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News from Elf, a digital creative agency at the intersection of the arts and sciences.
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“If you are curious, you’ll find the puzzles around you. If you are determined, you will solve them.”
The Rubik’s Cube has become a world-famous and instantly recognizable toy since its launch over 40 years ago. The toy is iconic as an intellectual challenge that people instantly pick up and start playing around with intuitive understanding of what the end goal (all same color squares on each side) is. This geometric puzzle is easily accessible, does not require written instructions and offers also a sense of order and completion.
In 1974, a 29-year-old Hungarian sculptor and architect Ernõ Rubik invented the Rubik’s Cube, which he initially called the ‘Magic Cube’ or ‘Buvos Kocka’ in Hungarian, as a way of teaching his students how to solve three-dimensional problems. The toy that he made that did not break no matter how much you twisted or turned it. Rubik’s architecture students at the Budapest College of Applied Arts (Iparművészeti Főiskola) loved it.
Image via Rubiks
His toy became very popular in Hungary. The country was Communist at the time, with tight regulations on imports and exports. Rubik shared his invention at toy fairs. At the Nuremberg Toy Fair in 1979, he met Tom Kremer who saw the potential in the toy and wanted to sell it worldwide.
Through Tom’s help, Rubik was able to sell over 100 million cubes of the newly renamed toy, the Rubik’s Cube worldwide. The updated version also was lighter. Soon there were competitions worldwide to see who could solve the Rubik’s Cube puzzle the fastest.
Image via Rubiks
“Space always intrigued me, with its incredibly rich possibilities, space alteration by objects, objects’ transformation in space, movement in space and in time, their correlation, their repercussion on mankind, the relation between man and space, the object and time. I think the CUBE arose from this interest, from this search for expression and through increased acuteness of these thoughts.”
Erno Rubik with his daughter Anna in 1981
Rubik revealed a keen awareness of what people liked and an appreciation for art and form. He also attributed his love of art and science to his parents. His father was a well known mechanical engineer who built gliders while his mother loved language and writing. Rubik initially studied to be a sculptor and then discovered that he had a keen interest and passion for technical applications. He went on to study architecture soon after. He credits the schools and universities that he attended as helping him in practicing his craft and giving him the necessary space and equipment to experiment, research and learn.
Rubik used wood for the blocks and rubber bands and paper clips to hold the pieces together in his first prototype. He used primary colors to help him bring some order to the cube rotations and used stickers on the finished cube. After his students had tested it out and loved it, Rubik found a plastics manufacturer to help him prototype his toy model. It was only after he met Tom Kremer that Rubik was able to build out his cube properly and then share his toy with the world.
“People like its beauty, simplicity and form. It’s really not a puzzle or a toy. It’s a piece of art.”
The Rubik’s Cube has 43 quintillion (43,252,003,274,489,856,000) possible configurations, with only one correct solution. Despite these odds, the toy itself has a wide appeal. Adults and children alike love to pick it up and attempt to solve the geometric puzzle.
Image via Cube20.org
Given the odds, solving a Rubik’s cube puzzle especially when someone hands you a random configuration, can seem miraculous. However, there are actual strategies that you can follow to solve this puzzle regardless of what configuration you receive. The key is to create order partially and to build on this since all ‘chaos’ cannot be resolved all at once. Systematically applying complex patterns can seem like magic to those that are unfamiliar, when in actuality, there is a strong logic and mathematical order to the process.
43 quintillion options definitely sounds daunting, but actually solving the Rubik’s cube puzzle follows a logical process of using 15 algorithms. No matter what configuration you receive, you can apply these 15 algorithms and solve the cube puzzle.
Few things make starting over and trying again as appealing as the Rubik’s cube. In fact, the toy invites you to step outside your comfort zone, challenge yourself, think differently and learn something new.
Rubik said that the first time he solved the puzzle it took him weeks. Later on, it would take him roughly one minute. Some people are able to solve the puzzle in under 30 seconds.
The Rubik’s cube also offers a relaxed way to help you build your focus.
The Rubik’s cube remains incredibly popular today, with contests, social media videos and exhibits such as Beyond Rubik’s Cube by the Liberty Science Center that promotes new ideas based on the cube.
Beyond Rubik’s Cube Exhibit by Liberty Science Center
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Image via Apple
“We’re thrilled to report another record-breaking quarter that caps a tremendous fiscal 2018, the year in which we shipped our 2 billionth iOS device, celebrated the 10th anniversary of the App Store and achieved the strongest revenue and earnings in Apple’s history,”
Apple’s sales results beat records and forecasts for the past three-month period for the last quarter of 2018, the highest growth rate in three years with earnings-per-share of $2.91 growing per year. All-time quarterly records were made with $62.9 billion is a year-on-year increase from $52.6 billion last year. Apple shipped out 46.9 million iPhones during the September quarter, with revenue up to $37.2 billion, increasing year after year.
The average selling price or ASP of the iPhone is $793, going up from the $617.99 ASP from just one year ago in 2017. Premium pricing for the Phone X, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max has been driving the ASP increase. Analysts estimate that Apple would sell 47.5 million iPhones in the fourth quarter within the range of 46.7-48.1 million.
Apple provided live streaming for its Q4 2018 financial results conference call on November 1, 2018. The webcast is available for replay for up to two weeks after.
“We concluded a record year with our best September quarter ever, growing double digits in every geographic segment. We set September quarter revenue records for iPhone and Wearables and all-time quarterly records for Services and Mac.”
The iPad raked in $4.1 billion in revenue with 9.7 million units sold, lower than analyst expectations of 10.5 million for the quarter. Mac revenue was $7.4 billion, higher than a year ago. Apple services has grown to $10 billion, up from $8.5 billion in 2017 for the same quarter. The Services arm keeps growing fast with analysts expecting ongoing growth in the future.
Consolidated Financial Statements
Data Summary
Apple surprised many when the company also announced that they would no longer be reporting iPhone, iPad and Mac unit sales in earnings reports. This surprised many analysts given that this data was used as an indicator of growth and ASP calculations. However, the decision makes sense when iPhone sales are slowing down, while ASPs keep going up.
Apple will report revenue, sales growth, and guidance as before. However, given that a unit of sale is very different today than it was eleven years ago, sales of Apple products do not represent completely the product’s business health.
“A unit of sale is less relevant today than it was in our past.”
Pricing varies by a larger range today such as the iPhone ranging from $449 (iPhone 7) to $1,449 (iPhone XS). Maestri also pointed out that segment competitors do not provide unit sales.
Analysts expect the first quarter of 2019 to also best records, with Apple predicting revenues of $89-$93 billion with gross margin between 38-38.5 percent. Operating expenses are expected at $8.7-$8.8 billion, while a tax rate of approximately 16.5 percent is expected.
