Google and Apple are locked in a battle to become the "platform" upon which most future mobile applications are built.

So far, Apple has a big lead in this market--the integrated software and hardware iPhone dominates third-party mobile apps--but Google's strategy of giving software away for free to handset makers could allow the company to provide some serious competition.  The latter strategy, after all, is the one Microsoft used in the late 80s and early 90s to take share away from Apple, which then, as ever, was building integrated hardware and software devices.

But now Google appears to have changed its strategy, trying to have it both ways.

Over the weekend, Google confirmed that it is producing integrated hardware and software phones.  Specifically, it confirmed that it has distributed an Android-based phone to employees for them to provide feedback, presumably before selling the phone to actual consumers.

Plenty of questions remain...

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From The Business Insider, Dec. 9, 2009:

1. Wind N’ Go Freedom Shaver

The Wind N’ Go Freedom Shaver is powered by cranking a plastic handle for a full minute, which provides enough power for one shave. If you're too lazy to shave using a razor, the last thing you're going to add to your morning routine is sixty seconds of winding to charge up your environmentally friendly gadget. Replacement blades and foils sold seperataly.

2. Tweet-a-Watt

The Tweet-a-Watt starter pack is a system that lets you share your energy-saving successes with the entire Twitter community, because people want to know exactly how much you can brag about living green. Just make sure you already own a Kill-a-Watt power monitoring system and be prepared for some serious DIY action. Setting this up requires taking the Kill-a-Watt apart and attaching the Tweet-a-Watt's various capacitors and resistors and things.

3. Mode Premium All-In-One Recycling Center

Even though you're already recycling, you might still want to fork up $270 for the Mode Premium All-In-One Recycling Center, a bulky device that keeps all your paper, plastic, glass and metal in one unit. Sure it holds very few recycling products, but at least it comes with a carbon filter for odor control.

4. Bedol Water-Powered Clock

The Bedol Water-Powered Clock runs on a combination of water and lemon juice, and that's cool, but a cheap gadget you have to "refill" every six weeks that saves a negligible amount of energy is a little ridiculous. Especially considering there's no alarm on this model. The water-powered clock with an alarm will cost you $29.

5. Eton Solar Link Radio

Another wind-up gadget, the Eton Solar Link Radio, a clock/radio with USB cell phone charger connectors, is supposedly for "emergencies," just so long as they don't involve rain (it's not waterproof). It is sun-friendly, but to run on solar power it takes a whole day of direct sun light for a few hours of operation. Not recommended: owning more than one gadget that requires cranking a flimsy plastic knob to charge...

See more from The Business Insider:

• 15 Gadgets That Changed Everything This Decade
• What Will the Xbox 720 and PS4 Look Like
• 10 Awesome Foreign Airports That Mike Ours Look Awful

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Black Friday finally is here. The day after Thanksgiving unofficially kicks off the holiday shopping season. (Merchants use the term "Black Friday" to refer to the period when retailers' books historically go to black from being in the red.)

But our guest Kristin Bentz, a retailing analyst and author of The Talented Blonde blog, forecasts more red than black this year. "I think the holiday retail sales are really going to be dismal. They're going to be flat to down," she tell Aaron and Henry. "I certainly don't think 'less bad' means better."

But stocks are up! The Retail Holders (RTH) has surged more than 50% from its March lows. "I would take some money off the table right now and sell into the strength," Bentz says, suggesting there's a  big gulf between Wall Street and Main Street.

Looking ahead, Bentz forecasts two key trends this season:...

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From The Business Insider, Nov. 12, 2009:

It's apparently significantly easier to get admitted to Harvard University than it is to get a job at the Apple Store. At least for Apple's newest store in New York.

At a press event today, Apple said that 10,000 people submitted applications to work at the new store on Manhattan's Upper West Side, according to Gizmodo's Matt Buchanan.

Of those, just over 200 got jobs, for a 2% acceptance rate.

Meanwhile, Harvard's acceptance rate was 7% this past year, according to a March report in the Boston Globe. That's 29,000 applications for about 2,000 admissions.

Obviously, the requirements and admission processes for college and a retail job are much different -- these aren't direct comparisons. But it's amazing how selective Apple can be with its retail employees. And it's amusing that, at least statistically, the odds of getting into Harvard are better than getting a job selling iPods.

