Five Companies That Came To Win This Week

Skype Acquires Qik For $150 Million

Skype this week acquired mobile video services specialist Qik, reportedly for $150 million. It's a big chunk of change for a company that filed for an IPO last year, but it's also a sign of Skype's big ambitions, which span consumers and business. What really makes this a "came to win" is the timing: Even in the attention-deficit-starved din of the CES show, this was a deal that raised eyebrows.

Microsoft Shows Its Hand On Tablet PCs

Well, well, well. Looks like Microsoft really does have a plan for tablets, and some of them are pretty impressive, too. During the CES opening keynote Wednesday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed off several Windows 7 powered tablet-like PCs, including Acer's Iconia dual screen, Samsung's Sliding PC 7 and Asus' new Eee Slate EP121.

Are these iPad killers? Probably not, but at least Microsoft is now in the game.

Salesforce Acquires Dimdim For $31 Million

Salesforce.com this week spent $31 million to acquire Dimdim, a developer of realtime communications technologies the company hopes will make the Chatter collaboration platform more "Facebook-like." Salesforce execs this week said they feel they got a good deal for Dimdim and that it fills a gap in terms of in-house expertise.

Google Shows Off Android 3.0 'Honeycomb'

At CES, Verizon gave a live demonstration of Google Android 3.0, code-named Honeycomb, the first version of the OS designed specifically with tablet PCs in mind. Google redesigned multitasking to make it easier for users to jump from application to application, and its development team spent about a year thinking of ways to rebuild the Android OS from the ground up. Early industry impressions are trending toward the positive.

Motorola Shows The Love To Google, Android

Motorola has tied its fortunes to the Android wagon for some time, and at CES this devotion was never more apparent. The company rolled out three new Android smartphones, including the Atrix 4G, but all eyes at CES were on the Motorola Xoom, a 10.1-inch screen tablet with 3G and Android Honeycomb. Xoom is one of the most attention-grabbing products at CES and a potential sign that Motorola's Android focus may be paying off.