Although Android may well surpass iOS in the total number of apps (Dan Rowinski of ReadWrite estimates that Google Play will beat the Apple App Store to a million apps by June) the iPhone is still the starting point for most high-quality app developers because its users have repeatably been shown as more engaged than their Android counterparts.

FORBES: Phone Plan: Google Now, Samsung Soon or Apple Later?

The starting point may sound paradoxical: high prices.

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Starting on January 1, high income taxpayers will have an additional 90 basis point Medicare tax on wages that exceed a certain limit.

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What it does have (and must have, as a starting point for the diamonds) is lots of coal: dirty, high-sulfur-content coal, which feeds 75% of the country's primary energy requirements.

FORBES: Hitting The Gas