aapl

Alltel Wireless, the private mobile telephone services company that just keeps on grinding along really well, added just over one million new subscribers to its ranks in the company's most recently completed quarter. This is a number often seen by larger competitors like AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) and Verizon Wireless, but not by the fifth-largest cellular carrier in the U.S.

It's odd that larger carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S), which uses the same technology as Alltel, lost over a million customers in its most recent quarter. In fact, it seems the top five cellular carriers in the U.S. are all experiencing growth -- except Sprint Nextel. I mean, is Sprint Nextel's service that bad compared to fellow carrier Alltel? Must be, since customers are leaving in droves. Sprint didn't say whether it was Nextel customers who left in huge numbers or Sprint customers. You see, the merger between the two companies, which is a complete disaster, relied on a fusion of two incompatible technologies that never happened.

Why haven't Sprint and Alltel decided to come together? The companies use the same technology and some areas would have to be divested, similar to areas AT&T had to sell when it merged with Cingular Wireless years ago. Still, Sprint Nextel needs a lifeline and CEO Dan Hesse has one monumental task in front of him. Having a laggard company join with a company that's smaller -- but growing much more rapidly -- would not be a bad thing. That is, if he can convince Alltel's owners that perhaps a merger between the two companies would be a good thing.

Computer maker Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) wants to make its laptop and desktop PCs way more energy efficient within the next few years. For those of you who haven't been following Dell's "green" initiatives, this is just the latest in a string of them this year.

In addition to powering its entire corporate headquarters using green energy, Dell now wants to make its consumer PCs use 25% less power by 2010. For the world's second-largest PC maker, making that kind of a radical change in less than 24 months could prove to be an engineering challenge.

But then again, Dell seems to be playing the "one up" game with larger competitor Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), which also played up the "green" card recently. The good news is that Dell's laptop and desktop computer systems --consumer and corporate -- are already some of the most energy efficient in the marketplace. And, if Dell can seize upon this projected change and sell energy reduction to the customer base it has instead of giga this and giga that, perhaps it can boost its sales. For many companies and consumers, even base models have enough horsepower to do most daily computing tasks. The "green-ness" of a new PC purchase could be the next frontier in PC marketing.

Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) didn't really like the FCC's idea that it label all analog TV sets with a warning label -- something I posted on a month ago. In fact, the retailer is now challenging the FCC's authority to require retailers to slap those "Warning: Analog TV" stickers on those retail shelf boxes.

The FCC seems to believe it will be Y2K all over again when the analog television frequencies are vacated next February for all those who receive TV signals via antenna. Standard issue for the federal government, I suppose. Best Buy not only doesn't want to have even more labels and customer communication littering up its stores, but it argues that the fines levied by the FCC for the non-use of these stickers are invalid as well.

Best Buy was fined $280,000 and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was fined $992,000 for failing to include these analog TV stickers on the appropriate products. Wal-Mart had not decided what its plans were yet, but my guess if that it will unite with Best Buy to present a huge challenge to the FCC's authority. Best Buy's biggest argument was that retailers are not commission licensees by the FCC --- so how can the FCC impose fines? There are quite a few more arguments being made by Best Buy that should hold up in a court of law easily if it gets to that.

One would think that the recent FCC auctions of the about-to-be-abandoned analog TV airwaves would give enough cash back to the FCC's coffers than stupid fines like this. Apparently not.

Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)'s market share in April increased once again, going from 67.25% to 67.90% of all internet searches performed in the U.S. Sounds like a tiny increase, but we're talking hundreds of millions of additional searches here. Even a tenth of 1% is a major increase.

Google also earned the distinction today of being named the No. 1 most-visited site by ComScore, topping Yahoo for the first time.

Both Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Yahoo, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) saw decreases in search market share due to Google's continued dominance. April data from internet traffic research firm Hitwise indicated that Google continues to dominate U.S. internet searches, while being responsible for the lion's share of connecting web searchers with specific industries as well.

