Growing up as a kid my very first computer was a Commodore Vic-20. I distinctly remember asking for this computer (probably more like begging for it in that kid way) when I first laid eyes on it at Montgomery Ward in Tallahassee sometime in 1979 or 1980. I got that computer and it was a dream come true. I didn’t get my hands on an Apple computer until 1981 when my neighborhood friend and his brother’s got an Apple IIe.

Growing up I used the Apple IIe in school, at friends homes, and we eventually got one. But at that time any computer would do. Personal computers at that time for kids were like smart phones for kids today. I didn’t have any particular love or attachment to the platform. In my college years my work study boss had an Apple IIc. It was probably the best Apple computer besides the Macintosh that I’ve ever used.

During my lost years in the Army I had little contact with personal computers, and when I did I used PCs. Again I didn’t care any computer would do. It was not until I left the military and returned to college that my love affair with Apple and the Mac began.

In the 4 years since leaving Florida State (1989), the first time to enter the military, I returned (1994) not to the mainframes initially used for computer classes, but to SUN Systems based Unix computers and Windows PCs. We were encouraged to use the Unix workstations for assignments, but most people were drawn to the PCs and something called “Yahoo!”. I didn’t have time to play with “Yahoo!” I had work to do so I used the Unix workstations.

Anyone who went to school during that time knows that long days and nights in the computer rooms were the norm. I quickly tired of this and wanted to do my work in the comfort of my apartment. So I quickly made the decision to buy a new computer. I wasn’t particular about what computer to get. I just needed one and any computer would do. So one day between classes I headed to the campus store and bought what they had… a Macintosh PowerPC 7500. At the time I thought, a computer is a computer, and it doesn’t matter which one you get as long as you get one. Was I in for a surprise!

Well I had just dropped about $3k for a computer, and I needed to make it suit my needs. $3000 for a computer is a lot of money in any time period, but in the mid-nineties for a college student it was a tremendous amount of money.

I soon learned that using a Mac for school was going to be extremely difficult if not impossible. Everything about Mac OS System 7 was different from Unix and Windows 3.1. And so with my Mac and an internet connection I began to dig in. I began to learn how to circumvent the incompatibilities that existed between my Mac and the other platforms. Because I didn’t know any better, and I had no choice I learned to use and get the most out of my Mac. I also learned to appreciate the differences between MacOS and all the other OSes. And while MacOS did have limitations, some more serious than others, I still felt it was a much better OS for the ease of use it provided.

In 1995 I still remember the hype surrounding the launch of Windows 95. I can remember the reports of its revolutionary user interface and the ease of use that it would provide PC users. At the time I was thinking what the hell are they talking about? MacOS already had many of the “revolutionary” features that they were touting. Now I know that under the hood MacOS had serious problems, and the turmoil and lack of focus at Apple helped to allow Microsoft to catch up after almost 10 years. But as a devoted Mac user I still chaffed at all of the hype and constant comparison to MacOS. It seemed as if everyone forgot that Microsoft blatantly stole the MacOS. It’s uncannily similar to the way that Goole’s Android OS and Samsung’s hardware are attempting to ripoff the iOS and iPhone today. The difference is that today’s Apple is very capable of defending its intellectual property and patents.

If you grew up in the computer era of the mid-nineties then you probably remember reading the Computer Shopper magazine. A brick of a magazine that we would look at for hours dreaming of the hardware that we would buy. Even though I was a Mac user I was jealous and infatuated by the performance achievements of Intel’s Pentium PC chips. The PowerPC while fast just couldn’t keep up with Intel’s relentless release schedule.

With Intel’s hardware and Microsoft’s OS driving PCs with speed and ease of use the increasing commoditization of the PC drove prices down. Macs where considered an expensive dinosaur, and with good reason. Apple just couldn’t get its act together. The more PCs were hyped the more I learned about the history of Apple, and the more I learned about MacOS in general. The more I became apart of the “cult”. I felt it was my sworn duty to defend not only my choice of platform, but the “Cult of Macintosh”.

