Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) appears to be moving in the direction of having a new product launch every day. Over the weekend it said it would bring out its own internet browser. It also announced the launch of a video-sharing product for businesses.

According to Reuters, "Unlike YouTube, which is aimed at consumers, Google Video for business is designed to be shared among designated users within an organization's own Web domain, protecting executive speeches, product training, sales meetings or other employee video messages from unauthorized disclosure outside the company."

Because Flash video, the most widely used format, can already be put in password protected sections behind a company's firewall, it is hard to see why the new product would have much appeal.

Google has not had much success with its enterprise software. There is little evidence that the Google Apps desktop software is selling well. That may be because the company offers good free versions of the product. Most of Google's other productivity software including GMail, Google Calendar and Google Talk can be used without charge.

One of Wall Street's only criticisms of Google is that its move into enterprise products is not making any money. If that comment is fair, Google just dug itself a deeper hole.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) unveiled its Ad Manager advertising management platform this week after a beta release in June. This platform allows website operators to manage advertising inventory, tracking and ROI. And the price is right -- there is none -- which fits into Google's history of giving away some key products for free.

Google's Ad Manager public release is significant because it will allow almost anyone to set up and use both direct and network-based advertising to help eliminate costs and pump up revenue -- even if the ads aren't from Google's massively popular AdSense or AdWords program.

However, Google is making it super easy for website publishers to integrate its AdSense platform directly into its Ad Manager product. This was pretty obvious from day one as Google continues to recruit more ad customers into its universe to grow its own ad revenue. Ad revenue, still, is the biggest single component of Google's income.

The Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone is supposed to be the hottest handset on the planet, but in some parts of the world it has very little appeal at all.

The market in India is teaching Apple a lesson or two. The first is that price is an issue. No matter how much people love the product, there is a point at which the cost is simply too high.

According to MarketWatch reports from India, "The princely sum of 31,000 rupees ($720) for the 8-gigabyte iPhone and 36,100 rupees ($840) for the 16 GB version was too high for even such a cool gizmo." If Apple is going to make any progress in one of the world's largest markets, it is going to have to solve that problem. Otherwise, more reasonably priced products from other phone makers such as market leader Nokia (NYSE: NOK) are going to continue to rule the roost.

The other issue in India is that it has very little 3G infrastructure. That makes the new version of the iPhone less appealing. Apple can do very little to solve this problem, but it does say that there are some limits that even the most popular product can't overcome.

Apple is about to launch the iPhone is Russia and sales are expected to be good there, but the company's goal of getting a quick start in every important market may be thwarted.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) will be building its fourth data center in Des Moines, Iowa at a cost of $500 million, the software maker said yesterday. The reasons give for Iowa as the site for such a large project were tax breaks as well as low energy costs. The data center will be located on a 42-acre plot of land just outside Des Moines. Fifty to 75 workers are expected at the new data center, with an average salary of $70,000 annually.

Microsoft must think adding large data centers will help its online efforts compete against Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). Perhaps the company is right -- because right now, no company can touch Google's online search market. However, there are more Microsoft Hotmail and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) Mail users than Google Gmail users. Google's market share lead doesn't extend into all its online product offerings, but don't think for a second that the Mountain View-based company doesn't want to steal as many users away from Microsoft's Hotmail as possible -- plus grab customers of other Microsoft online services.

The new data center will take a year to 18 months to compete, although company officials were mum on how many servers would reside there, as the company is still designing the data center. It did say that its data center servers would be contained in shipping containers instead of the standard server rack to allow more transport and setup flexibility. The state of Iowa is expected to give combined tax breaks to Ole' Softie of about $3 million per year. Not to be outdone, though, Google is building a $600 million data center just 122 miles west of Des Moines. At last, two of the largest forces in computing will be neighbors soon.

PC and chip companies have been trying to get TV viewers to use internet functions on their home entertainment systems for years. The problem may be that people who watch television are old. Consumers who use PCs are young. That has not stopped repeated attempts to marry the two.

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) are making another run at putting the two technologies together and it will probably fail. According to The Wall Street Journal, "The pair outlined software tools, based on Yahoo technology, to help companies deliver Web content alongside TV programming. The software complements a new chip from Intel designed to enable interactive features on TVs."

Under this new plan, web content will sit in a bar at the bottom of the screen.

TV viewers already see information at the bottom of their TV monitors. Most business news channels like CNBC use the space to run stock quotes. Sports programming often scrolls scores in that section of the screen. Those bits of information may be useful, but TV is still a passive experience.

