Maybe They Should Change Their Name To App$e– The Week In Tech

In the tech industry no game is more tempting, more dangerous, and more rewarding than the Game of Buzz.

UP

• APPLE: There’s no way to look at this week and not see it as a triumph for Apple. First: the earnings numbers. $28.7 Billion in revenue, with $7.31 billion in profit. For the quarter. As MG Sielger observed, Apple now stands just $50 Billion shy of being the most valuable company on the planet. By this time next year they could knock out the number one spot: Exxon. A consumer electronics company worth more than an oil magnate? It’s inevitable. So how does Apple celebrate? Big crazy party? Nope. They unleash the next version of their OS, Lion, the first to be released primarily through digital download. And it’s already hit one million downloads… and counting. Add to that new hardware releases and the cherry on top: rumors that Apple is looking to pick up Hulu. With over $76 billion dollars in cash in the bank, Apple could pay the expected asking price of $2 billion without batting an eyelash.It’s good to be the king.

STEADY

• SPOTIFY: The exclusive rollout is back in vougue, apparently as Spotify slowly dribbles out invites to the free side of the service and stirs up a frenzy. That doesn’t mean the response across the board has been positive. There are plenty of corners of the Internet where music heads are throwing up their hands and saying “I just don’t get it” or extolling the virtues of competitors like Rdio.Yet Spotify has only begun to play its hand. This week Nine Inch Nails frontman, the Oscar winning Trent Reznor, made his Spotify profile public (spotify:user:treznor). By giving his fans a direct look at what he’s listening to — and the mixes that played between sets at NIN shows — Reznor demonstrates the intoxicating power of a socially connected music service that cuts to the chase: it’s about the songs, stupid.

DOWN

• GOOGLE: The era of Larry Page as CEO of Google may very well be remembered for bold moves. The Big G is shuttering their funky side with the announcement of the closure of Google Labs. Apparently, the era of open experimentation is over, and it’s time to get down to business. Unless you are a business trying to hold court on Google+. Renegade business profiles were shut down on the service this week, causing all kinds of commotion. Not so much over the closures themselves, but on how the policy didn’t seem to be enforced equally. Maybe the web-heads are just spoiled now, but it seems everyone has forgotten what Beta means. If so, blame Google: they left GMail in Beta for years, redefining the concept and setting a higher standard.
• RIM: The Blackberry manufacturer’s Playbook tablets are being outsold by Windows slates.That just has to hurt. Someone put RIM out of its misery already.