Apple Inc. (AAPL), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), Google Inc (GOOG): Three Takeaways for Technology Investors This Earnings Season

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) too saw declines with search cost-per-click rates falling 8% due to weaker mobile ad rates.

It seems mobile is technology industry’s El Dorado.

Now everything above holds true with one exception – Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). During the second quarter mobile represented 41% of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s $1.6 billion advertising revenue. Daily active mobile users and cost-per-click rates were up 27% and 41% respectively from the previous quarter. This is particularly impressive because at this time last year the company didn’t even have a mobile strategy.

How did the company engineer such an impressive turnaround? It was a case of some serious dogfooding – using your own product in order to learn more about your own product. Earlier this year, Facebook internally blocked employees from using the desktop version of the social network. The moved worked. Forcing developers to use the mobile app resulted in big improvements to the smartphone and tablet experience.

Based on a report from eMarketer, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) controls 51% of U.S. mobile ad spending versus 15% at Facebook. But after the results from this quarter, expect Facebook to take a bigger slice of that pie.

Foolish bottom line

It has been a tough summer for technology investors but fortunately there’s a lot to look forward to this coming fall. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is expected to release a new iPad mini tablet and iPhone 5S. Speculation is also building that the company may even announce the much anticipated iWatch. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is also set to reinvent the living room with the roll-out of its Xbox One. All of these launches represent catalysts that could drive tech shares higher.

Robert Baillieul has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Apple, Facebook, and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft.

The article 3 Takeaways for Technology Investors This Earnings Season originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Robert Baillieul.

Robert is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.

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