This may put new meaning into the term "Genius Bar."

Click here for a few first-look photos of the new store, gathered from Twitter

From All Things Digital, Oct, 26, 2009:

Verizon posted a decent third quarter this morning, besting consensus estimates. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had been expecting earnings of 59 cents on revenue of $27.17 billion. Excluding one-time costs, Verizon reported profits of 60 cents a share on revenue of $27.3 billion. That’s a 10 percent decline year-over-year, but still better than expected.

Wireless-subscribership gains, though they trailed AT&T’s iPhone-bolstered numbers, were impressive nonetheless. Verizon added 1.2 million wireless customers during the quarter raising its total count to 89 million. That’s not the 2 million AT&T added, but it certainly demonstrates that the absence of the iPhone from Verizon’s handset line-up isn’t holding the carrier up all that much.

Verizon also added 198,000 net new customers for FiOS Internet and 191,000 for FiOS TV service.

“Verizon continues to generate strong cash flow, which we have used in building the foundation for sustainable, long-term shareowner value,” Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg said in a statement. “Even through the worst of the recession, we have continued to raise our dividend and to add new customers, expand markets and grow revenues based on the power and innovation of Verizon’s wireless, broadband and global networks.”

More coverage from All Things Digital:

• Exclusive Xbox 360-Netflix Partnership Not So Exclusive Anymore
• Amazon Pulls Cork on Wine Delivery

From All Things Digital, Oct. 19, 2009:

When Apple reports its fourth-quarter earnings today, investors are hoping–actually, expecting–that the iconic computer company will look a lot now as it always has.

In other words, don’t go changing and it will please us.

Wall Street is anticipating, as it has throughout the econalypse, another estimate-beating performance from Apple.

While Apple has signaled it would be making up to $1.23 a share for the quarter, the “whisper” number for the quarter is much higher.

Revenue is also expected to rise strongly to upwards of $9 billion.

The reason for all this happy talk? Strong sales of all of Apple’s innovative hardware products, including iPods, iPhones, computers, as well as big, fat profit margins that come with the upgrades this past quarter by consumers to its new Snow Leopard operating system software.

And, of course, the stock has been showing all this investor love by–as BoomTown has noted recently–defying gravity.

Apple shares are up just above 120 percent since the beginning of the year.

It closed at $188.05 on Friday, giving it a market valuation of $168.5 billion.

Whether it will continue going up is a big question of investors, although Apple is entering the holiday season, which is one in which it typically does well.

Plus, many are expecting the company to goose excitement for 2010 with the announcement of its secret-but-everyone-knows tablet offering.

That said, Microsoft also officially is launching a new operating system out this week–Windows 7–which is expected to give Apple some clear competition.

More coverage from All Things Digital:

• Sprint Nextel Silences iPCS
• Viral Video: The Rock Obama Returns

Goggle's back in familiar territory. The stock is trading near $500 a share, nearly doubling since plummeting with the rest of the market last December.

As you'd expect, the comeback is built on the resurgence of its search business. Colin Gillis, an analyst with Brigantine Advisors, writes in his latest research report: "The key metric for us is rising CPC (cost-per-click) showing a willingness for advertisers to pay more to reach consumers -- and an indication that clicks are translating into sales … . A combination of paid click growth and a lift in CPC is the formula that drives upside in revenue and the GOOG share price."

Speaking of share price, Gillis has a $600 price target and a buy rating on the stock.

But as Henry Blodget points out in the accompanying clip, if Google wants to grow in the next decade as fast as it did in the last, the company must find its next multibillion-dollar business.

Is the mobile platform Android the answer?

From The Business Insider, Oct. 7, 2009:

Amazon is improving two weaknesses with its Kindle e-book reader: Its price and its inability to download books overseas.

• Amazon is cutting the price of its Kindle 2 to $259, down from $299, it announced.
• It's also selling another Kindle that supports international roaming in over 100 countries, which will cost $279 and will ship on Oct. 19. When roaming internationally, books will cost an extra $1.99, as will downloads from your "archived items."

The GSM-based international Kindle will use AT&T's network in the U.S. This means AT&T will likely be able to report new Kindle units activated in the U.S. as wireless subscribers. (And it likely means Sprint-based Kindles will be phased out.)

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told the New York Times that Kindle books now represent 48% of total book sales when both Kindle and paper versions are available, up from 35% in May and 13% in February.

