Who'S ToP oF ThE TeCh ChArT?! HmMmMm

Apple, Google, Microsoft, Nintendo, Yahoo. All have published results over the last week that have been scrutinised closely for any clue about whether an economic downturn is likely to dampen spending on gadgets and software. What they all seem to show is a remarkably robust appetite for technology spending. But who's doing best? I've extracted one significant number from each set of results - and created a chart ranking the five in order of current achievement.

1. Nintendo

$2.48bn. That's Nintendo's profit for the last year. Not just a 48% rise on the previous year, but the biggest profit ever made by a games company. The Wii effect contunues to work its magic on a business which was thought doomed to irrelevance just a few years back - and is now one of Japan's most valuable companies. Will new games continue to refresh Nintendo's profits - or will the new audience of family gamers fade away when the novelty wears off?

2. Apple

2.29 million. That's how many Mac computers Apple sold in the last three months. Which reinforces our earlier blog posting about Apple's growth now being led by Macs - not iPods or iPhones. The iPod certainly did the job of making Apple matter again - but now as sales flatten off, it's the firm's success in winning converts to the Mac OS which is the real moneyspinner. Having expanded its following beyond the cult of Mac-lovers, Apple just needs to keep the newcomers interested with constant innovation. Easy....

3. Google

42%. That's how much the search firm's revenue was up in the last three months, compared with the start of 2007. A figure which confounded expectations of a slowdown in the remarkable Google growth story - and set the scene for a week of good news about the technology economy. As we reported, the firm is now Britain's biggest earner of advertising revenue, overtaking ITV. But one small shadow - Google's revenue in its home US market failed to grow much. Is that the first sign of a downturn in the US hitting the technology sector?

4. Microsoft

$4.75bn. That was the revenue earned in three months by the Microsoft division which develops its Office software. Which goes to show that Microsoft's core products are still extraordinary moneyspinners. But that figure was actually a shade down on last year. And when I looked at the rubric which accompanies Microsoft's forecast of future earnings, one item stood out: "Actual results could differ materially because of factors such as challenges to Microsoft's business model". The real threat to its business model comes from the firm at number three in our chart - and that's why Microsoft wants to buy number five.

5. Yahoo

$27.30. That was the Yahoo share price on Thursday evening - about a dollar down on its level before Tuesday's results which actually exceeded market expectations. What that says is that the market does not believe Jerry Yang's promises of a better future as an independent company, nor is it betting on Microsoft coming up with an improved offer.