China Unicom Ltd. (NYSE: CHU) just completed a hugely successful launch of the iPhone 4 from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). The company reportedly took pre-orders for 200,000 of the phones and sold out, or nearly so, 60,000 units on the first weekend of sales.

Back in March, ConocoPhillips Corp. (NYSE: COP) revealed a plan to increase shareholder value by selling assets, reducing debt, getting a better return on capital, increasing dividends, and buying back more shares. The company faced serious problems in each of these areas.

In January, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: APPL) announced the iPad, a 9.7-inch tablet computer that Jobs claimed would transform the portable computer market. When the tablet launched in April, it was impossible to buy the device at a retail outlet or even online.

While Google and Apple continue their strong partnership on AAPL devices, Apple is taking away serious revenue from the technology company in other sectors. A new report says that iAd, Apple's recently launched mobile advertising platform, will be neck and neck with Google's mobile advertising business by the end of the year.

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) has made an offer to buy competitor AirTran Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: AAI) for about $1.4 billion in cash and Southwest stock. If the deal goes through, Southwest will solidify its position as the leading regional airline in the US.

Bank stocks in general and regional bank stocks in particular are dragging down the broader market due to weak loan growth and other factors.

Barring a big surprise, the charts are saying the market is due for a correction.

As Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) held its annual meeting this week, CEO Larry Ellison said: “You’re going to see us buying chip companies.” He added that now that Oracle is in the hardware business through its acquisition of Sun Microsystems, he wants to follow the model of his friend and Apple CEO Steve Jobs to own more of the intellectual property in the computer chips Oracle will be using.

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is getting trounced by Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: APPL) in the smartphone market, but that's not stopping the Finnish mobile phone manufacturer from trying to compete.

Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) is not thrilled with the transition from the sale of physical media to digital distribution. Why can't people just keep buying millions of DVDs like they did ten years ago? DVD and Blu-ray disc movie sales declined a whopping 13% in 2009, cutting deep into movie studios' profits.

While the expected take from an IPO of a restructured General Motors is not anywhere near the nosebleed levels of the recent IPO of the Agricultural Bank China, the pending stock offering generates a lot of interest because the US government owns 61% of GM. Now that sort of ownership structure may be common among Chinese companies, but it's pretty rare in the US.

The Bush tax cuts are likely to expire after the holidays. Both large and small investors will feel the pain.

The new Playstation phone would serve two purposes for the company. It would be a second attempt to conquer Nintendo (PINK: NTDOY) in the portable video games market just as they release their new Nintendo 3DS handheld. It would also serve as an effort to steal away smartphone market share from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: APPL), whose iPhone line continues to dominate and is a competitor in the games space itself.