The month ahead: How the iPhone 3GS is faring

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Speaker: The big event in July is earnings. And these reports are particularly significant because it gives a pulse of what's happened in the first six months. Joining us now to take a look at the big four in the tech industry is our senior editor, Sam Diaz. Sam, thank you for being with us.

>>Sam Diaz: Sure. Thank you for having me.

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Speaker: So we're hearing talk about green shoots. And we want to know if these green shoots are also present in the tech industry. Let's talk about the big four companies, and start with Apple.

>>Sam Diaz: Oh, yes, Apple, always some excitement around Apple. Of course, the big news is the return of Steve Jobs, who has come back from his medical leave and has returned as a CEO, albeit a little bit on a part-time basis, but definitely some excitement. Now, that's important because it now diverts the attention away from sort of the corporate structure, what's happening with Steve and his medical condition, back to the products at hand. Now, remember, this last quarter we saw the launch of the iPhone 3GS.

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Speaker: That's right.

>>Sam Diaz: Analysts had been expecting, oh, you know, a half a million, maybe three-quarters of a million phones to ship over the opening weekend-

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Speaker: And sales surpassed that.

>>Sam Diaz: Absolutely. More than a million phones sold I the opening weekend. Very impressive. Analysts are very bullish on that, and they think that it's a good sign of what's to come for the rest of the year to Apple.

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Speaker: Moving on, then, to Yahoo.

>>Sam Diaz: Oh, yes, Yahoo, a new sheriff in town. Carol Bartz has been on the job since January, and you know, interestingly enough, she's really taken a very progressive approach with the company in talking about, you know, what they are, but more importantly, what they're not. So she says, "We're not Google. Don't compare us to Google. We're more than search. We are -- we're mail. We're finance. We're all these other properties that people come to everyday and spend a lot of time. So she's very big on the company, and I think Wall Street is actually starting to hear her message that Yahoo has a lot of life in it left.

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Speaker: So can they put 2008 behind them then?

>>Sam Diaz: I think everybody wants to put 2008 behind them.

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Speaker: Okay, since we're talking about Google, Google is next on our list.

>>Sam Diaz: That's right. Now, Google is an interesting story because Google is largely tied to ad spending. And they actually had warned earlier that the second and third quarters are seasonably slow-

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Speaker: Gonna be down, right.

>>Sam Diaz: --And you know, ad spending is down. That's sort of been across the board. However, they've got a lot of momentum building around Android, their mobile operating system. There's some buzz that Android may appear in some netbooks, and of course, there's the big news that Motorola's expected to launch more than a dozen phones using Android later this year. So a lot of excitement on that front.

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Speaker: Finally, Microsoft. We have Windows 7 to look forward to?

>>Sam Diaz: That's right, Microsoft. I've given Microsoft a lot of grief over the months about Windows 7 and Vista and that sort of thing --

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Speaker: Because we keep hearing about it.

>>Sam Diaz: --But there is -- yeah, absolutely. But there is a lot of excitement around Windows 7. You know, one of the things that Wall Street has been watching is the hardware upgrades on the corporate side. Not a lot of companies were upgrading to Vista, so the idea here is that Windows 7 comes I; companies will start upgrading. Consumers will upgrade. We're gonna also put Windows Vista behind us and focus on Windows 7. It's a lot of pressure for Microsoft, but later this fall, we'll see how they do.

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Speaker: All right, Sam. Thank you so much.

>>Sam Diaz: Sure. Thank you.

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Speaker: We will keep you updated on all the earnings of these big four companies and other tech news, just head to Blogs.zdnet.com.

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