Twitter’s revenue surged by 97% and brushed $479.1 million whereas the Street was eying for something around $453 million. The losses also plummeted for Twitter. The social media giant depleted its losses to $125 million whereas the loss was above $500 million as compared to the last year.

Twitter’s CEO Dick Costolo has finally got some space for a breather. He was lashed out by investors for bad results since consecutive quarters. However, the user growth for Twitter still remains a problematic area. Twitter has reported that its users went up by 20% to 288 million by the end of 2014. The estimates were around of 22%. Overall, the user growth came down by 2% as compared to the last year, a red flag for Twitter, which is being crushed by Facebook and Instagram.

Soon after the report, Twitter’s stock went up by 9%. Twitter’s CEO spoke to the media and claimed that Twitter ended the year 2014 with a positive sign. He said that Twitter is working on a number of projects which are being designed for all the users, whether they have an account on Twitter or not.

Twitter also recently signed a deal with Google regarding real-time Tweets. The company is revamping its management and policies to get back in action in 2015.

If you want sustained growth, you need to have an employee who is active and engaged with followers on behalf of your brand. Even largely successful companies like Apple struggle with top level-strategies and brand perception. Being an effective CEO comes with its share of challenges, and social media strategy is no exception. By tracking your stock, you can start to determine if your social media efforts are providing a sufficient return.

The following six ways can help you grow your company’s stock on social media.

Take Advantage of Hashtags

On most social platforms, you can include multiple hashtags with your posts. Always include some relevant generic tags like #onlinesale, as well as branded tags that people can search for if they want posts from your company. Not only will creating quality tags help potential customers find and learn about your company, but they’ll also follow you in the future, which can lead to substantial brand growth. The best brands know this and create promotions around hashtags. People will then see and search for these tags in the future.

Spread the Word About Your Coupons

Users of social networks always want to share amazing offers. If you’re offering great coupons, followers will share them with their friends who will, in turn, keep sharing them. An example of this in action was the Thresher coupon debacle of 2006. Thresher released a 40 percent off coupons on wine and champagne that went viral on social media sites just before Christmas and led to more than $800,000 in sales, as well as many new customers and followers.

Run a Contest on Pinterest

Image via Flickr by mkhmarketing

When you post content on most social media sites, it has a fairly short lifespan. Pinterest is interesting in that content can continue to be re-pinned and viewed for months or years. If you can get a picture spread widely through Pinterest, you’ll increase your customer base and brand recognition for years to come.

Run a contest on Pinterest that gives everyone who re-pins one of your pictures a small coupon and a chance to win a bigger prize. One company you may have heard of that utilizes Pinterest for marketing is a little chain called Starbucks, which has run Pinterest contests in the past.

Offer Free Shipping

If you want to get the word out about your latest products or sales, there’s nothing people like more than free things, shipping being a great example. In Dan Ariely’s groundbreaking book Predictably Irrational, he explains that people get more excited over getting a small thing for free than saving a larger amount off the price. Free is a magic word when it comes to enticing social sharing and exploding your sales.

Use Social Media to Gather Leads

Image via Flickr by mkhmarketing

Running a giveaway or contest is a great way to generate buzz around your business, but you need to maximize your return on your investment. One of the best ways to do this is to share the contest on social media, but link the consumer to a page requiring a sign-up in order to enter the contest. They get a free chance at winning something, and you get a new potential customer for your business.

Always Include Pictures

Attracting shares of your content is always a key factor in social media campaign success. Pictures are the most shared content form on any social platform. Include a high-quality picture along with the message you want to get out in order to reach new customers. If you have a product that lends itself well to professional looking pictures, include them.

There are companies of all sizes that are struggling to grow their stocks effectively on social media. However, there are also a small minority of companies that know how to use social media to grow their customer base and presence by using the methods described above and have reaped the rewards.

After Jennifer Aniston doing the same in We’re The Millers, Gwyneth Paltrow follows. She strips down to racy black lingerie, revealing a tight and well-toned body, in order to seduce a recovering sex addict in her latest movie’s trailer that was released today.

In the scene, the 40 year old beauty, who has starred in The Iron Man movies as Pepper Potts, positions herself against a bedroom door in nothing else but a black bra, and knickers, with suspenders and stockings in an attempt to tempt her boyfriend Adam (Mark Buffalo) to bed. The movie, Thanks for Sharing, which premiers in September is a comedy about sex addicts. She proceeds to rub her body along the door frame while she asks Mark: “Hey baby, you wanna dance?” I must admit she looks absolutely stunning in this scene. All the hard work with exercise and low carb diet has definitely paid off.

Thanks for Sharing has been set in New York and it also stars Tim Robbins, Joely Richardson, Carol Kane as well as USA pop star pink in her first major role in a live action movie. Pink acts as a member of the 12 step recovery programme for sex addicts-as the only female. Gwyneth Paltrow is also enjoying her role in the movie. She said, “It’s a very funny movie about recovering sex addicts. It’s a great script.” Apparently, she is also enjoying learning so much about sex addiction. She told reporters; “it is a real pathology. It was interesting to learn about it, see what the behaviour is and what causes it, and how people are sober. It was very interesting. I learnt a lot.”

