Top tech headlines: Apple, Microsoft and Nokia end of quarter results, Google+ iPhone app, new MacBook Airs

(Apple)

Hot topics in the tech blogs for the week ending July 22 include the release of Mac OS X Lion and updated products from Apple, the launch of the Google+ iPhone app and end of quarter results from Apple, Microsoft and Nokia.

The launch of Mac OS X Lion
Apple's next-generation operating system Mac OS X 10.7 Lion was released to the public, resulting in a download frenzy. More than one million copies of Lion were downloaded in the first 24 hours of launching.

Apple's latest products
Apple also showed off a new, more powerful lineup of MacBook Airs, updated Mac Minis and the world's first Thunderbolt Display. The products follow a distinct trend of streamlined, bulk-free, uni-body design, and all noticeably lack CD/DVD drives.

Apple results
Apple announced yet another record-breaking quarter with quarterly revenue of $28.6 billion and a net profit of $7.3 billion. The new figures revealed that Apple had made more profit from selling iPads (9.2 million sold for $6 billion) than Macs (3.9 million sold for $5.1 billion) for the first time, and sold record numbers of iPhones (20.3 million).

Google+ iPhone app launches
"iPhone, meet Google+," posted Google senior vice-president of Social Vic Gundotra on his Google+ account to announce the arrival of the iOS Google+ app in Apple's App Store. Users immediately started complaining that the app does not yet support the iPod touch or iPad. Despite some users’ disappointment with the app it quickly rose to the top of the App Store’s top free iPhone apps list.

Microsoft and Nokia end of quarter results
Both Microsoft and Nokia released their end of quarter results this week. Microsoft posted higher than expected earnings thanks to high sales of its Xbox gaming console and Office suite. Nokia reported a loss of close to €500 million and “clearly disappointing” sales figures causing bloggers to comment “As bad as it seems now, Nokia's future looks worse” and ask “will Apple soon deliver the killer blow?”