Where do you tweet? When? More important, what's normal? Are you some kind of freak?

A recent Gadgetology study by Retrovo.com, a consumer electronics shopping site, seeks to ascertain where the line in the sand is in regards to social media use (and overuse). If you're 35 or younger, regular use of sites such as Twitter and Facebook is common (big shock, right?). It looks to Retrovo like a new addiction may be taking root.

By 2013, more than $4 billion will be spent on smartphone applications, according to a new study by the Yankee Group ... and the estimate is said to be conservative. With the average owner of one of these devices downloading around 20 applications a year, it's obvious that this market is getting ready to pop. Currently, only $343 million is spent in this space.

An increase in the number of smartphone applications available -- for Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone, Reasearch in Motion's (NASDAQ: RIMM) Blackberry, and Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android -- and rising prices for these applications will push the total size of this market higher.

Just a couple years ago, the shares of Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) were above $40. But since then, it's been brutal -- with the shares eventually falling to $5.35. After all, the company is in the competitive telecom-equipment space.

However, things have been getting better lately. In fact, the share price is now at $13.06.

And this week Ciena reported its fiscal Q3 earnings report. While revenues dropped 35% over the past year, they were actually up 14% over the prior quarter. There was a net loss of $26.5 million, or $0.29 per share.

PC makers like Hewlett-Packard Corp. (NYSE: HPQ), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) and Taiwan's Acer have seen computer sales decline in the past year as consumers faced a recession and tightened wallets.

Now, this isn't the first time PC sales have slumped, but it did send a red flag up a bit to those the sell the most: how about diversifying a little bit?

"By 2017, wireless service providers could generate more than $100 billion from services such as text messaging, GPS and movie, and music downloads " says Roger Conrad.

In Personal Finance, he adds, "Even this forecast could prove extremely conservative thanks to an explosion in sales of smartphones." How to play this trend? Here, he looks at Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM).

"Smartphones account for only 11% of the world's mobile handsets; penetration remains under 20% in the U.S. This leaves plenty of room for further growth.

Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) has been in deep trouble for a while now. For some untold reason, the company placed almost all its growth bets on its wireless division but has not produced a hit handset in years. Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) and Samsung Electronics have been producing and selling all kinds of cutting-edge wireless handsets to carriers all over the world. What has Motorola been up to?

It's still producing handsets, but so many of the designs and marketing strategies have been commodities lately. Meanwhile, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has taken the mobile crown with the iPhone, and even Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) has risen from the dead with the new Palm Pre. Motorola was in such bad shape financially that it even suspended the spinoff of its mobile unit last year.

Sorry, hedgies. Headhunters think you have another 20,000 job losses ahead in 2009, representing a 10% industry contraction. As if it wasn't bad enough that your base salaries were getting hammered.

Yet Vikram Pandit shocked with news that Citigroup, Inc. (NYS: C) may run a profit. The question -- for how long? Credit cards, commercial real estate, and many other shoes still dropping. Our Piqqem Sentiment on TARP recipients shows neutral across the board, so could Vik be right, and could it be that the gloom is lifting? Has TARP really been great coverage?

While Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) are locked in their battle for smartphone supremacy, a new entry into the market has grabbed headlines.

Palm's (NASDAQ: PALM) brand new touch-screen smartphone -- the Pre -- was the surprise event at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Among other things, the Pre uses the Palm's Web OS, which supposedly can consolidate data from multiple Web sources.

The long-only money managers and analysts getting their 15 seconds of fame on CNBC are pounding the table shouting "Tech is on sale! Tech is on sale."

Is it?

Are the great electronics brands -- like Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) and Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) -- truly on sale?

Best Buy

Best Buy beat earnings estimates and announced plans to offer buyouts to virtually all of its nearly 4,000 headquarters employees. Say what!?!

Translation: Management is very good and business is going to be very bad.

What should investors do?

The recession is going to get much worse, and will be as bad or worse in Q4 of next year. ChangeWave Research consumer spending survey data shows 2009 -- at least the earlier part of it -- is going to be far worse than Wall Street expects. And logic says that this will hit Best Buy stock.

Furthermore, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), Costco (NASDAQ: COST) and other discounters are hurting Best Buy's business as the more "advanced" products become mainstream, and require little, if any, sales support.

Also, Wal-Mart may get the iPhone. Will Mac laptops soon follow?

Not too long ago Elizabeth Harrow noted that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has actually ramped up its payroll by 48% in fiscal 2008. Today we hear that Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) actually has more than 1,250 positions it needs filled mostly in its Waterloo, Ont. headquarters within its R&D and product development departments. Yes, RIM is hiring.

It's no secret that RIM has recently revamped its line of smartphones to try and broaden its appeal beyond the corporate user and reach the consumer. It did it to mixed reviews. The touch screen BlackBerry Storm got an awful review from David Pogue at The New York Times, while others disagreed. Similarly, it seems that some are disappointed with the new Pearl Flip while others see the potential appeal. The new Bold seems mostly to hold its own as a solid corporate phone.