For example, 31% of of web traffic and health and medical sites was supplied by Google, as well as 23% of web traffic to travel websites. This alone demonstrates the power Google has over the web. Some industries would see huge decreases in traffic if Google were to go away. In effect, Google's web search dominance has a very broad and meaningful over entire industries on the web, including shopping and classifieds, news and media, entertainment and others.

Still think Google is worth $576.30 per share?

As Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) continues sliding into irrelevance in the mobile phone industry, it could slip to number four in the global cellphone rankings. After Korean giant Samsung Electronics handily beat Motorola in 2007 for the number two spot, and has held it ever since, Korean company LG is poised to overtake the third spot from the American cellphone icon later this year.

LG has come on strong in recent years, with hits like the LG Chocolate, a phone that has sold 18 million units since its debut a few years ago. LG also has a huge fan in the U.S. in the form of No. 2 cellular carrier Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications, Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE: VOD). So, the soon-to-be top-three mobile phone lineup for global sales include a Finnish company and two South Korean companies. Motorola, poised for fourth place soon, would be followed by Sweden's Sony Ericsson.

Although Motorola has tumbled in recent years and is in the worse shape it could possibly be in, LG's rise hasn't been because of its competitor's stumbles. LG and Samsung both have made massive gains with high-end handsets, slick marketing and awesome designs in recent years, and have propelled themselves on their own merits over and above the competition.

All this without having a blockbuster like Motorola's RAZR, which sold 50 million units and still sells on store shelves today. As Motorola knew back in 2005, but seems to have forgotten today, design is where it's at and LG and Samsung both have it right now. As a result, Motorola seems to continue sliding down the pole of handset makers that just can't seem to compete any longer like they once did. I doubt newer CEO Greg Brown can fix that, but he may not have to.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) made a splash in recent years by opening health clinics in its Supercenter locations to give those who could not afford medical insurance a cheap way to get medical services. As always, though, the retailer hoped that those who visited in-store clinics would hang around and do some shopping as well.

In 2008, retail clinics have seemed to shut their doors in states like New York, Nevada and Indiana. Overall, 69 clinics in 15 states have given up the ghost, including those located inside Wal-Mart stores.

What's going on here? Is the strategy backfiring? Even one of the largest proponents of in-store retailer clinics, CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS), indicated that it is slowing down its retail in-store clinic plans.

Looks like Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) will be working with longtime nemesis Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) to bring its Windows Live services to the BlackBerry mobile platform. Windows Mobile, the smartphone operating system made by Microsoft that is a direct competitor to RIM's BlackBerry smartphone operating system, is already integrated with Microsoft's Live services, naturally.

While RIM figured out long ago that instant access to secure email in a small, portable device was the key to its fortune, Microsoft took years to discover that same fact, and now provides a similar solution on its Windows Mobile platform. But providing access to Windows Live to the biggest competitor it has in the smartphone arena can mean only one thing: Microsoft is trying to fend off Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone.

At the same time, Microsoft wants to get as many customers using its Windows Live services on those mobile phones as possible. The iPhone reportedly will shortly work with Microsoft's Exchange corporate email servers to allow the same "push email" functionality that put the BlackBerry on the map. That is, instant, real-time email wherever you are. Those with Microsoft's Hotmail email service will also enjoy real-time "push" email with this new partnership. But make no mistake -- RIM and Microsoft will need to do more to fend up the upstart competitor, Apple. If a new iPhone is announced this summer as expected, both RIM and Microsoft will see even more turbulence in the mobile markets.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) reported a 7% lift in first quarter profit this morning, as the world's largest retailer explained that bargain-seeking customers and heavy international growth gave it a boost in the most recent quarter. Net income rose to $3.02 billion from $2.82 billion in the year-ago quarter as revenue soared to $95.3 billion for the quarter.

