It was only in September, when we reported that Google hit a record high at $748.90, and obviously, they’ve come a long way since even then. According to the Wall Street Journal, shares are up over 13% this year.

Yahoo Finance says the market has grown “increasingly optimistic that Google’s core business and mobile applications have many good years ahead of them.” Reports over the last few days have also indicated that Google will open up retail stores before the end of the year, which will enable it to get its products into even more consumers’ hands.

As of the time of this writing, Google shares are at 803.29 (+10.40‎, 1.31%‎). It’s been five years since Google shares first reached the $700 milestone. Last June, they hit a 12-month low of $559.05.

Shares of rival Apple are down to $457.34 (-2.82‎, -0.61%‎) as of the time of this writing, about a 35% decrease from a high mark in September.

It’s easy to see why Apple’s stock was so successful in the months leading up the launch of the iPhone 5. The company was reporting record profits every quarter on massive sales of both of its iPhone and iPad product lines. The launch of the iPhone 5 was in itself a momentous occasion, but it all started to go downhill a little after that.

Only a month after the iPhone 5 launched, Apple announced the iPad Mini. The mini-tablet was Apple’s attempt to directly compete with Google’s Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD. First impressions are often ugly, however, and investors tore into it. The company’s share price stumbled to about $613-$615.

Since then, the iPad Mini has proven to be a smart move on Apple’s part. Early reports indicate that it’s doing incredibly well, and that it’s even more popular than the iPad. Why is Apple’s stock taking a beating then when everything seems to be going well? It’s because the iPad Mini is more popular than the iPad. Apple envisioned a world where consumers would buy both the iPad and the iPad Mini as a “sidearm” of sorts. Consumers are instead opting to only buy the iPad Mini. That cuts into the company’s profits as it makes less money per iPad Mini sold.

Of course, the iPad Mini only explains one part of the problem. The other problem has only manifested itself recently, and caused a sharp drop in Apple’s stock. A report from Monday said that Apple’s component orders were being cut by half in response to weaker-than-expected demand for the iPhone 5. The news cut through the company’s share price and dropped the price to below $500 for the first time in over a year.

It should be noted that $500 per share is an extraordinary accomplishment, and something that few companies can ever achieve, That being said, it’s rather worrisome to see a company’s stock drop by over $200 in less than six months. Analysts are still remaining optimistic, however, with Value Walk reporting that analysts at Nomura are maintaining a neutral rating for Apple with a target price of $530 per share. It’s below that price for now, but the idea is that Apple will be able to stabilize itself around that price in the coming months.

So how can Apple retain its position as the most profitable company in tech? It’s not exactly an easy prospect as the company has made a name for itself with investors by reporting monster profits every quarter, but that might not help the company sell as much hardware anymore. Following the lead of the iPad Mini, there are now reports of a cheaper iPhone for emerging markets. Apple denies the reports, but there’s enough evidence to say with confidence that Apple is looking to shake up the iPhone brand in some way in 2013. If it is indeed a cheaper phone, investors might not be pleased as it will mean even less profits.

As for everything else, Apple needs to focus on innovation instead of litigation. The company will argue that it’s only protecting the innovations it has introduced to market, but where were the new innovations in the iPhone 5? A slightly bigger screen and Passbook does not an innovative phone make. Android and hardware makers who leverage the OS are running circles around it.

The iPad isn’t fairing much better as Apple introduced a fourth generation iPad in the same year as the third generation was released. The only difference between the two was a faster processor. The company that Steve Jobs built has become too comfortable in its place as the market leader, and is inviting competitors to usurp it.

If Apple really wants to get back on top, it will have to start being a consumer technology company again. Engaging in petty corporate warfare with Google at the expense of its users isn’t going to win them any fans or investor support. For now, it should solely focus on its consumers instead of worrying about any outside threats or influences. Apple was at its best when Steve Jobs did whatever he wanted, and the company needs to recapture that defiant spirit.

Now, shares are a bit closer to Earth at $591.42 (-12.58‎, -2.08%‎) as of the time of this writing. Trading was halted temporarily thanks to Hurricane Sandy, but the markets are open today.

Last week, Apple released its quarterly earnings, which included disappointing iPad sales. Since then, reports have come out that the company is also losing iPhone loyalty.

On top of that, Scott Forstall, an Apple executive, who led the development of the devices’ operating system is leaving the company.

Another report out this week indicates that Android has caught iOS in terms of apps offered. Heading into the holiday season, Apple is not only competing with Google’s Android (which runs on a new line of devices from the company), but also Amazon’s Kindle Fire devices, which also run their own version of Android. Furthermore, Amazon (which is even replacing Google as the starting point in an increasing number of online shopping searches), is heavily promoting its devices showing a feature-by-feature comparison against the iPad mini, right on the site’s homepage (though the ad seems to have gone away for the time being).

Over the past week, Microsoft has also been showing off its new Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 platforms, which offer consumers even more non-Apple options. When the iPad came out, it really had no competition whatsoever. Things have changed.

It’s going to be interesting to watch how Apple’s stock performs throughout the holiday season.

