economy

Brands in Public: the end of the conversation?

It was just a matter of time: "With brands turning into curators of conversations about them and brand value increasingly determined by the value of aggregated content, third parties might be inspired to hijack these very brands by offering curated conversations on their behalf," I wrote in early July.

And now Seth Godin and BzzAgent have done exactly this. The marketing guru and the marketing agency have launched a portal that aggregates conversations about brands and presents them in a unified public-facing dashboard that gives brands the chance to lead the discussion. Brands in Public translates the Get Satisfaction … Read more

Ballmer delves into the 'new normal'

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sent on Monday one of his periodic public e-mails, outlining the business realities of what he called "the new normal."

His e-mail comes just ahead of an event in San Francisco where he will talk about the lineup of products Microsoft is launching, namely Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Exchange Server 2010. I'll be covering that event live later Tuesday.

"Today, people borrow less, save more, and spend with much greater caution," Ballmer wrote in the e-mail, which is sent to anyone who subscribes to the notes. "This … Read more

Gartner: PC sales to make slight recovery by year's end

Despite earlier, more dire predictions, PC sales are now estimated to fall off just 2 percent from 2008 totals, according to a report released Wednesday.

The latest forecast issued from market research firm Gartner says PC shipments should reach 285 million units by the end of 2009. That's just slightly off last year's shipments of 291 million. The forecast is markedly improved over June's estimates from Gartner, which forecast a 6 percent decline for the year.

The better-than-anticipated demand is being driven mostly by notebook and Netbooks in China and the U.S., according to Gartner research … Read more

Weak economy hurts Verizon's earnings

Updated 8:27 a.m. PDT with information from the conference call.

Verizon Communications' second-quarter profits took a hit as the weakened economy caused some corporate customers to cut spending. Meanwhile, the company continued to see strong growth in its wireless and consumer TV and broadband businesses.

The company's second-quarter results, released Monday, were in line with analyst predictions.

Verizon said it earned $3.16 billion, or 52 cents per share, in the quarter. During the same quarter a year ago, the company earned $3.4 billion, or 66 cents per share.

Excluding special items, the company said it … Read more

iPhone, Mac sales continue to propel Apple forward

Though iPod sales slipped, Apple rode increased Mac and iPhone sales to a better-than-expected quarter.

Revenue came in at $8.34 billion, resulting in earnings of $1.35 per share. That's a 12 percent increase from a year ago, when Apple reported earnings of $7.46 billion and earnings per share of $1.19.

Analysts were expecting $1.17 in earnings per share and revenues of $8.2 billion. The quarter ended June 27 was the best nonholiday quarter in terms of revenue and earnings for Apple--a bar that had been newly set during the previous quarter.

Apple also … Read more

The future of capitalism in five minutes: meaning-driven business in fast times

Never let a crisis go to waste! Inspired by the transformative impetus of the economic downturn, we’ll soon be starting our series about “Meaning-Driven Business” that invites leading business thinkers as well as C-level executives to discuss alternative ways of doing business and creating value. The series is based on the assumption that the current crisis is also a moral crisis, a fundamental crisis of trust in business leadership. According to the Chicago Booth/Kellogg School Financial Trust Index from April 8, trust in business has reached unprecedented lows, with only 10% of Americans now saying they trust large … Read more

Nokia sees bottom to mobile market malaise

The mobile handset market is set for recovery after the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, according to Nokia, the world's largest maker of cell phones.

The cell phone market has been hit particularly hard by the worldwide economic slowdown. And companies such as Nokia and Sony Ericsson have taken a beating.

The second quarter of 2009 was particularly hard for Nokia. The company's earnings were ugly with a 25 percent drop in revenue, a 15 percent drop in handset shipments, and a more than 70 percent decline in operating profits, compared to the same quarter in … Read more

Dell poised to benefit most from PC market recovery

Maybe Dell's dark days are finally over.

All signs are pointing to an improved PC market that will start to materialize later this year and really regain ground next year. Dell, the PC maker that's arguably been battered most by the downturn, also stands to make the greatest gains when the seas begin to calm.

PC market share How the biggest PC makers stack up PC maker Units shipped (in thousands) Percentage of market share HP 13,095 19.8 Dell 9,108 13.7 Acer 8,431 12.7 Lenovo 5,757 8.7 Toshiba 3,494 … Read more

PC market improvement on the horizon

There are more encouraging signs that the worst might be over for the PC industry.

For the second straight quarter, PC shipments worldwide were better than expected. Desktop and notebook shipments for the second quarter of 2009 decreased 3.1 percent from the same time a year ago, according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, released Wednesday. Though it's still negative growth, it's being read as a positive sign since analysts were expecting a 6.3 percent drop.

Combined with Intel's better than expected earnings Tuesday, and Dell's pronouncement that demand for computers is stabilizing, … Read more

The 404 378: Where Jill Schlesinger eats Wilson's Asian pear

Asian pears are delicious, which is why Jill Schlesinger--The 404's very own financial expert from CBS MoneyWatch--likes them so much! After getting through some munching and slurping noises in the first minute by Wilson, Jill explains to us what is going on with the economy and why we need to fear the End of Days. Just kidding...mostly.

Not being financial experts by any means, Jill explains some basic terms to us so we know what the heck is going on. Like what is the difference between the unemployment rate and weekly jobless claims? Plus, she goes on to say that she thinks that everybody should have at least six months of living expenses saved up, given that the average person is jobless for 22 weeks now. And maybe we should start spending money again if we know that we're not about to lose our job. It would help the economy out. We know it sounds very different than most of our inane topics to most of our audience, but money is something we all need to know and understand. Plus, we love how Jill lays it on us with financial straight talk.

On the second half of the show, Jill tells us about her CBS Evening News appearance and her lady crush on our very own Katie Couric. Jill comments about the growing political discourse about a possible second stimulus package. Check out the segment. We've embedded it into this blog post.

Come back tomorrow, where we've got Steve Guttenberg. Of course, we're got the doors barricaded, just in case HR comes running in. And! We've got Wilson's Audio Draft. (Editor's note: I promise I listen to music. Whale sounds anybody?)

UPDATED: Before we forget, download the new 404 artwork for your desktop background.Desktop Backgrounds: 4 x 3, 16 x 9 and 16 x10, iPhone.

Full Disclosure: CNET, The 404, MoneyWatch and the CBS Evening News all are properties of CBS.

EPISODE 378 Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more