How Apple cuts costs?

How Apple cuts costs in building its gadgets - CNN.com

"The costs of parts and manufacturing for Apple's iPhone 4S is estimated to be $196, according to industry research firm IHS iSuppli. That's $453 less than Apple charges for a contract-free phone.
...
Apple has more than 60,000 employees, most of whom work in its retail stores.
...
During the last three months of 2011, Apple sold
* 37 million iPhones,
* 15.4 million iPads,
* 15.4 million iPods and
* 5.2 million Mac computers, according to the company's financial report.

That netted Apple $46.3 billion in revenue and $13.1 billion in profit,
which is double what Apple made during the same period a year before.

"

Google's "Solve for X" moonshot thinking

www.wesolveforx.com

a conference for big thinkers to discuss “radical technology ideas for solving global problems."

February 1-3, 2012 in CordeValle Resort in San Martin, CA.
For three days, fifty scientists, entrepreneurs and innovators from around the world came together to discuss and debate radical solutions to some really big problems.
...
Solve for X is a forum to encourage and amplify technology-based moonshot thinking and teamwork.
...
If you have seen (or given) a talk that you think meets the Solve for X criteria, please enter the following, formatted this way, in your Google+ post: Huge Problem, Radical Solution, Breakthrough technology, Video (link to a YouTube video).

Google's Solve for X Website Goes Online

...visions will have to presented in a laser-focused 12-minute monologue to a "highly accomplished group of people" in a conference environment. Google lifted the importance of the presentations to the likes of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy. It is inspiration, passion and intelligence the company is looking for...



@ google+

Bottom line: a TED-like event, organized by Google.