The movie is slated for release on September 13th, definitely a date worth remembering, judging from the snippets of Gwyneth Paltrow we have seen so far!

This is no April fools joke.  A recent Macy’s national catalog ad noted a necklace as a “super buy” which marked a $1500 necklace down to $47.  Sounds too good to be true, right?  Well it was, because people caught on to this huge price discount and started buying the necklace.  One store was sold out of them after one man bought the entire stock.  Another man went to buy one and the store was out of stock, so he backordered some.  He later received a call saying his order was cancelled because the price markdown was a mistake.  No one knows how many were sold at the typo price, but some people lucked out, that’s for sure!

After meeting with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Hillary Clinton said, “Our concerns are that an increasingly desperate Assad regime might turn to chemical weapons, or might lose control of them to one of the many groups that are now operating within Syria.”

She continues, “We have sent an unmistakable message that this would cross a red line and those responsible would be held to account.”

However, numerous Syrian activists have criticized Clinton’s fear over the possible use of Syrian chemical weapons, claiming it’s a distraction.

“I don’t think the regime will use chemical weapons – it’s just a media game for the purpose of prolonging the revolution, so the Syrian people become more divided and the regime has more time,” said Walat Ahmae, a member of the Syrian National Council based in Antakya, Turkey. “We have known that there are chemical weapons from the start, so this isn’t a new or more worrying threat.”

A report by NBC News on Thursday states Pentagon officials confirm that Assad has been arming Syrian chemical weapons with nerve gas. Other US officials told the Associated Press that Assad’s military has been moving chemical stockpiles.

This information seems to clash with the official statements flowing from Syria’s crumbling government infrastructure, as Syria’s deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, came forward to say, “I repeat for the hundredth time that even if such weapons exist in Syria, they will not be used against the Syrian people.” He added, “We would not commit suicide.”

In fact, Mekdad has gone so far as to claim that Western governments are the ones creating Syrian chemical weapons, with the intent of handing them to rebels and then blaming the Assad regime for their existence.

Whether there are or are not chemical weapons, though, it’s clear that the topic is beginning to divide parties onto separate sides, and only time will reveal how this situation develops.

<img class=”size-medium wp-image-28800″ title=”Hillary Clinton at a Nato meeting in Brussels” src=”https://socialmediaseo.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/clinton-syria-chemical-weapons-300×180.jpg” alt=”” width=”300″ height=”180″ /> Clinton speaking on the existence and use of Syrian chemical weapons.

It seems companies are starting to market holiday sales earlier and earlier.  Before Halloween was over I started seeing Christmas supplies in stores!  It used to be a sale right after Thanksgiving, but now they are also starting to give deals before Black Friday.  Walmart released their New Black Friday Ad for 2012 already. Their ad features 45 pages of deals divided into 3 events according to the black Friday website. You can check  out the official Walmart Black Friday Deals here.

Event 1 starts on November 22 at 8 pm, the Family specials.

• Specials on toys, DVDs, bikes so that the family and kids all have something special at great prices at a reasonable hour.

Event 2 kicks off at 10 pm on Nov 22 and is for the gadget die-hards.
A one hour in-stock in-store guarantee of these three amazing specials from 10pm to 11 pm Nov 22 only:

• iPad 2 with 16GB & Wi-Fi for $399 plus a $75 Walmart gift card
• In-store only special Emerson 32 inch TV for only $148
• $38 LG Blu-ray player

Event 3 starts at 5 am on Black Friday November 23 with more deals on TVs, clothes, jewelry.

And most of these deals can be purchased online. Plus get Cashback when you click through from BlackFriday.com as a member. Don’t forget to signup and add your favorite deals to your Wishlist.

The Benefits of Social Media for Business

The benefits of social media have been proven, even amongst smaller businesses, and the simple fact that conversion rates for Facebook and Twitter average around double that of most other outlets means that a solid fan base will, simply put, directly increase sales.

With social media you also have the opportunity to respond quickly and on customers’ terms with answers to their questions that they may not have asked through email or a comment form. Link building can also be a major reason why companies love to have a social media network, and have both direct and indirect benefits. There are plenty of other reasons to build a social media community, but it’s also worth thinking about the drawbacks.

The Drawbacks of Social Media for Business

An effective social media network does require effort. Indeed, it’s no longer acceptable for most companies to have an ad-hoc attitude to social media, and many have social media departments or outsource their needs to companies specializing in social media. Giving it to the intern to post a few articles or tweets when he or she isn’t making the tea will get you very few results. You should also think about your reputation. If you aren’t posting or tweeting on-message information, you’ll lose respect, reputation and fans. It’s very easy for a social media page to go off-brand, and it needs to be controlled, monitored and analysed to get the best results.

