The triumphant sub-headline on Apple's quarterly earnings report press release says it all: "Highest Quarterly Revenue and Earnings Ever All-Time Record iPhone, iPad and Mac Sales."

Its profits more than doubled, with record quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion and record quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion, and it now boasts a whopping $97.6 billion in the bank — more than the market capitalization of all but 52 companies. “We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.”

Covering the all-important holiday selling period through Dec. 31st, 2011, the company reported that international sales "accounted for 58 percent of the quarter’s revenue. The Company sold 37.04 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 128 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 15.43 million iPads during the quarter — beatimg the number of PC's that HP sold in the quarter, and a 111 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter — xxx. The Company sold 5.2 million Macs during the quarter, a 26 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter."

The only flat note: Apple sold 15.4 million iPods in the quarter, "a 21 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter" — as the Los Angeles Times commented, "which is not terrible, because Apple did not upgrade most of the iPods available last Christmas."Continue reading...

The Googleplex is buzzing, as Google Ventures, the company’s two-year-old independent venture capital arm is doubling its start-up investment budget to $200 million, doubling it office space, and adding new team members.

Its latest: Laura Melahn, Google Ventures' new head of marketing, whose hiring is a sign that Google is ready to get serious about promoting its VC activities.

With three major successes so far — Ngmoco, acquired by Japanese gaming company, DeNA, for around $400 million; HomeAway, went public in June; and Silver Spring Networks, a smart-grid company, which filed for an IPO — the search behemoth is searching for the next Zynga or Facebook.Continue reading...

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has a vision for the structure that's going to lift the brand into the iCloud.

The Apple CEO is lobbying for a spaceship-shaped new campus incorporating property formerly occupied by HP that would accommodate up to 13,000 employees, with its own energy source to keep green. “Apple is growing like a weed,” he told the Cupertino, CA, City Council on Tuesday. “And as you know, we’ve always been in Cupertino.” He also reminded the council how much Apple pays in local taxes.

Jobs's famed presentation skills won the day. "Apple is truly a technology of innovation, and our city staff and City Council looks forward to working with you and helping you succeed here in our community," Mayor Gilbert Wong said after — wait for it — pulling out his iPad 2.

Microsoft announced today it has sold more than 10 million Kinect systems for the Xbox 360, setting a Guinness World Record for fastest-selling consumer device. As Mashable points out, Kinect sales have slowed since Christmas — but still: Yeah, yeah, yeah indeed.

IBM is hoping to build what may be the world's fastest supercomputer: "a 3-petaflop machine called the SuperMUC that will run on 14,000 Intel Xeon processors and require a specially designed cooling system."

In the meantime, it's pitting its current supercomputer, affectionately known as Watson, against Jeopardy! all-stars Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. If Watson wins the first Jeopardy! IBM Challenge (airing Feb. 14-16), the $1 million prize money will go to charity.

Big Blue hopes Watson's TV debut will have a halo effect on the brand, and "reveal just how far IBM researchers have pushed the boundaries of these technologies." (Hopefully this one ends better than Kasparov vs. Deep Blue.) More on the showdown after the jump.Continue reading...

AOL today announced the acquisition of TechCrunch, the network of blogs started by Michael Arrington that now includes MobileCrunch, CrunchGear, TechCrunchIT, GreenTech, TechCrunchTV and CrunchBase.  

According to the TechMeme Leaderboard, TechCrunch ranks as the No. 1 source of breaking tech news online, with AOL’s Engadget at No. 2.

“Michael and his colleagues have made the TechCrunch network a byword for breaking tech news and insight into the innovative world of start-ups, and their reputation for top-class journalism precisely matches AOL’s commitment to delivering the expert content critical to this audience,” said Tim Armstrong, Chairman and CEO.

It’s a bold and decisive move in Armstrong’s strategy to reinvent AOL as a content network by launching or acquiring targeted content brands, and a must-buy for advertisers in the technology arena. It’s also a brand marriage that may just work.Continue reading...

Digital media is changing the branding game. The former conversation about brand promise, equity, and image has been replaced by a new discourse about building platforms, proving utility, and interaction/ entertainment buzz.

The first Internet banner ad appeared in 1994; in 2000 advertising first appeared on Google.com, and a few years later the first Tide commercials showed up on YouTube. Today, people are “friending” the BK king on Facebook – marking a steep trajectory as the arena for brand building has shifted from print and TV to the multidimensional, 24/7 real-time media of digital.

Historically, brands reflect the media milieu: logos are predominant in print, jingles in radio, taglines and image in TV spots. But the advent of digital tools has brought a mash-up of data, messaging, and functionalities – and all bets are off. Strategic decisions about branding are no longer defined by technology… or past performance. Digital branding deals with behavior.Continue reading...

E-grocer Fresh Direct has created an iPhone app especially for New Yorkers. (As if city dwellers needed another reason to stay in their homes for food delivery.) It was designed after executives learned that half of the online grocery store's consumers owned the Apple phone – Blackberry users need not apply.

Available to current Fresh Direct users, the new feature tracks and stores previous purchases made on its website through a company-made database. “We’re using the customer’s own shopping behavior to give them a better experience,” said CEO Rick Braddock.Continue reading...