First came the PC, then the notebook and netbook. Now we fast forward to the smartphone and the tablet. These new devices are taking the technology world by storm. Apple (AAPL) could sell 30 to 65 million iPad 2s this year.

As a result, The PC industry is bleeding badly. Look at these numbers:

• February revenue from PC makers in Taiwan is down 20%. The number is significant because Taiwan manufacturers 90% of all PCs.
• Hon Hai (HNHAF), which makes Apple products and PCs for Dell (DELL), saw shipments down 18% in February, as reported in Financial Times.
• Gartner, a research consultancy, lowered PC shipments by 5% to 387.8 million units this month.

ARM Holdings (ARMH) is far away from Silicon Valley. Its headquarters are on the campus of Cambridge University in England. ARM holdings has carved out a unique niche in the computer chip market.

It is a different kind of chip maker. Its core business is licensing chip designs to larger companies like Apple (AAPL), Samsung (SSNLF) and Qualcomm (QCOM.), as reported in the New York Times.

Mobile chips leader Qualcomm (QCOM) is planning to launch a variety of 'augmented reality' software for use in different consumer applications, according to Bloomberg/Businessweek.

Qualcomm wants to drive demand for its powerful processors that can handle high speed computing tasks for mobile devices. To do that, it intends to promote processor intensive augmented reality applications. Augmented reality aims to aid consumers with what they see. By pointing the phone's camera to objects and scanning them, the application can then identify them in the database, and find relevant material.

This is probably one of the most interesting stories of the Internet revolution. Microsoft (MSFT) jumped out the starting gate with its Windows operating system and took the world by storm. Then for some unknown reason, Microsoft missed the entire search engine revolution and Google (GOOG) raced to first place. Now Microsoft has again missed the next leg -- the iPhone and iPad revolution, and Apple (AAPL) holds first place in this segment.

Nokia (NOK) was a pioneer in the smartphone revolution, but with Apple's drive to the top, Nokia lost its momentum. Once Nokia had 50% of the handset market. Now that share has fallen to just 29%. It's hard to believe but Microsoft has only 2% of the global phone software market.

Yesterday marked a pretty big day for Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), as customers could finally walk into a Verizon store and pick up an iPhone. Some analysts had expected to see some long lines, but they did not materialize, creating the impression that the launch was less than successful, but looks can be deceiving.

It is easy to understand where the confusion comes from. In the past, whenever Apple released a new iPhone we saw long lines and often not even supply to cover the launch date demand, resulting in long waits for eager iPhone fanatics to get their hands on the new smartphone.

First we had the iPhone revolution. Now, The Financial Times reports that Apple (AAPL) is planning to expand the iPhone to handle mobile commerce, giving the company access to the multibillion-dollar transaction industry.

You are probably wondering what and how this will be done. The iPhone 5, due out this year, likely will incorporate technology called Near Field Communication (NFC). NFC incorporates financial account information and ties the data to specific devices.

"Before the iPhone, Motorola's RAZR was the world's must-have handset. But the company failed to come up with a successor and has been bleeding market share ever since," notes Nathan Slaughter.

The editor of Street Authority Market Advisor explains, "Now, Motorola Mobility (MMI) is back. After being lost in the woods for a few years, this former leader has found its way.

"By last summer, Motorola clung to just a 3% sliver of the global mobile phone market and had slipped into 8th place. But the tide began to turn shortly thereafter -- and I am expecting a big comeback in 2011.

It's not enough to be on every metropolitan street corner; now Starbucks (SBUX) is trying to be even bigger (in one sense of the word) -- and faster, too. Thirsty folks longing for a Big Gulp­-style coffee beverage are in luck as the Seattle-based coffee chain is set to roll out its new "Trenta" size for iced drinks.

The new size, seven ounces bigger than the Venti, will be 31 ounces. Trenta, by the way, means "thirty" in Italian. It's also a valley in Slovenia and a small town in the Italian province of Cosenza. This new size trumps Dunkin Donuts, which offers its iced beverages in 24-ounce serving sizes.

"Telefonica SA (TEF) is a member of our model portfolio; it meets 100% of the criteria we use in our James P. O'Shanghnessy growth and value model," notes John Reese.

The editor of Validea explains, "The company operates in three business areas: Telefonica Spain, Telefonica Latin America and Telefonica Europe."

He continues, "The O'Shanghnessy approach -- called the Cornerstone Value Strategy -- looks for large, well known companies whose market cap is greater than $1 billion.

There is quiet revolution taking place in communication. It's PC telephony. It's been around for years, but is catching the imagination of users around the world. The key driver of PC telephony is cost. Skype offers free online phone calls to any receiver who also has Skype.

Such calls require a microphone and desktop speakers. In a business setting where cubicles are adjacent to one another, the noise can be distracting.

The wireless communication world is about to receive a new entrant, as the country's third-largest cable company will start a cellular network in three areas today. The company? Cox Communications.

Before you think that this wireless network will be available across the U.S., Cox's wireless offerings will be available in Orange County, California; Omaha, Nebraska; and Hampton Roads, Virginia. These three locales are where Cox is the local cable company, and they hold roughly 1.5 million residents.

"Research In Motion (RIMM) is clearly undervalued at 9.7 times forward EPS; investor's concerns regarding the intense competition in the smart phone market have caused the stock price to decline 26% during the past seven months," says value investor J. Royden Ward.

The editor of Cabot Benjamin Graham Value Letter explains, "We believe exciting new product introductions will boost sales and earnings growth more than expected during the next couple of years.