People who sit in front of a television set want information and entertainment. They do not want to have to make any effort to get those things. The PC has hundreds of applications that involve a great deal of effort. The keyboard is an "active" feature. People sitting in lounge chairs to watch the tube want to fall asleep.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Airlines may not get the Boeing (NYSE: BA) Dreamliner on its new revised schedule after all. The plane has been delayed three times because of manufacturing and supplier glitches. If Boeing has problems with one of its unions, it might have to push back the launch date again. Some airlines are already asking Boeing for compensation for the late deliveries.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "With its aircraft order books so full that some customers must wait as long as five years for deliveries, Boeing can ill afford a strike -- especially one that could further delay the rollout of its new 787 Dreamliner jet."

At the center of the negotiations are pay and pensions, making them little different from most such talks. But the solution for both sides could involve an incentive.

Boeing does not want to be faced with a strike that could hurt its revenue. The unions want a bigger piece of Boeing's sales pie. Boeing should return to the bargaining table with a simple proposal. If its new jets are delivered on time, wages will go up at a rate close to the union's requests. If not, the increases will be lower.

Boeing could set up a partnership with its labor force driven by the common goal of product launches. That is better than a strike that does neither the union nor Boeing any good.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) is beginning to offer its new "Atom" chip, which is designed to work in "low-end "netbooks" and other mobile computing devices, " according to the FT.

The trouble is that it is a chip for devices that no one wants.

Intel is trying to drive a wedge between low-end laptops that weigh only a couple of pounds and new smartphones like the products from RIM (NASDAQ: RIMM) and just about every other large handset company. The new smartphones can access the internet and use WiFi hotspots instead of the cellular system, access 3G broadband wireless, and read e-mail and attachments. Cheap laptops now cost as little as $500.

Intel is up against a PC market that is growing more slowly each year, especially in large markets like North American and Europe. It has decided to launch a product in the hope the new devices will come along because the chip is available.

Unfortunately, no one wants the products that Atom would drive. The niche is already crowded.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

It has been almost two weeks since a Nomura analyst reported the dropped phone calls due to faulty chips were a significant problem for Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) 3G iPhone customers.

The mainstream press has been slow in reporting the trouble, but the FT made it a major story today. According to the paper, "Over the past few weeks, customers have flocked to Apple's online support forums to complain about weak or fluctuating signals leading to dropped calls and long download times."

Since the FT prides itself on being early to market with important news, what happened?

The media, in general, seems reluctant to take on Apple's image as an almost flawless designer, manufacturer, and marketer of PCs and consumer electronics devices. The company's customers are vocal defenders of the Apple's blue chip reputation and are rabid about attacking media that try to undermine that.

Apple's obsessive need to present itself as "perfect" is beginning to backfire because of problems with its newest product, the 3G iPhone. It would be better to come clean about the troubles and offer a way to fix them

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

T. Boone Pickens does not care if the price of oil is falling. His opinion is that most of the drop is over and that his plan for wind energy is still viable and necessary for future U.S. independence from crude imports.

Pickens could not be described as faint-hearted. Rumors are that his $7 billion BP Capital hedge fund took a 35% haircut in July by betting the wrong way on oil and gas. It is a paper loss, but must sting nonetheless.

Some argue that Pickens is old and monumentally rich so gambles on wind and oil don't mean much for his own fortune. That could indicate that his conviction about wind-powered energy is not based on greed. Since he has spent his life aggressively accumulating wealth, that is not likely.

What is likely is that he thinks oil prices may stay very high and that his alternative energy will do remarkably well because it is infinitely renewable. If so, it is too bad his hedge fund cannot invest a few billions into wind technology. He can't afford another 35% loss. At some point his convictions may put him in the poor house. At least as it would be viewed by a billionaire.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com

Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has been touting its Android mobile operating system platform for over a year. Still without a product to showcase its efforts, many are beginning to wonder if Google has classified Android as "vaporware." Even though the company is itself not making a single piece of hardware, a mobile handset is the product the customer will use. So, Google, where is it?

Apple, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 3G, which admittedly has a few issues, but is still selling like hotcakes, is stealing any thunder Android would have created. T-Mobile USA, the fourth-largest mobile operator in the U.S., may have an Android phone on the market sometime in September, according to TMoNews. Still, is it too late for Android to make a huge splash in the mobile pool?