The oldest trick in the book once again favored Wal-Mart's coffers -- uncertainty in the economy among record-high gas prices and many food staples brought even more shoppers into the aisles of Wal-Mart looking for lower prices. Wal-Mart explained its profit spike by saying that in response to tightening credit markets, insanely-high gas prices and the worse housing slump seen in over a quarter century, customers were "trading down" to shop at Wal-Mart. During an economic slowdown, it's a nice position to be in.

What this means is that Wal-Mart is completely, absolutely and totally seen in the U.S. as the "low price" destination for, well, everything and anything retail. This movement to placate the higher-end shopper at Wal-Mart will continue to go forward, but price is 100% king at this retailer and always will be. Wal-Mart also saw international stores in Brazil, China and other locations help boost its share of international sales 22% during the Q1 period from the year-ago quarter. Could Wal-Mart shares see $60 this week -- the first time they will have hit that number (splits adjusted)? Watch for it.

Hewlett-Packard Corp. (NYSE: HPQ) will purchase about 24 data centers in Europe from BT Group (formerly British Telecom) for $2.9 billion, the Sunday Times in London reported Sunday, with an official announcement likely to come within weeks. However, BT Group will likely sign a 10-year contract to continue using the data centers with HP; BT Group just won't own them any longer.

But this isn't just a deal for HP to own more data centers as it beefs up its service provider portfolio in addition to its manufacturing prowess. BT Group is also going to manage the remainder of HP's voice and data networks worldwide. The London-based telecom company already handles HP's European voice and data networks, so this transaction is like trading a global service contract for a bunch of server farms. Or at least that's what is sounds like.

HP will continue to ramp up its portfolio of service offerings to better compete with IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM), a company that left the hardware business to focus on service contracts with corporate customers and that has done well at it under former CEO Lou Gerstner and current CEO Sam Palmisano. HP is already a larger company by revenues than IBM, but it doesn't have the service provider clout yet -- it's still first and foremost a manufacturing company.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) will soon further into the world of online video as it has introduced software that will allow customers to watch online videos and chat about them in real-time. Called Messenger TV, the new service will combine Microsoft's Windows Live instant messaging program with an integrated video player. Windows Live Messenger, though, still is not the world's largest instant messaging platform. That honor belongs to AIM, one of AOL's more successful products ever.

Microsoft's goal in introducing the new instant messaging program with integrated video is to get its customers talking about the videos they are watching, as well as allowing them to watch and share clips from such companies as MTV, Sony BMG and EMI Group, some of the largest music companies on the planet.

Is this yet another attempt by Microsoft to try and "catch the wave" of online video usage? If that is its thought, it's already missed the boat. Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)'s YouTube is where online video is already at, so this new Messenger TV product needs to offer something new and compelling. Microsoft will be rolling out this new service in Europe first, though, as there are 95 million users of Windows Live on that continent already -- the lion's share of the company's total base of 240 million customers.

Welcome to the 60th installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

In this Wal-Mart Weekly, I'll continue my column from last week and take a look at another of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.'s (NYSE: WMT) annual shareholder meeting proposals.

Last year, I covered Wal-Mart's annual shareholder's meeting live from the show floor last year, where all 11 shareholder proposals were easily and soundly defeated. Will it be the same this year? We'll find out in about three weeks. Last week I covered something very pertinent to the season -- political contributions. This week, it'll be something more close to the heart of many individual -- and institutional -- shareholders: executive compensation.

Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) has gone shopping across the pond, and will be spending about $2.1 billion in cash to purchase 50% of the UK's Carphone Warehouse mobile telephone retailer. Best Buy is signaling to the retailer world that it thinks mobile is the place to be, after it committed to expanding mobile market share here in the U.S. just recently in a large way.

This multi-billion commitment to Carphone Warehouse will allow the European retailer to pay down debt and gets Best Buy a foothold in the European retail business in a pretty large and immediate way. Along with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), U.S. retailers are seeking out ways to expand their footprints globally. Carphone Warehouse isn't just a small step in that direction, as it's one of Europe's largest mobile phone retailers.