Twitter: The Breakdown

• 29% of users follow a brand
• 35% daily users
• 25% of users have 100+ followers
• 2.26% visit-to-lead ratio
• Average age of user: 39

The stats don’t paint a particularly good picture of Twitter, despite the fact that it can be an awesome weapon in your marketing arsenal. The benefits of Twitter are focussed less on the customer-facing side, and more as a tool to generate buzz within an industry, or B2B connections. The relatively low viral potential of twitter in terms of direct numbers is outweighed by a system weighted much more in the favour of thought leaders, celebs and big names in various industries

Industries such as tech, media and finance can benefit strongly from Twitter, as it’s all about content distribution. The people and brands on Twitter that get followers are the ones that offer the most high-quality content possible. Look at this in terms of retail. NBC, for example, has 680,000 followers across its news networks, while Wallmart can only boast half of that. News moves quickly, and is based on content distribution, whereas news from consumer-facing companies comes at a much, much slower pace: weekly, or at best daily.  If you’re in the business of offering high quality information on a daily (or close) basis, Twitter is likely to offer better returns on investment.

Facebook: The Breakdown

• 58% of users follow a brand
• 74% daily users
• 57% have 100+ friends
• 2.10% visit-to-lead ratio
• Average age of user: 38

By contrast, customer-facing brands do a good deal better on Facebook than they do on Twitter. Facebook offers your brand or company direct access to something that your fans will see in a very visual way every time they log on, assuming you have a coherent and regular posting regime. Users spend much more time (on average 300% longer) on Facebook than they do on Twitter, so you have a little more leeway with them. Also, the use of images and promotional tools is far greater on Facebook, allowing you more freedom to engage directly with users.

Automotive, FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) and travel industries do well here because of the slower pace of information. For example, an airline might be having a sale on European flights. Obviously, this is known and promoted well before the event, and the event may last a few weeks. This gives them an opportunity to create buzz leading up to the event and keep the promotion in users’ minds during it’s run-phase. While the information about the promotion is high quality, it’s much less time sensitive than a news piece about daily stock figures. Taking the Wallmart/NBC comparison, Wallmart have over 21,000,000 fans, while NBC can muster just a quarter of that number.

The Social Hub System

Building an effective social media strategy is not simply about sticking to one media platform, but rather using the different platforms to their strengths. While you may not have the resources to mount a massive social media campaign, you should think about using more than one outlet, including blogs and forums, in tandem with your existing marketing methods. Similarly, the type of content should differ between social media platforms, offering targeted information to the users specific to that platform. Once you have a handle on your fans, followers and engagement, you can begin to really make strides in offering them the highest quality posts and tweets as possible.

David Ingram is part of the Digital Marketing team at MySocialAgency, a leading London Social Media Agency. David is a regular blogger with a passion for technology, sport and tra

There’s a new lawsuit which is stating that Mark Zuckerberg made a quick billion off of inside information.  The class action lawsuit claims the 28-year-old CEO had inside info that the stock was grossly overvalued, and he protected his own financial hide by quickly unloading a ton of Facebook stock.  This Class action lawsuit was filed by angered Facebook shareholders after the collapse of the stock. The lawsuit is stating that he hid the fact that there is a known flaw int he Facebook business model and that there is not enough advertising revenue to support stock valued at $38 a share.  The stock is at $26 today after the big drop, but seems to be slowly raising.  Who knows what will happen next with the Facebook / Zuckerberg lawsuits.

Facebook settled in for a tie with FTC over the privacy of its users that has been in news over some time. With this settlement, new privacy control will be issued in for the users which have now surpassed 800 millions. But rarely do these users visit their privacy settings. So Facebook need to device in a technique to implement these. Earlier Facebook had tried to alert its users by displaying in on the home page but it was not enough, as a result FTC had to make a move in to scrutinize future privacy issues. The information stored by Facebook is too tantalizing for internet marketing companies. Expecting these companies to self restrict the information will be total waste of time.

Facebook will go similar privacy audits for the next 20 years as Google had to, after Google Buzz privacy issues. Under the settlement with FTC, Facebook will have allowed its users to decide whether to opt or not to for new features. Apparently Facebook had many issues to be resolved that resolved over the privacy concerns.

Retention of content after omission

Facebook has promised that users could permanently remove their photos and videos but this content could be accessed with a unique URL assigned with them. After logging off from the page Facebook can track every new page you visit. Even after deleting the Facebook account, user’s content was not completely removed. But under the FTC act, these data will have to be removed within 30 days of deletion.

Sharing information with the advertisers

Facebook in some cases had allowed leakage of user’s id to their potential advertisers, whenever a user clicked on one of its advertisements. The URL that Facebook shares with the advisers via HTTP header contains user’s id in it. Many applications could also leak the same information with advisers and several internet tracking companies. Even Application Farmville has admitted to violating the rules. This was against the stipulation made by Facebook that no personal information was shared with advertisers.

Privacy leaking Issues

Facebook has promised that the user’s information was limited to restricted people, but FTC detected that a third party was able to access this information. And in many cases the friend lists of users were made public.