It is remarkably hard to believe that Boeing's (NYSE: BA) huge new airplane launch could be held back due to lack of seats and toilets. Welcome to the world of poor planning.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Boeing and Airbus are both facing "a shortage of less-advanced equipment such as seats, toilets and galleys that is slowing down their assembly lines."

Boeing could set up its plane like subway cars and dispense with seats by having customers stand. The FAA is not likely to go along with that.

Boeing has solved most of the problems of getting complex components for its plane, but these mundane pieces of equipment could delay deliveries and cost Boeing large amounts of revenue.

Shoddy planning has been the rule of he day at Boeing. That problem is getting worse, even in the toilet department.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is looking to expand faster and more furiously than previously thought in the United Kingdom. Best Buy, which joined up with Britain's Carphone Warehouse in a 50% ownership venture earlier this year, wants to take England by storm and is wasting little time in the effort.

The largest consumer electronics chain in the U.S. said that it would eventually roll out more than 200 stores in the UK over the long term, which is quite a bit more than had been expected. Best Buy wants to dominate that market just as it has conquered the U.S. market, and an aggressive international expansion like this cements Best Buy's goal of becoming a global retail player in consumer electronics.

But some are concerned that Best Buy's $2.1 billion chunk of Carphone Warehouse -- which is 50% of the company -- may be used to expand the Best Buy brand at the expense of the Carphone Warehouse brand. Best Buy wanted an immediate presence in the UK market by partnering with a leader there, and now it has that.

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) knows that the market for basic server and PC chips will not grow as fast over the next five years as it did over the last five. The economy plus high market penetration will see to that.

So, Intel is looking to new markets to save its bacon. It has already entered the segment for relatively low-powered chips for handheld "computers." Whether that business will ultimately be large is anyone's guess.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the world's largest chip company "is providing the first details of a chip technology that is designed to help break into new markets, starting with high-end graphics used for computer games and animation." This technology will help higher end PCs run games and video content.

With Intel's balance sheet and big share of the current PC market, the announcement could spell gigantic trouble for AMD (NYSE: AMD) and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). A little over two years ago AMD bought graphics chip company ATI. So far, the deal has been a bust.

Concerns that the graphics chip market could get crowded and that margins could be under pressure have already driven AMD and Nvidia to recent 52-week lows. Over the last year, Intel shares are off about 5%. Shares in the other two companies are down over 60%. With Intel coming into the market, that could actually get worse.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com

Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) may join the parade of companies that have taken a shot at taking multimedia player market share away from the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPod. The PC company may have a better chance than most.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Launching the player -- along with an online download service and related software -- would be part of a strategy that Dell Chief Executive Michael Dell hopes will move the company into a broader range of consumer markets than it has served before."

The conventional argument is that Apple has over 150 million iPods sold and that its iTunes franchise may be the largest music download service in the world. By some measures, iTunes has 70% of the online digital music market.

Dell has one significant advantage over past challengers: it is already one of the largest online consumer electronics marketers in the world due to its prowess in the PC industry. In terms of revenue, Dell is over twice Apple's size and has an unusually strong balance sheet. It can afford to make a long-term push into digital music.

Dell will have to create its own music store, but based on the number of participants in the field, that should not be a high hurdle. Dell may also be able to use the huge online sites of some of its retail partners like Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) to market its new products.

Dell has long odds for picking up business from Apple, but not nearly as long as some other firms that have tried to move into the industry.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Going into the search business and targeting Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) must carry odds of success which are at least a million to one. But, the market is rich. Google has a market cap of over $150 billion. Even a little piece of that could make a start-up some money. That is if anyone wants another search option beyond Google, Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), and a number of other services with tiny customers bases.

Some former Google engineers believe they can master their former master. According to The Wall Street Journal, "A startup founded by engineers from Google,Inc. and other tech giants is launching a search engine that claims to cover three times as many Web pages as Google."

The new service is called Cuil. Wish them luck.

Cuil's problem is deeper than is evidenced at first blush. Google not only controls over 60% of the US search market. It also probably indexes as much of the web as almost any user would need. Tripling the number of possible search results is not useful to the huge majority of search engine users.

Search usefulness is driven by the relevance of the results. Cuil has not demonstrated that it can out-Google Google on that front. If it cannot deliver that higher level of relevance, and deliver it by an order of magnitude much greater than the largest incumbent, it will not go anywhere.

In search, quality trumps quantity.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.