Google Opens eBooks: Weekly Tech Recap

Google kicked off the week by throwing open the doors of its eBookstore.
By James Rogers ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) --

Google

(GOOG) - Get Report

threw open the doors of its

eBookstore

on Monday as the search giant ramped up its efforts to challenge

Amazon

(AMZN) - Get Report

in the digital books market.

The Google eBookstore contains more than 3 million titles, and the Internet company says that it has hundreds of thousands of books for sale.

Software specialist

Adobe

(ADBE) - Get Report

is also reaping the benefits of Google's e-book efforts. The Apple and

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Report

rival announced on Monday that Google has licensed its Content Server 4 software to provide content protection for its eBooks offering.

In other Google news, the Mountain View, Calif.-based firm

demonstrated an updated version of its Chrome OS

on Tuesday, and promised to open a Chrome Web store.

Google shares closed up 71 cents, or 0.12%, at $592.21 on Friday, while Adobe's stock crept up 11 cents, or 0.38%, to close at $28.71. Overall, the

Nasdaq

climbed 0.8% to close at 2,637, its

highest level since December 2007

.

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With 2010 drawing to a close, attention is inevitably focused on

Apple's

(AAPL) - Get Report

plans for next year

, particularly the widely anticipated

Verizon

(VZ) - Get Report

iPhone.

In addition to Apple, analysts have also been weighing the potential impact on Verizon. This week, for example, two wireless analysts noted that Verizon stores have been

a little quieter than normal

this holiday season.

One explanation could be the customary lull that comes after Black Friday and before the last-minute gift-buying spree leading up to Christmas, although the impending Verizon iPhone is likely a factor.

"Upgrades at Verizon have been steadily declining in anticipation of the iPhone," explained mobile industry strategist Michael Cote, of the Cote Collaborative. A lot of Verizon subscribers have been letting their contracts expire without replacing their phones, he said.

Apple shares crept up 80 cents, or 0.25%, to end the week at $320.56. Verizon's stock closed up 48 cents, or 1.43%, at $34.04 on Friday.

Storage was also in the news this week with

Dell

(DELL) - Get Report

and

Compellent

(CML)

announcing on Thursday that they are in

advanced discussions about a possible merger

. Dell, which recently lost out to

HP

(HPQ) - Get Report

in the battle to acquire

3PAR

(PAR) - Get Report

, is looking to pay $27.50 a share for Compellent in a deal valued at around $876 million.

Compellent, which competes with HP and

EMC

(EMC)

, touts tiered storage products that shift older data onto less expensive storage media, something that is crucial at a time when companies are drowning in information. "I feel like it's been a long time coming -- it is a good deal," said Vanessa Alvarez, an analyst at Forrester, in an email to

TheStreet

. "Compellent, from a technology perspective, has what it takes to move Dell forward in the storage market."

Dell shares closed up 24 cents, or 1.77%, at $13.89 on Friday, while Compellent's stock dipped 33 cents, or 1.14%, to close at $28.71.

Intel

(INTC) - Get Report

was another company banging the enterprise drum this week. On Wednesday, Paul Otellini, the chipmaker's CEO,

predicted a robust PC market next year

, driven by

strong enterprise demand

.

"We believe that there will be continued strong growth in the PC market and adjacent markets like servers," he said during a presentation at the Barclays Capital Global Technology conference in San Francisco. "We're foreseeing another strong year."

Otellini also explained that Intel will launch its Medfield smartphone chip next year. "We will see smartphones from premier brand vendors in the second half of 2011 with Intel silicon inside of them," he said.

Intel's stock gained 10 cents, or 0.46%, to close at $21.91 on Friday.

Away from the enterprise, total video game sales rose 8% last month, according to

figures released by industry tracker NPD Group

on Thursday.

But despite gains in November, year-end sales should total $18.8 billion to $19.6 billion -- essentially flat over last year.

Microsoft's

(MSFT) - Get Report

Xbox console was the best-selling console of the month, with sales increasing 68% over last November to 1.37 million, thanks to strong demand for its Kinect hands-free sensor accessory. Sales of Kinect have surpassed 2.5 million, and are on track to reach 5 million by year end, Microsoft has said.

Shares of Microsoft closed up 26 cents, or 0.96%, at $27.34 on Friday.

A key event next week will be the debut of Google's

Nexus S phone

, which will hit the shelves at

Best Buy

(BBY) - Get Report

on Dec. 16.

Blackberry maker

Research In Motion

(RIMM)

is on deck next week, reporting its third-quarter results on Dec.16. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for revenue of $5.39 billion and earnings of $1.64 a share.

--Written by James Rogers in New York.

>To follow the writer on Twitter, go to

http://twitter.com/jamesjrogers

.

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