Other than the recent launches, RIM has also been hit by a stream of bad news, taking its stock down 65% year-to-date: Apple sold 6.9 million iPhones in the last quarter, compared with 6.1 million BlackBerrys. Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) reported abysmal earnings and Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has lowered estimates recently. Oh, Nokia launched another smartphone competitor, the N97. Then there's the recession in North America, Europe, and Japan, a recession that may become global soon. And research firms project a drop in mobile-phone sales. With all this could RIM really keep to its targets in 2009?

"If you can tolerate the volatility, it's a good idea to begin dipping back in to the stock market, in solid companies with strong cash balances, little debt and great prospects," says wireless sector expert Nikhil Hutheesing.

In The Forbes Wireless Stock Watch, the advisor asks, ""In the long run, smart investments today will lead to profits down the road. One of those companies, that I now think looks attractive, is the Canadian maker of the BlackBerry - Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM)."

"The Canadian company introduced the BlackBerry in 1999 and it quickly became a must-have way for employees oflarge companies to communicate through email and voice wirelessly. In its fiscal 2008 (which ended in February) the company sold nearly 14 million devices (more than double the year before).

"Recently, though, the financial crisis has dealt a strong blow to the company. Investors doubt whether RIMM can repeat the 90% growth in revenues that it achieved in fiscal 2008.

"Not only is the slowing economy a threat to growth but so is increased competition. Apple's iPhone, for example, has been a hit among consumers and now the company is pushing into the corporate market, trying to erode Research In Motion's market share.

While Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has had relatively smooth going in Europe introducing the iPhone, things are apparently less so in China (and Russia) where it is being reported: China Mobile to Buy Out iPhone in China.

The negotiations between China Mobile Ltd (NYSE: CHL) have led to many compromises on the part of Apple. To get the deal done it agreed to have no more sharing from toll revenues of cooperative carriers, and the Wi-Fi function of the multimedia smartphone is to be deleted.

Although it has been widely reported the Chinese anxiously want to sell iPhones to their hundreds of millions of potential customers -- something Apple has been vigorously pursuing -- it took several rounds of negotiations after which Apple got the short end of the stick.

Just one more company bending to the will of the Chinese. I wonder how long it will be before they reverse engineer the phone using Apple as another pawn in the game of technology transfer? I wonder if there is anything that should or can be done about it?

I'm sure after all is said and done Apple got the best deal it could. I just hope it works out as well as it envisioned.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I do not own shares of AAPL.

"Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) are taking the smartphone market by storm," says Toby Smith in his ChangeWave Investing.

"AAPL and RIMM are both pushing all of the other manufactures to the sidelines. It's clear that RIMM's BlackBerry is the dominating force in the corporate smartphone market, but the Apple iPhone has shaken things up quite a bit on the consumer side.

"The combination of the new Apple model flying off the shelves, and rumors of a postponement for one of RIMM's new releases, has raised questions among some analysts as to RIMM's ability to fight back.

"Research in Motion may be planning to release several new smartphones this year, including the KickStart, the Thunder and the already announced Bold.

During the challenging market conditions over the past year, the telecom sector has felt its fair share of the pain. BusinessWeek brings Standard & Poor's Todd Rosenbluth who suggests that some of these telecommunication stocks could now be good investments for traders as they have a safe dividend.

Despite worries tied to the slowing U.S. economy and increased competition, "we think that some of the concerns are overdone and believe selective stocks are attractively valued," Rosenbluth stated. Rosenbluth also noted that telecom stocks have started showing signs of recovery for the past few weeks, helped by the launch of new handsets and merger and acquisition agreements.

Some of investors' favorite companies are AT&T Co. (NYSE: T) and Citizens Communications Co. (NYSE: CZN). Rosenbluth believes that the launch of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s new iPhone, 3G iPhone, will stir increased demand for smartphones, helping such companies, while putting pricing pressure on some of their competitors.

As expected, Apple announced today the launch of its next generation iPhone, and the new phone will come with a price tag that is $200 less than the current model. The new 3G iPhones are going to hit the market with a $199 price tag.

A big reason for the release of the the new iPhones is the desire by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) to hit their goal of selling 10 million phones by the end of the year. The new phone will have faster Internet connection and satellite navigation capabilities. If you are like me, and have been postponing the purchase of a new phone in anticipation of today's announcement, you will have to wait a bit longer. The new phones will be available on July 11.

While the new phones will be about half the price of the current models, the monthly service plans will be a bit higher. Look for a $39.99 monthly plan, plus another $30 monthly fee for unlimited data. This works out to be about a $10 monthly increase, but considering the improvements of the new phones, not too bad of a deal if you ask me. Supposedly the new iPhones will be able to download data twice as fast as the current model.