Is JCPenney doing a dead-cat bounce, or is there real life remaining in the venerable retail brand in the post-Ron Johnson era?

George Soros is betting the latter. The famous (or infamous) investor has taken a 7.9 percent stake in JCPenney, a development that immediately sent the stock up by nearly 7 percent late last week. Soros's stake is still less than half that of hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman, who recruited Johnson as JCPenney CEO, and then helped sack him earlier this month. But at least, arguably, Soros is buying low.

Goldman Sachs has placed a bet as well on the possibility that new JCPenney CEO Myron Ullman (who also was CEO before Johnson's tenure of little more than a year) will be able to restore JCPenney if not to greatness, at least to long-term viability. The financier gave the company a five-year, $1.75 billion loan secured by JCPenney's real estate across middle America.Continue reading...

AT&T posts $4-billion quarterly profit and sells 3.7 million iPhones (click here for highlights).

Amazon pursues careful state-sales-tax strategy.

Apple and Samsung gear up for "patent trial of the century" as Samsung's Galaxy Tab 7.7 is banned in EU.

Apple is expected to beat estimates in today's earnings conference call, if not a blowout.

BMW invests in EV-charging network.

Billabong gets lower takeover offer.

Capital One deceptive-marketing fine "unlikely" to change its strategy.Continue reading...

Apple slows down growth in China and plans reveal iPhone 5 on its campus, as Verizon sides with Samsung in Apple dispute.

Arizona and Lipton fight for first place in dynamic tea category.

Audi and its new A6 "take over" Jersey City in new branded content with FX.

Blockbuster unveils streaming movie service as Netflix secures streaming deal with Dreamworks.

Bloomberg and Time shuffle web heads.

Boeing offers bidets and electric window shades on new Dreamliner for All Nippon Airways.

Bud Light pairs with Pitbull in pitch for Cuban-American consumers.Continue reading...

OK, there isn’t an Official Sunscreen or Official Golf Ball of Scottsdale, Arizona — yet.

The City Council deadlocked last week on a vote about a proposal to allow such public spaces as trolleys, buses, dog parks, and libraries “to be canvases for private-sector marketing, advertising and sponsoring in exchange for a long-term, incremental revenue boost,” reports the Arizona Republic.Continue reading...

• Leading our round-up of the week in branding, Verizon's first iPhone ad. Tick. Tock.

• "Worst marketing stunt of 2011" award contender: surf shop's 20% off "black stuff" Martin Luther King Jr. Day sale.

• Ready to think small, Walgreens Mini Walmart, including pharmacy, opens at University of Arkansas.Continue reading...

Odds and sods that came in over the transom this week:

* Southwest Airlines making of "Florida One." (above)

* Want a retro website? Geocities-izer turns any site into a 1996 webpage.

* Snickers snookered.

* Hungry for Shaolin Temple™ Noodles? Wait you must, grasshopper.

* Got an airline? Need a logo? No problem: just grab a bird and a circle.Continue reading...