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Tech’s whirlwind week: Apple, Amazon, Microsoft

Jeff Horwich Oct 26, 2012
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Tech’s whirlwind week: Apple, Amazon, Microsoft

Jeff Horwich Oct 26, 2012
HTML EMBED:
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Tech stocks have had quite a day today and quite a week. Apple, Amazon and Microsoft are all in the spotlight for various reasons.

To break it all down, here’s a roundup on where each company stands. Apple unveiled its new iPad Mini earlier this week. But the hype quieted down after Apple reported lower than expected third-quarter earnings. In particular, iPad sales disappointed investors. For its part, Amazon reported its first earnings loss in five years.

“Amazon is always investing,” says Larry Dignan, editor-in-chief of the tech news site ZDNet.

Dignan says Amazon has poured money into its line of Kindle tablets as well as other business areas, and that this investment “kills earnings.” In the short term, at least. Microsoft also had a premier week with the release of Windows 8. The company is optimistic that the new operating system will usher in a new era of computing, but Dignan says nothing is for sure.

“They’ve bet the company that they can become a phone, tablet, and PC player…how this bet turns out is anyone’s guess.”  

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