Despite of all privacy issues Facebook continues to grow massively. Facebook in the process of creating and strengthening new features is making users private content vulnerable. The stepping of FTC comes when Facebook is preparing to enter the IPO market valued >$100 billion, which will make them the biggest tech IPO company to enter the stock market since Google. Facebook will never want their investors to be cynical and with their bunch of creative team behind them all these complications will surely be removed.

Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) invested $5 billion in Bank of America Corp. (BAC), said that problems at the biggest U.S. lender by assets will take “much longer” to clean up.

“The bank has a wonderful underlying business — it’s got lots of problems,” Buffett, 81, told Bloomberg Television’s Betty Liu today in an interview from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

“The bet is, is Brian going to get rid of those problems?” Buffett said, referring to Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan, 51. “It won’t take six months or a year; it will take much longer than that even. But the underlying business is doing fine.”

How many Bank of America customers are going to leave after hearing they’re going to have to pay monthly?  It seems like a bad idea, almost like the Netflix Price Increases a few weeks ago that caused a public backlash.  What’s going on with these companies lately?

It’s a little strange, but they may be onto something viral.  It may be funny to post one of these up in an office or dorm room.  I’ll bet a lot of students would want one of these to show off how many friends they have, because after all, it will display 551 random friends (I guess they needed that 1 extra friend to make the poster complete) .  If you don’t have that many, your friends will be repeated on the print.  When you jump onto your website and browse around you’ll notice some sense of humor, like the last question on their FAQ page:

Is 40 lbs. too heavy for a dog?

Although that certainly is a frequently asked question, it has nothing to do with posters, so we do not feel qualified to answer. But wait, let us google that for you.

Ok, enough about the website, what kind of printing is available for your Facebook Friend’s Wall Posters?

Facebook Wall Poster

All of your Facebook friends printed in one place. On your real world wall. Perfect for your dorm or any room that needs more friends.  You can get this one printed in a large 22″ x 34″ sheet with free shipping.

Facebook Locker Poster

Get a Facebook wall poster for your locker in a standard 10″ x 58″ size.  You can also cut the poster if necessary. .  (I think this would only work if you haven’t reached highschool yet. )

Custom Facebook Wall Poster

Let them know what type of custom solution you are looking for and they may be able to make it for you.  Like a cool tradeshow Facebook poster or banner?

I know it may sound outrageous and their stock images look like they’re from 1990 but there’s a chance that these poster’s may catch on, I think in part because they are so silly people may want them as a joke.  What do you think, will posters for your Facebook friends stick with anyone?

That means Starz content will be removed from Netflix’s streaming service starting in March. Starz’ library includes movies from Walt Disney Co.’s assorted studios and, Sony Corp.

Both sides apparently disagree over the value of the content from Starz and how they should stream it to subscribers.

Netflix had been expected to work out a new contract with Starz, although at a much higher price than the estimated $30 million a year that it had been paying under the current agreement. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings acknowledged earlier this year that the company might have to pay as much as $250 million a year to retain the Starz rights when the current contract expires in February.

What makes matters worse for Netflix users?

Netflix made the decision to split DVD and streaming services before dropping Starz.

Netflix members found themselves faced with a tricky dilemma: to stream or not to stream? The video-streaming and DVD-by-mail company announced Tuesday that it’ll be splitting its streaming and DVD services into two separate plans. One plan, an unlimited streaming-only option, will cost $7.99 per month. The other plan, an unlimited DVD-only option, will also cost $7.99 (for one DVD out at a time). Members can enroll in both services for a combined rate of $15.98 per month.

Netflix Users Searching for Streaming Alternatives

This now leaves many Netflix users angry since they now have a tough decision ahead of them.  It’s tough for customers to process the new problems of increasing prices, split mail and streaming services, and the dropout of Starz lineup.  Stay tuned for our next article on Alternatives to Netflix Streaming Services!

Let’s go back two weeks from today, shall we?

The HP TouchPad was tanking because nobody wanted to spend $300 or $400 on a tablet when they could use that same amount of money to be an iPad.  Let’s be honest here…

And so HP, after sales continued to nose dive, threw in the towel on the tablet front and literally overnight, killed the WebOS strategy.

So now HP has these warehouses full of TouchPads and they’re freaking out over what in the world to do with all of them.   Dropping the price made sense, so they came out and dropped the price in order to start clearing them out of inventory.

But things were necessarily clearing out as quickly as HP would like, so they decided to drop the price even more to $99 for the 16GB model and $149 for the 32GB model.

And then guess what happened…???

It was as if Apple just released a brand new iPad.  Lines formed around city blocks.  The HP TouchPad was selling out of stock in less than 5 minutes in WalMart.  Chaos was unfolding because now, all of sudden, everyone wanted the HP TouchPad.

But wait a minute.  Isn’t this the same TouchPad that a few weeks ago was selling so bad that HP decided to kill the program altogether?

Yes…. yes it was!

So what, all of a sudden, put the demand for the HP TouchPad on the same level – or even a higher level from a demand standpoint – than the iPad?

