- Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone shipped 8.7 million iPhones in 4Q, almost double the year-earlier figure and 18% higher than previous quarter’s gains. Impressive, except for the fact that the device’s market share actually slipped a bit from previous quarter. But don’t read too much into the decline, as claiming 16.6% of a market it had no presence in three years ago is “astonishing,” Digital Daily blogger John Paczkowski says.
- As controversy swirls around Tim Geithner and his tenure as Treasury secretary, former IMF chief economist Simon Johnson offers a plausible successor: Tom Hoenig. He’s been a “beacon of clarity” throughout the past year and would appeal to both “sensible” Democrats and Republicans, Johnson says.
- AOL expected to report 4Q results tomorrow morning, marking first quarterly report since becoming newly independent company in mid-December. Shares are essentially unchanged since going public, reflecting investors’ “widespread wait-and-see attitude,” BoomTown blogger Kara Swisher says.
- There’s no way around the sense that President Obama’s budget proposal is “a tremendous comedown from the hopes of a year ago,” Paul Krugman writes at Conscience of a Liberal. “What we’re witnessing is an awesome national failure.”
- Here’s a deep concern plaguing Gannett (GCI): steep EBITDA decline throughout last few years suggests publisher is “running out of ways to trim expenses as ad sales decline,” Newsosaur blogger Alan Mutter says.
- Google’s (GOOG) expanding its research agenda, devoting $5.7 million to a dozen research projects. Money’s earmarked for four areas: machine learning, the use of mobile phones as data collection devices, energy efficiency in computing and privacy.
- TechCrunch says Google already has Apple’s iPad in its sights. Blog points to a series of photo mock-ups showing what Google’s Chrome operating system might look like on a tablet form factor.
- YouTube’s first attempt at charging customers to watch Web video wasn’t exactly a roaring success, netting about $10,700. But YouTube’s payoff isn’t just in cash. “The good news: some people paid up,” MediaMemo blogger Peter Kafka says. “And from YouTube’s perspective, that’s all that matters.”
- Amazon (AMZN) shares continue dropping in aftermath of a dispute with major book publisher about e-book prices as well as the prospect of increasing competition from Apple’s iPad. “What I will say is that every schoolboy learns that you sell the Christmas plans before Christmas, not in January,” Josh Brown writes at The Reformed Broker. “Amazon’s a classic example of why.”
- And the battle between Amazon and Macmillion is still raging, NYT’s Bits blog reports, as some, but not all, titles have been creeping back onto Amazon’s site.
- Paul Volcker continues pushing for bank limits. He said large commercial banks engaging in proprietary trading or private-investment activity are creating “strong conflicts of interest” and should be restricted.
