Shares of retail giant Best Buy (BBY) traded higher Thursday morning after the company posted better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter.

Going into the earnings report, analysts had been expecting to see Best Buy report earnings of $1.84 per share for the quarter. Best Buy topped estimates by posting earnings of $1.98 per share.

It is pretty obvious to investors that the Internet has accelerated the decline in print newspaper readership. It is also clear that the Internet is contributing to business model changes (and in many cases outright news/editorial budget reductions) at print magazines.

However, that the Internet would also compel changes in broadcast network news -- and in particular, the nightly network newscast -- might be viewed as less obvious. But that, in fact, appears to be the case.

Already dealing with a cable/satellite channel explosion that's decreased their viewership due to audience fragmentation (basically people have more channel choices), network news now must increasingly cope with the reality that adults tuning in have already seen and/or read about on the web the day's top news stories by the time the nightly newscast airs.

Yesterday we ran an earnings preview on mobile device maker Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and asked if the company would be able to break even for its fourth quarter. The answer is no, and shares are trading sharply lower in reaction to the company's weak earnings report.

Excluding items, the company lost a penny a share, which was weaker than the break even quarter that analysts had been hoping to see. For comparison purposes, the company was able to earn a positive 5 cents a share for the same period last year.

It is going to be a strong open today for Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) following its strong second quarter earnings report. Not only was the company able to beat earnings estimates, but it also grew its market share by 4% year over year.

For the quarter, Nokia earned 32 euros per share, ahead of analysts' forecasts of 25 euros. On top of the strong earnings, the company also showed its highest operating profit margin in three years at a respectable 18.7%.

As we mentioned earlier, the company has been able to manage a 4% growth in global market share over the past 12 months, and half of that growth was witnessed during its recent quarter. At the end of the first quarter, the company claimed 36% of the global market, so a jump up to 38% was a very strong move to make over three months.

Looking forward to the full year 2007, the company now expects global device volumes to move higher by at least 10%. This is slightly more optimistic than its previous estimates of volume growth rising up to 10%.

All in all it was a great quarter, and one that should be rewarded on Wall Street. Look for a very strong today for this Finnish company!

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.

Is Apple Inc's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone a flop? That's what the stock market seems to think, judging from the decline in the share price of Apple and the phone's exclusive vendor AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), after the telecom company reported disappointing sales numbers.

AT&T, which also had lackluster earnings, signed up 146,000 iPhone customers in the first two days of sales, below analysts' forecasts of more than 500,000, according to Reuters. How meaningful is this? After all, there is no possible way analysts could have accurately predicted sales of the iPhone since it's so unique. About the best analysts could do is make educated guesses, which have proven to be wrong.