Bought a Kindle within the last month? You'll be able to return it for the international version if you want, Bezos tells Wired.

More coverage from The Business Insider:

• Sarah Palin's publishers sacrifices Kindle readers 
• No Ted Kennedy for Kindle readers

From The Business Insider, Oct. 5, 2009: 

With business expansion a risky proposition for many companies given the uncertain future, acquiring  established companies looks pretty compelling.

Many potential acquisition targets are doing fine in this downturn, yet are arguably trading at historically discounted levels.

Some are sitting on mountains of net cash, which can total as much as 60% of their share price.

Other companies have already rejected recent buy-out offers and are very much in-play.

1. Cephalon

Cephalon is a leading biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for sleep-related disorders, cancer, and pain.

While its shares have been under pressure due to the threat of generic competition for its key narcolepsy drug Provigil, these concerns may be overblown.

The company already has a next generation narcolepsy drug Nuvigil set up to replace Provigil. This new drug might even be approved to treat jet lag as an additional indication.

Cephalon's cancer and pain portfolio is both promising and already adding value, contributing to over 35% of the company's revenue.

All-in-all, consensus expects the company to earn over $6 a share for 2010, putting it at 2010 PE of under 10x. CEPH's balance sheet also has more cash than debt, thus is net cash.

Cephalon recently raised money and could be looking for acquisitions itself, yet it looks appealing to a larger pharmaceutical company in need of growth as well.

Acquiring CEPH is probably less risky and cheaper than doing R&D from scratch.

2. Activision-Blizzard

Establishing a hit video game is difficult, but once achieved, they tend to become repeatable cash cows.

That's why Activision-Blizzard could be an appealing industry-consolidation target for someone larger and cash-rich like Electronic Arts or even, we'll go out on a limb here, Microsoft.

The company owns Guitar Hero, which became so popular with gamers that there's a South Park episode dedicated to it.

It also owns hit franchises such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. Christmas is usually kind to video game sales, and ATVI's latest Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is expected to be a top-seller this year.

Without even considering income from the upcoming Christmas season, ATVI already has net cash totaling about 20% of its market cap. Strip away this net cash from the company's market price and ATVI trades at about 12x 2010 earnings.

While recent insider selling requires scrutiny, ATVI could be cheaper than developing hit games from scratch.

3. Dolby Labs

Dolby has been blowing our minds since 1965 and is one of the best known brands for sound technology.

While the economic downturn may have stagnated the company's earnings growth, this brand isn't going anywhere because it is:

A) Extremely well established as a leader.

B) Essentially debt free.

C) Sitting on half a billion dollars of cash.

D) Highly cash-generative and profitable with near-50% operating margins.

These days, when growing a new line of business is harder than ever, Dolby presents an interesting alternative for an electronics company looking to put money to work.

Thing is, would Ray Dolby ever sell his controlling stake? Maybe for the right price...

More coverage from The Business Insider:

• Full slide show: Check Out These 12 Juicy Buyout Candidates
• Is Greenberg Traurig John Grisham's 'The Firm'?

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Considering the recession and fickle consumer tastes, these are awfully difficult days to be a retailer. For video chain Blockbuster, already no stranger to tough times, it just keeps getting harder.

With the rise of competitors such as movie-mailer Netflix and Redbox, whose flick-dispensing machines can be found in grocery stores all over, Blockbuster is being forced to reset, saying it may close nearly 1,000 stores by the end of 2010 as its once-certain dominance continues to be threatened by rivals.

According to a regulatory filing Tuesday, Blockbuster expects to shut between 810 and 960 locations by the time next year wraps up, a number that would exceed more than one-fifth of its current U.S. shops.

That's quite a step up, or back depending on your perspective, from Blockbuster's previous plan, which anticipated 380 to 425 closings in that time frame. Here's how the corporate office sees it: Blockbuster characterizes 35% of its stores as "core," while saying 47%, or nearly half its total, are profitable, but still "non-core." The remaining 18% aren't turning a profit.

Ugh. That about sums it up at this point. Earlier this year, there were worries that Dallas-based Blockbuster might have to consider bankruptcy before it diffused that crisis. How about 2008, though? Another close call. Back then, it looked at a merger with Circuit City -- the electronics seller that did end up bankrupt. Now, store shutdowns...

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