5 Companies That Came To Win This Week

HTC Booms In Q2 Thanks To Android

Hear that sound? It's the chaos from investors stampeding madly to get on board the HTC bandwagon. HTC has been riding high on the wave of positive market reaction to the Verizon Droid Incredible and Sprint EVO 4G, and that momentum shows no signs of stopping in the wake of its Apple-esque fiscal second quarter, during which HTC racked up its highest quarterly profit since 2007.

It's not hard to see why: HTC's embrace of Google's Android OS is resulting in a metronomic release of stunning new mobile devices that are giving Apple's iPhone the biggest challenge it has yet faced. Analysts expect HTC's smartphone shipments to continue to rise, and HTC is also believed to be developing Windows Phone 7 devices. If Microsoft nails the forthcoming release, HTC could gather even more momentum.

Twitter Emerging As... A Search Engine

Twitter continues to emerge as much more than just a social networking platform. As reported by FastCompany, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone this week said Twitter now handles 800 million search queries per day, a rate of 24 billion searches per month.

Twitter is still a long way from Google, which handles 88 billion search queries per month. But its search query volume easily surpasses both Yahoo (9.4 billion) and Bing (4.1 billion), FastCompany reported.

The industry has been waiting for Twitter to show it can make money, and it's already making moves to monetize the platform through advertising. If Twitter can cast itself as a search engine, and not just a place to learn about what your friends had for lunch, it could get the attention of a broader range of investors.

Apple Gets Serious About Doing Business In China

Apple thus far hasn't really dived into the Chinese market. It has just one Apple Store, in Beijing, and the iPhone arrived in the country late and in limited quantities. But Apple's new store in Shanghai -- China's most populous city with around 16 million people -- is about to establish the company as a major retail force. Not only will it be one of Asia's largest stores, it's also stunningly architected, and reminiscent of the 5th Avenue Apple store in New York City.

Apple is now getting aggressive in China, and it really has no choice if it's going to continue growing at its current rate. ’Apple plans a major invasion of China over the next 18 months to two years,’ Charles Wolf, an analyst with Needham and Company, told the New York Times this week.

Google Buries The Hatchet With Chinese Authorities

The Chinese government this week renewed Google's license, which means the search giant can continue to run its censored, China-based google.cn site. Of course, this approval came only after Google agreed to stop redirecting traffic to its Hong Kong-based google.hk site.

At first glance, Google appears to be engaging in the kind of craven, financially motivated kowtowing that makes people want to reach for the nearest barf bag. And in some ways, that's exactly what it is. But the alternative would have been Google not only missing out on the gigantic Chinese search market, but also ceding ground in China to Yahoo and Bing.

There's something to be said for principles, and Google made an impressive stand in protection of its own beliefs against one of the world's biggest tramplers of human rights. But at the end of the day, investors don't give a hoot about principles if standing up for them means losing market share. Google needs China to maintain its growth and also to slow that of its foes.

Microsoft Hitches Bing To LeBron James Hype Machine

Microsoft has been looking to boost Bing's market share any which way it can. This week, Microsoft found a way to get Bing in front of millions of NBA fans, wrangling a deal to make Bing the official search engine of basketball star LeBron James' personal Website, lebronjames.com.

James on Thursday announced his intention to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and join the Miami Heat, and he did so in an hour long television show on ESPN.

Say what you will about the mind-boggling narcissism James exhibited in making a simple career move into a national media event. Millions watched, and a good number probably took note of the Bing branding. Will that help Bing gain market share against Google? Hard to say, but Microsoft definitely gained Bing exposure during one of the biggest one-man media circuses to come around in a long time.

Check out our roundup of vendors that dropped the ball for a look at the companies that were asleep at the wheel this week.