TechPulse 360

The last couple of days have been interesting, especially related to Apple and it’s Antennagate dilemma and stellar quarter that bamboozled people at Wall Street all the way to Google’s Q2 earning today.

It is interesting to draw comparison how the two have done in the financial scenario. Apple boasting heavy earnings while Google siding more with spending revenue on lobbying. That is quite less surprising, given how the search giant has been caught up resolving legal issues, etc.

Coming to Apple first, the third quarter broke all past records with a massive revenue worth $15.7 billion with net profits flying past $3.25 billion. No one at Apple or at Wall Street had estimated such returns, which are higher and better than how Apple has done during the holiday seasons as well. A summary on what made those numbers possible is:

• 3.47 Million Macs sold
• 8.4 million iPhones
• 9.41 million iPods
• 3.27 Million iPads (a fresh product)

Of all those numbers, only the iPhone sales have gone down from 8.75 Million to 8.4 Million and the iPods sales continue to fall, which isn’t surprising. The main reason is that Apple has been releasing new products, so people usually wait for the 3Gs or the iPhone 4, instead.

As for the iPod, I personally think it has become quite a useless device, given that all features are already included in the iPhone, which has more uses and is far more powerful. However, the sales of Macs and the very new iPad have done an impressive business. Apple, despite its current hunched approach towards issues manages to deliver great products that keep the company on top of the line and enjoys a great reputation amongst its lovers.

And now, for Google. The search giant continues its efforts to please officials, who are otherwise almost always running after it. In the current quarter, the search engine has spent over $1.34 Million for the same cause, which is around 40% higher than what it spent in Q2 2009. The lobbying efforts aren’t just confined to search, Google is also pushing on the accelerator on reforms for patents, security issues associated to cloud based computing, data privacy, censorship, etc. That is not the end of the story, the search goliath has been after third parties to assist it with the lobbying efforts. Some of those include:

• Will DeVries: Who worked for Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr as an attorney before he joined Google in 2010 as policy counsel.
• Robert Tai: Employed previously at Business Software Alliance as a manager of Cyber Crime Prevention and in the Research Division of California Governor’s office before joining Google in 2007.
• Dorothy Chou: A graduate from Georgetown University joined Google as policy analyst in 2008.
• Jennifer Taylor: held positions at Ron Lewis and the British Embassy during 2000 – 2010 before joining Google in 2010 as a new lobbyist for the second quarter as a policy analyst.

The search giant has spent $150,000 on Podesta Group Inc, $120,000 on Dutko Worldwide, $90,000 on Franklin Square Group, $60,000on Liberty Partners group and $50,000 on McBee Strategic Consulting.