Apple and Google: The tables have turned

Tech rivals Apple and Google have traded places. But for how long?

By Kevin Kelleher

FORTUNE -- In July 2012, the Presidential election was kicking into high gear, the Olympics were about to begin, and most people thought it was a matter of time before shares of Apple hit $1,000.

Google (GOOG), meanwhile, was just muddling along. After doubling during 2009, its stock had been treading water around $600 a share for MORE

Mobile growth is about to be staggering

It's the biggest shift in technology since the advent of the Internet, and mobile is still only just beginning.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- "I remember traffic lights before smartphones," sighed a friend as we sat in traffic behind a car that remained still after the light had turned green. Sure enough, the driver's head was tilted downward as if lost in solemn prayer -- or, more likely, a texting/map/music app MORE

Is it finally prime time for TiVo?

After ten years of toiling in the DVR sector with a we-try-harder attitude, here's what has changed for TiVo.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE --  A decade after it changed the way we watch TV, TIVO may be embarking on a second act.

Founded in 1997, the Alviso, Calif., company pioneered software to manage digital video recording, or DVR. Its interface made finding and recording TV programs an intuitive experience. TiVo (TIVO) hit on MORE

Enterprise tech is facing a depressing 2013

Companies are likely to spend on tablets and cloud services—but at the expense of higher margin products.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- As companies around the globe put the final touches on their 2013 budget plans, they are applying a modesty that was rare during earlier decades of Silicon Valley growth. And while many forecasts are calling for stronger spending than we saw in 2012, that's mostly because 2012 was a MORE

4 moves Intel's next CEO must make

The tech giant faces difficulties ahead as the chip market changes. Here's what the company's next leader must do.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- Anyone care to run an $54 billion-a-year tech giant? Anyone have any good ideas how to get it growing again? Intel is looking for a new CEO to take the reins at the Silicon Valley icon next May, when Paul Otellini steps down from the job.

Since Otellini became MORE

Cisco: Middle-aged and loving it

Markets for the products Cisco is best known for have changed. But with a $45 billion cash pile, it has plenty of options for transforming itself.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- As a purveyor of switches and routers that form the Web's backbone, Cisco Systems is responsible for building the Internet. Perhaps more so than any other company. But as the Internet evolves, Cisco has entered a kind of middle age, struggling MORE

Holiday shopping forecast: Stronger, and predictably crazy

Expect a big jump in sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year. Online, sales from mobile platforms are expected to surge 110%.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE – Some day in the future, anthropologists may be able to explain the bizarre shopping rituals of the 21st Century American consumer during the holiday season: Why, for example, so many people look for bargains on one day – Black Friday – MORE

Online travel: It's going to be bumpy

A look at the performance of several online-travel companies shows their fates diverging.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- The past several years have been sluggish ones for the travel industry, and it's unlikely to get better: Fiscal uncertainty in the U.S., a sovereign debt crisis in Europe, economic slowdown in China. In the online-travel industry, the sluggishness is separating the strong companies from the weak.

A look at the stock performance of MORE

Steve Ballmer at the crossroads

The Microsoft of the late 1990s wouldn't recognize the Microsoft of 2012 -- for the better. But for every Kinect, there is a Zune.

FORTUNE -- Legends are tough acts to follow, especially when they leave a mess behind. Just ask Steve Ballmer. Ever since joining Microsoft in 1980, Ballmer has toiled in the shadow of Bill Gates. Gates is the one remembered as the legend who turned Microsoft into a formidable MORE

Trulia: A canary in the tech-IPO coal mine

The lift that Trulia's stock is enjoying in the first few weeks after its IPO suggests that other tech IPOs can safely enter the market.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

FORTUNE -- Looking at Trulia's performance since it went public last month, you'd almost think that the Facebook IPO debacle never happened. Trulia, a San Francisco-based company that provides online real-estate information, listed its stock on Nasdaq on Sept. 19. Last week, it MORE