Best Buy's revenues continue to soar on an annual basis, and this partnership should add to that amount significantly. While U.S. competitor Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE: CC) has had nothing but troubles recently and is just hanging out in la-la land while delivering substandard results every quarter, Best Buy is going for the jugular -- still growing sales and taking market share in the U.S. and now in Europe. Can it be stopped? For now, there's no equal -- so, no.

After Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) walked away from a $40+ billion dollar deal with Yahoo, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) this past week, competitor Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) was very, very relieved. After all, a combined Micro-Hoo would have been a significant competitor (in a best-case scenario) to Google. To help dissuade both parties to make a deal, Google ran a two-week test on Yahoo! to supply the competitor with its own advertising system. The test went well.

Now that Yahoo! has proved that is could one day dump its search technology and outsource that piece of its business to Google, Google executives are looking for that exact scenario. They believe it will help prevent another attempt by Microsoft to purchase Yahoo! in the future. They are probably right -- if Google were to become one of Yahoo!'s largest partners, there would be issues with Microsoft buying Yahoo! now or in the future, from a regulatory perspective.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin said that "We have been talking to Yahoo and we are very excited to be working with them ... we share a lot of values with them" in his remarks at yesterday's annual Google shareholder's meeting at Google's Mountain View, Ca. headquarters. Brian added that a potential deal with Yahoo! was "not about scuttling (the deal)." Hogwash -- I say that was exactly why the Google-Yahoo! test was performed. Look for a Yahoo!-Google search advertising partnership in the very near future, folks.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) implemented another phase of its low-price prescription drug program this week, and as usual competitor Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) followed suit with price reductions of its own. In addition to offering a 30-day supply of many popular generic prescription drugs for $4, Wal-Mart is now offering a 90-day supply for $10. And so is Target.

Is Target just trying to keep up, or does it see a benefit in matching drug price cuts by its larger competitor? In response to the price cuts, Target said that it "understands the challenges guests are facing in the current economic environment." It probably planned to make these price cuts as soon as Wal-Mart did and gain the same kind of free PR that comes with such a drastic price reduction in something that millions of Americans now depend on.

But Target does not position itself as the "low price" leader like Wal-Mart does. Its marketing is more upscale, and so is the appearance of its stores -- even while carrying much of the same merchandise. So why is Target matching these prescription drug price cuts? Is it trying to take customers from Wal-Mart? Of course -- the two are fierce competitors even though marketing and merchandise presentation strategies are what I'd consider to be worlds apart. Sometimes, price is everything.

Gasoline prices continue to increase along with crude prices, and the latter seem to find a new record every single day. Wasn't it just a few months ago that the media was going crazy about oil reaching the $100 per barrel mark? It hit $122 this week. Now, that's not a year later; that's less than half a year later. It's not surprising then that automakers with an inflexible SUV-selling strategy are getting pummeled, while automakers with a decent offering of gas-efficient vehicles are seeing product mix changes in retail sales.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), which showed a surprising profit in its most recent quarter, said that it plans to really up the presence of gas-efficient six-speed transmissions by the end of 2009, and wants to have these transmissions in 98% of its North American vehicles by 2012. If Ford follows through with this commitment, it'll be a game-changer for the industry. And, it will force General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) to do the same thing. Ford stated that the newer 6-speed automatics will get 4% to 6% better gas mileage than the standard 4-speed and 5-speed automatic transmissions.

GM is not sitting idly by at the same time, though. It debuted a 6-speed automatic transmission in the popular 2008 Chevy Malibu, which it is pitting as a strong competitor to market leaders Honda Motor (NYSE: HMC) Accord and Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) Camry. Will the new trend in the consumer vehicle market be smaller 4-cylinder engines with advanced, fuel-efficient 6-speed automatic transmissions? You can count on it until oil prices fall to $50 a barrel. And, that'll be when pigs fly.