As developers we always work towards the best possible experience for the end-user. Performance is a very important part of that experience. So to insure the performance is up to par, we run countless tests measuring TPS (Transactions Per Second). Because of this, I've developed a certain affinity with the whole concept of events per second...
So when I stumbled upon an Apple press release a little while ago and it stated that they sold 46.9 million iOS devices in the 2nd quarter of 2012 alone, it incited me to do some math...
46.9 million iOS devices per quarter =
15.6 million iOS devices a month =
0.52 million iOS devices a day =
21,713 iOS devices an hour =
362 iOS devices a minute =
6 iOS devices a second
In other words, Apple is selling (and producing) around 6 iOS devices every second! The logistic problems must be HUGE. Just imagine the amount of aluminium and glass needed. I don't even want to think about the costs of a power outage, putting the plant on hold for just a few minutes... And what about the quantity of food, water and toilet paper needed for the mass of people working in those factories!
Writing this article took just a couple of minutes.
5m x 60s = 300s
300s x 6 iOS devices = 1800 iOS devices
I can only say: Respect to everybody involved in this proces!