time. So I just fake locked it with my Kryptonite U-lock,” Horse said.

A surveillance video from a nearby building showed the thief riding away on Austin’s bike.

Thinking quickly Austin turned to Twitter, the social networking site on which, he says, messengers have a tight-knit community.

“I knew the word would get out. It was just a matter of getting the bike before someone stuffed it in a basement or shipped it out of the city or spray painted it,” Horse said.

So at 3:47 p.m., he posts, or “tweets,” this message: stolen bike! my orange gangsta just got stolen 28th & mad.

He also “tweeted” a photo of the bike.

Word spread like wildfire once it hit Twitter. Three hours after the bike was stolen it was discovered in another neighborhood.

“I got the tweet right on the BlackBerry,” Eddie Brannan said.

Brannan is a friend and fellow bike enthusiast, who just happened to be strolling when he spotted Austin’s distinctive orange bike.

“There was the bike upside down right outside, even with the blinking light still flashing,” Brannan said.

Not wanting to confront the thief, he quickly took off with the bike and didn’t look back.

“It got stolen twice in two hours on the same day,” Brannan said.

At 6:47 pm a relieved Austin “tweets:” eddie brannan is the man! stole my bike back and looks good in a suit.

Final score: Twitter 1, Thief 0

“It’s a technology that allows us to communicate,” Horse said.

“People will spread the word just like that,” Brannan added.

Case closed.

Austin is back at work and says he always locks his bike now no matter what.

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