One simple word answers the questions:  price.

The TouchPad drops to $99 and now, suddenly, the stores can’t stock the tablet fast enough.

This is something, I know for a fact, that Jeff Bezos and the Amazon crew are taking note of.  Mr. Bezos and his generals are all sitting around the tablet saying, “will you look at that?  look at what happened when HP dropped that price down to $99 – the supply could no longer meet demand…. that’s exactly what we need to happen with our new Amazon Android tablet.”

Enter the Amazon Android Tablet

Mark my words.  When the Amazon Android tablet finally does hit the market, I guarantee the price will be substantially lower than any other tablet on the market.  And I would almost guarantee we’ll see a 10.1 inch Amazon tablet.

Amazon is all about selling a ridiculous amount of product, especially product they invented, like the Kindle which is now the #1 best selling item on Amazon of all time.

So when Amazon’s next invention comes out, the Amazon Android tablet, you watch how they price it.  It’s going to be priced to not only sell like crazy, but it’s going to be priced to capture the attention of all the media outlets worldwide because of the madness surrounding the sales volume.

Just remember, you heard it here first!

Sprint (NYSE:S) is no exception to the policy.  Since Sprint brought on the iPhone, their stock has been surging ahead.  The chart below shows you what the Sprint shares looked like before the iPhone arrived and then what has happened since.

It’s no wonder that all types of fake Apple stores and other fake Apple products are popping up all over China.  The Apple iPhone wave is a profitable one for sure.

Check it out:

Doing something wonderful for someone else without expecting anything in return is good for the soul.

It is extremely rewarding, grounding and will make someone else’s day.

So how do you go about doing a good deed?

1. Talk to people and actually listen. Most of the time, people will talk about things they need to do. Helping them to knock off a couple of things on that list like organizing the corporate booklet printing or business card printing for an overworked colleague might be just the way to help them out and to do your good deed. Helping them with their everyday chores like watering their gardens, cleaning their house, babysitting their children or walking their dog are great ways to help.
2. The alternative to helping someone you know is to help a complete stranger. This is the ultimate selfless deed and it could be as simple as buying lunch for a homeless person.
3. Another great way is to donate your time to a local charity – you can stock shelves at the local
4. food bank, walk dogs at the shelter, or serve meals to the homeless.  Make someone’s day and surprise them with an anonymous gift like a gift hamper or a charity hamper. Make sure you attach a gift tag to explain that this is your good deed for the day and that you hope they enjoy the special gift. By doing this, you might even inspire a revolution of anonymous giving.
5. Visit your local retirement house and offer to read to the elderly or to help out in some other way. The people that are cared for in these facilities have usually been active participants in your society and are pillars of the community so it’s nice to return the favour.
6. Take a load off someone’s deserving shoulders and cook a meal for them – this will be received extremely well by someone who has been ill or working long hours lately.
7. Host a fundraising event – it doesn’t have to be fancy or over the top, just invite your nearest and dearest – you’ll be surprised by how you can raise.
8. Participate in a charity event – get active and get involved in a fun run or grab a bunch of friends
9. and go to a charity dinner.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you give from your heart and remember that even the smallest deed can make a huge difference to someone else. So rewarding – a good deed should make you feel good about yourself and leave you with a permanent smile on your face all day.

Dell shares (NASDAQ:DELL) are down nearly 8% in pre market trading this morning to second-quarter sales rising less than 1 percent to $15.7 billion, as reported yesterday.  Analysts estimates put Dell’s revenue at $15.8.

Because of the missed forecast, and because Dell’s outlook shows slowing consumer spending, Reuters is reporting that Dell has revised it’s fiscal 2012 guidance and expects revenue to growth between 1%-5% from the previous range of 5%-9%. For the third quarter of 2012, it expects to see revenue roughly flat relative to the second quarter of 2011.

According to The Economic Times, Dell said growth in its enterprise solutions and services business, as well as the performance of India and China, drove the company’s profitability in the second quarter.

“We continue to see great momentum in the high growth areas of our business, which is a direct reflection of the discipline and strong execution our global Dell team is applying to help solve real-world challenges for our customers,” Dell Chairman and CEO Michael Dell said.

In the wake of the news that Google is acquiring Motorola Mobility, Motorola’s stock (NYSE:MMI) price is up sharply, over 60% in pre market trading.

In contrast however is Google’s stock price (NASDAQ:GOOG) which is down dramatically, and falling fast, in pre market trading.

The thought from the market is that Google perhaps overpaid for Motorola Mobility when they paid $40 a share ($12.5 billion in cash), even though this acquisition is around a 66% premium for Motorola Mobility.

News is breaking this morning that Google is acquiring Motorola Mobility for an estimated $12.5 billion in cash.  Google is purchasing Motorola Mobility at a 66% premium, making this a huge deal for Motorola Mobility’s stock price (NYSE:MMI).

Already, in pre market trading, Motorola Mobility (MMI) is up a whopping 60% indicating that Motorola Mobility shares (MMI) are going to open up sharply.