In 1997 I took a job in South Florida at a water management district. My first day on the job I was told that my mission as a Mac technician was to prepare the current Mac users to get rid of their Macs. I remember it like it happened yesterday. I also remember saying to myself that I would never comply. I would do everything that I could to keep Macs running at the district. And for the next 4 years as a Mac tech that’s what I did. The other thing that burned me was there was no Macintosh computer for me to use. My supervisor at the time told me that I’d have to build a Mac from any scraps that I could find, and that’s just what I did. I built a Mac from scraps of other Macs that I found in my cube and various parts stores.

The first thing that I did was update all the Macs to the latest OS (System 7.5), and updated all of the software. Next I set about letting the users know what this manager had told me. I essentially rallied the users who wanted to keep their Macs. Pressure was intense, and many Mac users gave up their Macs. Many were told that they would not receive a new computer unless they gave up their old Macs. In about two years all of the Macs were gone except the Macs in two areas. Those two areas remained strongholds because of the users and the managers who ran them. With their cooperation we were able to keep most of those Macs from being decommissioned.

I argued for and received a transfer to the graphics department to become their Mac technician and the Mac technician for the other department which was comprised of scientist. Some of these scientist had worked on Macs for more than a decade and didn’t want to give it up. I made sure that the Macs had the best hardware and always had the latest OS and software every year. To make sure they had the best I maxed out the hardware as much as possible each year.

Eventually I became a programmer at the district and was able to hang on to my Mac. I had a very smart and liberal manager who allowed me to continue using my Mac for development. Anyway when I left that job in 2004 the Macs were still there and the users were still fighting to keep them.

It’s funny 1998 – 2001 were very bad years for the Macintosh and Apple. As Mac users we were hanging on, and I can’t lie, but I did entertain the thought of switching.

But Steve Jobs, the iMac, Mac OS X, and the iPod changed all of that. It’s amazing, but over time I have watch friends who never gave any thought to owing a Mac over the course of the late nineties slowly become Mac fans during the period from 2002 – 2011. Apple slowly with the iPod, iMac, and Macbook Pro, and Mac OS X turned the tide. Today almost all of my friends have at least one Apple product. There are a few holdouts.

After a two years in the wilderness having to use PCs at work I’m back using a Mac at work and loving it. And with the number of Macs entering enterprise environments I’m encourage that I’ll be able to continue using Macs in the future.

Over the past 3 months I’ve developed a morning ritual. Immediately upon waking up I go to my home office and wake my Mac from sleep. I click the AppViz 2 icon in the dock and click the “Get New Reports” button in the lower right of the app. Then I wait… I would say that I wait patiently, but that would not be the truth. I wait in anticipation like a kid waiting for Christmas morning. I wait to see how my apps have done the day before.

I’ve fallen into this ritual since purchasing AppViz 2 from IdeaSwarm last November 2011. I decided that I needed a way to track my app sales, and I did not want to rely completely on the various online tracking services that exist. Don’t get me wrong there are a lot of good online tracking services like Distimo, but I wanted a Mac app. AppViz 2 had everything that I needed.

Anyway, this morning I woke up to find that I had my best app sales day ever. As a matter of fact in the month of January 2012 I’ve had my 3 best app sales days. Yesterday can be attributed to a couple of things: First, I released a new updated to my best selling app Wallpaper Quotes for iPhone. Second, I released this week a new iPad app WP Quotes HD. WP Quotes HD is essentially the iPad version of Wallpaper Quotes. I know the names are slightly different, but the reviewers at Apple rejected the original iPad app name of “Wallpaper Quotes HD”. The reasoning that they gave me was that the app name, and the app title did not match. So rather than argue and delay the app I decided to make a slight change in the Title meta data and get the app approved. Sure enough that got the app approved a few hours later.

So now I have 4 paid apps for sale in the app store. I am pleased to say that each time that I have released a new app my app sales have increased. I am pleased, because releasing a new app does not mean that you will automatically get sales. I know because I have on app Flip Calc that I initially released as a paid app for $.99 and received almost no sales. I eventually made it a free download, and I can tell you that the downloads are negligible. Compared to my Wallpaper Quotes Free app that is receiving more 200 downloads a day.

