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Rory Cellan-Jones

Who's top of the tech chart?

  • Rory Cellan-Jones
  • 25 Apr 08, 13:45 GMT

, , , , . All have published results over the last week that have been scrutinised closely for any clue about whether an economic downturn is likely to dampen spending on gadgets and software. What they all seem to show is a remarkably robust appetite for technology spending. But who's doing best? I've extracted one significant number from each set of results - and created a chart ranking the five in order of current achievement.

1. Nintendo.

Ninetendo Wii $2.48bn. That's Nintendo's profit for the last year. Not just a 48% rise on the previous year, but the biggest profit ever made by a games company. which was thought doomed to irrelevance just a few years back - and is now one of Japan's most valuable companies. Will new games continue to refresh Nintendo's profits - or will the new audience of family gamers fade away when the novelty wears off?

2. Apple

Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds the MacBook Air2.29 million. That's how many Mac computers Apple sold in the last three months. Which reinforces our earlier blog posting about Apple's growth now being led by Macs - not iPods or iPhones. The iPod certainly did the job of making Apple matter again - but now as sales flatten off, it's which is the real moneyspinner. Having expanded its following beyond the cult of Mac-lovers, Apple just needs to keep the newcomers interested with constant innovation. Easy....

3. Google

Google logo42%. That's how much the search firm's revenue was up , compared with the start of 2007. A figure which confounded expectations of a slowdown in the remarkable Google growth story - and set the scene for a week of good news about the technology economy. As we reported, the firm is now Britain's biggest earner of advertising revenue, overtaking ITV. But one small shadow - Google's revenue in its home US market failed to grow much. Is that the first sign of a downturn in the US hitting the technology sector?

4. Microsoft

Microsoft sign$4.75bn. That was the by the Microsoft division which develops its Office software. Which goes to show that Microsoft's core products are still extraordinary moneyspinners. But that figure was actually a shade down on last year. And when I looked at the rubric which accompanies Microsoft's forecast of future earnings, one item stood out: "Actual results could differ materially because of factors such as challenges to Microsoft's business model". The real threat to its business model comes from the firm at number three in our chart - and that's why Microsoft wants to buy number five.

5. Yahoo

Yahoo logo
$27.30. That was the Yahoo share price on Thursday evening - about a dollar down on its level before which actually exceeded market expectations. What that says is that the market does not believe Jerry Yang's promises of a better future as an independent company, nor is it betting on Microsoft coming up with an improved offer.

Let's have another look at the chart when these five next report earnings. By then, though, we may have to find a replacement for Yahoo.

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    The Wii is amasing. Im not into console gaming but a few friends who are have converted from sitting for hours mindlessly playing their playstations to actively playing and interacting wit the Wii. It might not be for hardcore gamers, but they are a small minority.

    Apple, well i still dont like their products, to bland looking and they have a smug image. Overpriced and dull.

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  • Comment number 2.

    I never really appreciated Apple till I bought a PC.

    Complain about this comment (Comment number 2)

  • Comment number 3.

    The Nintendo wii is a novelty scam. I owned one and it got boring pretty quickly. The xbox 360 is now cheaper than the wii, and the quality of games on the 360 is incredible compared to the wii. Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, GTA IV currently the best games.
    Apple will keep growing until Microsoft can make Vista mainstream. XP is too good at what it does to bother upgrading, currently Dx10 is the only real reason to go for vista.

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  • Comment number 4.

    I'm confused as to why only the 'big name' consumer tech companies are mentioned in this chart. What about companies like Oracle, Sun, IBM, Cisco? Are these companies not as crucial as Nintendo in driving forward the web age?

    And why is Microsoft always talked about as if it's simply a web portal and the manufacturer of Windows Vista? Microsoft powers the majority of corporate IT infrastructure worldwide, and this forms its core business model. Google poses zero threat to this whatsoever, so why join in on predicting Microsoft's downfall?

    Come on, Rory, is this blog about populist gossip or the real issues in the technology scene and the real companies that drive it?

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  • Comment number 5.

    As far as future success of the big five is concerned it seems to me that attention should be focussed on what might be termed intermediate processes. For example film is (was) an intermediate
    process enabling the user to transform reality into a viewable record. Hot metal type was a similar intermediate process. There are many other examples. Most software bought and installed on PCs or Macs could be considered intermediate processes as the functions they perform could be done remotely by client servers.
    Similarly, storage and backup do not have to be local to the users machine. Hence I believe any manufacturer that relies on selling hardware, data storage or software that depends upon the assumption that it has to be available locally to the user is
    vulnerable to change. The Wii concept is brilliant. It depends for its function, and enjoyment, on physical movement by the user with the added advantage that if you overdo it the controller flies from
    your hand and breaks, so you have to buy a new one. I cannot see that it can be easily replaced by remote functionality. Microsoft is I think vulnerable to the intermediate effect. I can and have already
    downloaded Sun Open Office which is pretty good for free. Does all I need from MSOffice but I'm not a power user so if it is not as
    good as MSOffice, OK.

    So where am I going with this. If Microsoft/Google/Apple/Yahoo
    can provide me with a virtual machine, HD movies TV and VOIP phone on their servers with fast secure wireless internet access I'd probably be prepared to pay a price that would recognise that I never needed to update my software or operating system or worry about backups. Might even provide a nice solution to spam, piracy and spyware infections.

    Microsoft combined with Yahoo might be able to do this.

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  • Comment number 6.

    Nice article Rory.

    I have just been researching the new Yahoo search offering, for an post i'm writing over at

    It seems to me that the 'Big 5' are becoming increasingly difficult to second-guess. What I mean is, just 18 months ago, no one would have expected Nintendo to even be in your list. They developed a games system that lacked the 'next gen' graphics that all the 'experts' thought game players wanted - yet they are a super-star success!

    I have books on Search Engine Optimisation from just four/five years ago that don't even mention Google; they were such minor players at the time.

    I'm just wondering who will be in this list in 12 or 18-months time.

    The people behind Twitter perhaps?
    The Rev3 network?

    What do you think?

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