Google is clearly making a move to enter the hardware space in order to compete against Apple.  But as I’ve mentioned before, Google hasn’t had the best of luck with hardware and manufacturing their own Android smartphones.

via Google Finance

Breaking news in the tech acquisition space this morning shows that Google will be purchasing Motorola Mobility for $40 per share, or $12.5 billion in cash.  This acquisition will solidify Google as an official phone manufacturer, producing Motorola smartphones running the Android OS.

Google has attempted the position of smartphone manufacturer in the past with it’s Google Nexus One smartphone.  This venture turned out to be a disaster, both from a customer service and standpoint and from a manufacturing stand point.  Google even, at a certain point, was overcharging on the taxes being paid on each Nexus One smartphone.

But this is something totally different.  With the purchase of Motorola Mobility, Google is acquiring an established manufacturing line that is already geared toward producing high-end smartphones.  Perhaps Google realized they couldn’t get into the mobile phone manufacturing business alone, and only a solid acquisition would like Motorola Mobility would allow Google to enter the space.

Here’s the news on Google acquiring Motorola Mobility from Business Wire:

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. & LIBERTYVILLE, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Google will acquire Motorola Mobility for $40.00 per share in cash, or a total of about $12.5 billion, a premium of 63% to the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on Friday, August 12, 2011. The transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

The acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a dedicated Android partner, will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.

Larry Page, CEO of Google, said, “Motorola Mobility’s total commitment to Android has created a natural fit for our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers. I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.”

Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola Mobility, said, “This transaction offers significant value for Motorola Mobility’s stockholders and provides compelling new opportunities for our employees, customers, and partners around the world. We have shared a productive partnership with Google to advance the Android platform, and now through this combination we will be able to do even more to innovate and deliver outstanding mobility solutions across our mobile devices and home businesses.”

Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile at Google, said, “We expect that this combination will enable us to break new ground for the Android ecosystem. However, our vision for Android is unchanged and Google remains firmly committed to Android as an open platform and a vibrant open source community. We will continue to work with all of our valued Android partners to develop and distribute innovative Android-powered devices.”

Webcast Information

Google and Motorola Mobility will hold a conference call with financial analysts to discuss this announcement today at 8:30am ET. The toll-free dial-in number for the call is 877-616-4476 (conference ID: 92149124). The call will also be webcast live at http://investor.shareholder.com/media/eventdetail.cfm?eventid=101369&CompanyID=ABEA-3VZHGF&e=1&mediaKey=A21887C59EBAAC12F1BCF4D43C080953. The webcast version of the conference call will be available through the same link following the conference call.

About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

About Motorola Mobility

Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. fuses innovative technology with human insights to create experiences that simplify, connect and enrich people’s lives. Our portfolio includes converged mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets; wireless accessories; end-to-end video and data delivery; and management solutions, including set-tops and data-access devices. For more information, visit motorola.com/mobility.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by phrases such as Google, Motorola or management of either company “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “foresees,” “forecasts,” “estimates” or other words or phrases of similar import. Similarly, statements herein that describe the proposed transaction, including its financial impact, and other statements of management’s beliefs, intentions or goals also are forward-looking statements. It is uncertain whether any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do, what impact they will have on the results of operations and financial condition of the combined companies or the price of Google or Motorola stock. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to the ability of the parties to consummate the proposed transaction and the satisfaction of the conditions precedent to consummation of the proposed transaction, including the ability to secure regulatory approvals at all or in a timely manner; the ability of Google to successfully integrate Motorola’s operations, product lines and technology; the ability of Google to implement its plans, forecasts and other expectations with respect to Motorola’s business after the completion of the transaction and realize additional opportunities for growth and innovation; and the other risks and important factors contained and identified in Google’s and Motorola’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), such as their respective Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Annual Reports on Form 10-K, any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date hereof. Neither Google nor Motorola undertakes any obligation to update the forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

Additional Information and Where to Find It

Motorola intends to file with the SEC a proxy statement in connection with the proposed transaction with Google. The definitive proxy statement will be sent or given to the stockholders of Motorola and will contain important information about the proposed transaction and related matters. SECURITY HOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT CAREFULLY WHEN IT BECOMES AVAILABLE. The proxy statement and other relevant materials (when they become available), and any other documents filed by Motorola with the SEC, may be obtained free of charge at the SEC’s website, at www.sec.gov. In addition, security holders will be able to obtain free copies of the proxy statement from Motorola by contacting Investor Relations by mail at Attn: Investor Relations, 600 North U.S. Highway 45, Libertyville, IL 60048.

Participants in the Solicitation

Motorola and its directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from Motorola stockholders in connection with the proposed transaction. Information about Motorola’s directors and executive officers is set forth in its proxy statement for its 2011 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on March 15, 2011, and its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, filed on February 18, 2011. These documents are available free of charge at the SEC’s website a twww.sec.gov, and by mail at Attention: Investor Relations, 600 North U.S. Highway 45, Libertyville, IL 60048, or by going to Motorola’s Investor Relations page on its corporate website at http://investors.motorola.com. Additional information regarding the interests of participants in the solicitation of proxies in connection with the transaction will be included in the proxy statement that Motorola intends to file with the SEC.