There was an article published late last year, by Owen Goss, based on a survey of iOS game developers. That survey stated that on average a single iOS developer with one app made about $1200 – $2000 per year in app sales. The article stated that two or more developers and developers that had more than one app in the store made more money on average than single developer and single apps in the app store. I was representative of the single app and single developer group. I had one app in the store for most of the year, and that app generated about $400 in sales. Fast forward to the end of 2011, and I introduced 2 new paid apps into the store. In the six weeks that the additional apps were in the store I doubled my sales for 2011. And sales for the beginning of 2012 are looking really good so far.

Stay tuned, and tomorrow I will talk about my app sales goals for 2012.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of signing up for a new course by one of the true gentlemen of internet marketing Mr. Willie Crawford. Willie has been marketing online for 15 years. He’s produced numerous products and is well known in the internet marketing community as one of the true leaders. Previous to this I think that I have purchased one other product from Willie. It was a small ebook I believe having something to do with making money.

However, this course is an over the shoulder look at how Willie goes about his daily business. It’s a 30 day course were Willie gives you some insight into just one part of his internet marketing business. This is an incredible opportunity to see exactly how someone who is making millions of dollars per year does what they do.

We are seven days in to the course and Willie is holding nothing back. He’s given insights into how he goes about building a list quickly and easily. Not only does he tell you how he does it, but he’s giving us access to the same resources that he is using.

So far we’ve talked about contests, placing ads, Facebook marketing, Twitter, blogging, affiliate product promotion, video marketing, link building, list building, mindset, psychology of the rich, and webinars. That’s a lot, and we still have 23 days to go!

Willie has highlighted a lot of products and services that he uses daily to make his sales funnel work that I had no knowledge of. It’s exciting to see what a successful internet marketer does on a daily basis. It’s also exciting to find out that you can make a tremendous living in internet marketing without having to spend thousands of dollars and know some type of super secret and complex technology. Most of the stuff that Willie does on a daily basis is quite mundane. What’s interesting is how he does it, and how it’s all interconnected.

The biggest thing that I’m learning is that you have to be constantly moving forward and doing positive things. You have use your momentum from your current project to propel you into the next project. Building momentum is crucial. Connecting with your subscribers is a must.

Willie is teaching us about how to engage your customers and subscribers so that they will want to hear from you on a regular basis. He’s teaching us that we don’t have to be sleazy or apologize for being marketers. He teaching us that it’s okay to tell your subscribers that you will pitch products to them, because that’s what you do, but at the same time the value you add to their lives will be worth listening to the occasional product pitch.

If you are looking for some great training in IM, and want to get in you a course that is deeply discounted you might want to check out Willie’s course. He’s released it as a WSO (Warrior Special Offer) until the end of the month. In February the price of this course will be $197. Willie’s offering it now for $27. In my opinion a no-brainer.

Check it out for yourself over at the Warrior forum by clicking this link: Willie Crawford Unplugged (100k this month)

Today my most successful iPhone app Wallpaper Quotes has been converted to an iPad app: WP Quotes HD – Inspirational Wallpapers.

WP Quotes HD is a collection of 218 inspirational quotes displayed with beautiful breath-taking photos in cool wallpapers for your iPad. The quotes are from famous people both past and present who have inspired us to think, do, and be better people. The photos and designs were created by professional graphic artists.

If you see a particular quote that really touches you, and you would like to share it, then simply email the wallpaper to a friend. You can also save the wallpapers to your photo library and use for your iPad background wallpaper.

Here’s a list of the features found in the app:

• 218 Stunning photos with great quotes
• Easy navigation – Just swipe left or right to move between wallpapers
• Slider control allows you to instantly move to any wallpaper quickly
• Menu button toggles the menu on/off so that the menu only appears when you need it
• Voice overs for each wallpaper can be toggled on/off
• Save wallpaper quotes to your photo library
• Share wallpaper quotes with your friends and family

You can download WP Quotes HD from the iTunes App Store by clicking this link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wp-quotes-hd-inspirational/id492919161?mt=8