You know what, I’m thinking Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) might be a stock worth investing some money into over the long haul.  Now by no means am I a stock investor, or an analyst.  But I’m just looking at the this from an average Joe position.

Just yesterday, Apple beat out Exxon Mobile to become the world’s most valuable company with Apple earning what is now (as of 1:17pm EST, 8.12.11) a market cap of 350.40 billion dollar – something Apple has never accomplished before.

So you’d think that Apple is growing by leaps and bounds, and you’d be right – it is.  But consider also that Apple hasn’t even broken ground in any major way in China yet with the iPhone and iPad.  And also consider, according to Apple Insider, that Apple’s iPhone has only 4 percent to 5 percent share of all mobile phones, and the Mac owns a similar share of total PC sales.

According to Shaw Wu with Sterne Agee, “We believe AAPL has opportunity to double or potentially even triple its market share in these end markets over the next few years, particularly with Greater China and international as underpenetrated opportunities.”

And just glancing at the media frenzy that’s already building around the upcoming Apple iPhone 5 and iPad 3, or iPad HD – and couple that with these products launching in China and other international companies, you’re talking about something on the scale that the world has never before seen.

So you think AAPL stock and market cap is through the roof now, wait until it doubles or triples in value.  With AAPL market cap right now sitting at 350.40 billion – multiply that by 3 and you have a company with market cap of 1.05 trillion (that’s right – trillion) dollars.

image by AppAdvice

Apple’s market capitalization now totals $337.17 billion.  Exxon Mobile’s market cap sits at $330.77 billion.  Looking at these two numbers tells us that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is now the world’s most valuable company.  This is the first time in history that Apple has achieved this level of value in market capitalization.

Apple achieved this mark briefly on Tuesday around noon, surpassing Exxon Mobile during the middle of the trading day.  However, Apple shares pulled back and their market cap dropped back below Exxon (NYSE:XOM).  But it didn’t take long on Wednesday for the changing tide to take hold once again and put Apple back on top where it stayed throughout the day and into the closing.

Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices have been a catapult to the market valuation of the company.  It was too long ago that Apple was a struggling firm, and investors were contemplating removing Steve Jobs from the top post as they had done before.

However, with iPhone, and then the iPad, Apple has become a study how product development, marketing, and business savvy can elevate a company to success.

And there’s no end in sight for the heights that Apple can climb.  The new, and perhaps the most successful, Apple iPhone 5 is set to be released this fall along with a new iteration of the iPad, perhaps the iPad 3 or iPad HD.  These new device releases will once again show the world who is truly king in the smartphone and tablet space.

Heck, what am I talking about… Apple invented the tablet space!

When Apple rose to a high of $369.89 per share it had a $342.8 billion market share, and when Exxon fell to $68.78 per share it had a $334.41 billion market share.  This gave Apple (AAPL) the crown as the richest stock in the world.

However, things didn’t stay like this for long.  Apple closed with a market cap of $346.74B and Exxon closed with a 348.32B.  But as you can see, the spread is not too far apart and with slight movement either way, Apple could easily take the crown once again.

And with the price of oil closing down 2.47% today, Exxon’s stock could have more drag on it in tomorrow’s trading.  We’ll just have to wait and see if Apple can actually work it’s way into the world’s richest stock.

via HuffPost

At it’s lowest point, AOL shares were down 31% during the trading day.  However, with the bounce at the end, the stock managed to close down only 12%.

At around 12 noon today, AOL shares were down nearly 20%.  But as you can tell from the graph below, the nose dive was only about half way through.

So why the disappointing day today for AOL shares?

The biggest cause for the drop was AOL missing on EPS.  On top of that, revenue isn’t growing, even though AOL did post a gain in revenue in Q2 of 2011.  And finally, AOL continues pouring money into Patch, but Patch continues to not catch on in large scale.

Below is the chart that maps out AOL’s stock price movement throughout the day (August 9, 2011).  Notice how at the end, somehow, AOL’s stock price bounced:

via BI

Amazon

With the release of the Kindle, and now the soon to be Amazon Android tablet, the company continues to create outlets for more people to consume more products faster.

And with the mobile internet becoming faster and more stable – at least compared to say 5 years ago – creates an ever growing environment for Amazon to dominate and grow their online retail business.

The chart below shows you exactly what I’m talking about in terms of growth, profitability, and future sales predictions.

Amazon reported their year – over – year sales figures, and it shows the online retail giant’s sales figures at a 10 year high.

Here’s a chart from BI that shows Amazon’s explosive growth in sales over the past 10 years:

Amazon shares up while the NASDAQ is down

With Amazon breaking through a 10 year record high with online sales, the stock price (NASDAQ:AMZN) was up dramatically today, closing +8.34 (3.89%) at 222.52.

This stock price growth also outpaced the overall NASDAQ which closed down today -2.65% at 2,764.79.

However, in after hours trading, Amazon shares have taken a bit of a dip, they are trading currently at  222.35 -0.17 (-0.08%) in after market hours.

via BI, Google Finance

Blackberry maker RIM continues to struggle to keep up in the fast moving smartphone space.  The traditional “Blackberry” phone model is quickly being replaced by app heavy, touch display smartphones such as the iPhone and Android smartphones.  And despite the changes in the mobile phone marketplace since 2007, RIM seems to have failed to make the necessary changes to the product design to keep up with customer demand.

Another area where RIM is seriously lacking is in the developer space – meaning Blackberry doesn’t have a substantial apps marketplace for their devices.  The Blackberry Playbook is their attempt to enter the tablet market to compete with the iPad, but instead of focusing on their own apps marketplace, they’ve attempted to incorporate the Android marketplace.  Something that is not working out well for them.

So with all of this, RIM is now having to cut 2,000 jobs, or 10% of their workforce, as they struggle to maintain profitability.  Customers are simply moving away from Blackberry devices and purchasing Apple’s iPhone and Android smartphones instead.

via Gaurdian

Apple has approached owners of Hulu with a potential bid to purchase the streaming video service.

Owners of Hulu include big brand names such as Walt Disney, News Corp., and Comcast Corporation.

Apple would be looking to Hulu to bolster the iTunes store video service offering.

iTunes already has started offering on demand video rentals that allow you to rent a movie, even an HD movie, and then you have 30 days to watch the movie.  You can watch the movie as many times as you’d like within a 24 hour period.

Hulu is a private company with no public stock.

Information about Hulu from Google Finance:

Though it may sound like it, you really don’t need to wear a grass skirt to watch online video from this company. Hulu operates a website that features video from more than 225 content providers. Offerings include TV shows from ABC, FOX, and NBC, as well as from subsidiary cable channels such as Bravo and Syfy, and films from studios including Sony and MGM. Content is streamed on demand, free of charge the day after its broadcast debut. The company also offers premium subscription service Hulu Plus. The firm was launched in 2008 as a joint venture between NBCUniversal (NBCU, the parent of NBC) and News Corp. (the parent of FOX); in 2009 Disney (the parent of ABC) became a shareholder and content partner.

Apple has a huge week, and their stock (NASDAQ:AAPL) ended up closing over 7% for the week ending July 22nd.   On Wednesday, Apple announced a record breaking quarter.  During the earnings call, shares on Apple stock were halted temporarily.  But the stock opened up again for trading, it popped instantly over 400.  This was the first time in the history of the company that Apple share prices exceeded $400 per share.  But then, quickly thereafter, the stock price came back down to earth.  Apple’s stock price ended the week at 393.30, up 28.38 (7.78%).

This must be the season for big tech companies to post record quarterly earnings.

Microsoft  (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced a record fourth-quarter revenue of $17.37 billion.

Microsoft’s fourth quarter revenue increased 8% from the same period last year, with an annual revenue of $US69.96 billion, a 12% increase from 2010. Net income was $5.87 billion, up 30% from last year.

The ongoing momentum of Kinect, Xbox Live and the Xbox 360, the top-selling game console in the United States over the past 12 months, Microsoft said.

The Entertainment and Devices division revenuw grew 30% for the fourt quarter, and 45% for the full year, following Microsoft’s announcement at E3 of upcoming game lineup and Xbox Live content partnerships.

Not all roses for Microsoft however

Despite these record breaking numbers, Microsoft stock prices have continued to disappoint investors.

Microsoft stock prices are up just 8% over the past 12 months, compared to a 30% rise in the Nasdaq composite index.

via Google Finance

Nokia (NYSE:NOK) posted a quarterly loss of $521 million in, which is the first quarterly loss in 1 1/2 years.  The loss comes as handset sales slump following a partnership with Microsoft.

Despite the quarterly loss at Nokia, the stock price popped yesterday to close at 5.79, up +0.23 (4.14%).

According to a Nokia rep who responded to the stock movement and the news about the quarterly loss: “At the end of the first quarter 2011, our sales channel inventories were slightly above normal levels given then anticipated volumes. During the second quarter 2011, distributors and operators purchased fewer of our devices across our portfolio as they reduced their inventories of Nokia devices.”

I always love it when a company posts a quarterly loss and their stock price pops up over 4%.  Why in world would Nokia find it to be a good idea to partner with Microsoft on mobile phones?  MS is notorious for delivering unsuccessful mobile products.

This is all in sharp contrast to Apple’s monstrous earnings reports from yesterday.

via StreetInsider

In the earnings report call today that sent Apple’s stock price over $400, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer lifted up the curtain a bit allowing the world to see into Apple’s pipeline.

In the call, Oppenheimer said that Apple is “very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to users this fall.”

He then hinted at the suggestion of the iPhone 5 when he said that the September quarter would be affected by a “product transition”.

This “product transition” is believed to be the much anticipated Apple iPhone 5.

via BI