Google has put out a pair of Hurricane Sandy-related maps, including this New York-specific one:

The New York Stock Exchange said in a statement, “We support the consensus of the markets and the regulatory community that the dangerous conditions developing as a result of Hurricane Sandy will make it extremely difficult to ensure the safety of our people and communities, and safety must be our first priority. We will work with the industry to determine the next steps in restoring trading as soon as the situation permits.”

NASDAQ also said over the weekend that its decision to close was made after consulting with other exchanges in the U.S. as well as government officials and regulators, such as the SEC.

The storm, which has already left at least 65 people in the Caribbean dead, has also led to a number of other closures, including the cancellations of events from both Google and Facebook.

Meanwhile, the storm has prompted the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to take down their paywalls, so more readers can stay informed.

NASDAQ stated this weekend that the decision to close was made through a consultation with other U.S. exchanges, government officials, and regulators including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It also stated that the “continuity of our markets” and the state of emergency declared in New York factored into the decision not to open today. All of its exchanges outside the U.S. will be open for business today.

The NYSE released a similar statement, emphasizing the safety of its employees:

We support the consensus of the markets and the regulatory community that the dangerous conditions developing as a result of Hurricane Sandy will make it extremely difficult to ensure the safety of our people and communities, and safety must be our first priority. We will work with the industry to determine the next steps in restoring trading as soon as the situation permits.

Hurricane Sandy is scheduled to hit the Northeastern coast of the U.S. sometime today or early Tuesday. The storm is a category one hurricane and is expected to carry a large storm surge along with high winds. In addition, a wintery weather pattern coming from the west is expected to meet Sandy, possibly creating what has been dubbed a “frankenstorm” and covering the Northeast in snow.

Apple announced today that the company pulled in $36 billion in revenue and quarterly net profit of $8.2 billion. This is up from the fourth quarter last year when Apple only pulled in $28.3 billion in revenue and a net profit of $6.6 billion. International sales are also becoming increasingly important as they made up 60 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

“We’re very proud to end a fantastic fiscal year with record September quarter results,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re entering this holiday season with the best iPhone, iPad, Mac and iPod products ever, and we remain very confident in our new product pipeline.”

Apple sold 26.9 million iPhones in the fourth quarter, which represents a 58 percent unit growth over last year. The company sold 14 million iPads during the same quarter, which represents a 26 percent unit growth over last year. As for Macs and iPods, the company sold 4.9 million and 5.3 million units respectively. The iPod was the only device to see a decline in sales over the last year.

“We’re pleased to have generated over $41 billion in net income and over $50 billion in operating cash flow in fiscal 2012,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2013, we expect revenue of about $52 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $11.75.”

You can check out the breakdown of Apple’s quarterly results here.

On the heels of the iPad Mini announcement, Apple’s shares have dropped 20 points, or 3.26 percent, to $613 per share. Since then, the share price has been in a constant state of fluctuation.

So what caused the drop? The Wall Street Journal suggests the drop was due to a bad first impression from the iPad Mini. Some analysts were expecting the iPad Mini to be priced lower than its announced price tag of $329.

Bill Kreher, senior technology analyst at Edward Jones, said that investors “had hoped Apple would step on the throats of Amazon and Google with its pricing.” Instead, he feels that Apple will be relying on its brand power once again to main margins.

Other analysts have even said the high price may allow competitors to sneak in lower priced alternatives. Google will be holding an announcement next week in which they are expected to announce a 10-inch tablet with Samsung. The tablet, if priced at $300, could be devastating to Apple’s continued success in the holiday season.

For comparison’s sake, Google’s share price has been up by about three points today for an individual share price of $681.

Apple’s earnings report will be going out Thursday so we’ll know then how successful Apple has been in the third quarter. We’ll also get our first look at how successful the iPhone 5 has been since its explosive launch.

The earnings release is currently displayed at SEC.gov. It shows Google with revenues of $14.1 billion for the quarter, an increase of 45% year-over-year. Motorola revenues were $2.58 billion ($1.78 billion from the mobile segment and $797 million from the home segment). Motorola suffered a $527 million operating loss.

Ad revenue was up 16% year-over-year, and up 6% from the previous quarter.

The release did not have a quote from CEO Larry Page in it. It’s still unclear whether he will be on today’s earnings call. He has been speaking publicly this week for the first time since his vocal cord issues, so it seems fairly likely.

The Wall Street Journal shares a statement from Google on the leak of the report, saying, “Earlier this morning RR Donnelley, the financial printer, informed us that they had filed our draft 8K earnings statement without authorization. We have ceased trading on NASDAQ while we work to finalize the document. Once it’s finalized we will release our earnings, resume trading on NASDAQ and hold our earnings call as normal at 1:30 PM PT.”

Bloomberg reports that Google’s stock value rose 0.7 percent this morning to a total market value of $249.2 billion. This small increase puts it ahead of Microsoft’s own impressive market value of $248.7 billion. Both companies are still trailing Apple by hundreds of billions of dollars. Barring any disasters, it will be awhile before anybody is able to catch up to Apple’s impressive $632.9 billion market value.

So, how did Google pass up Microsoft? Analysts speaking to Bloomberg seem to think it’s a sign of the times. The PC is slowly losing ground to the Web. Google bet on the Web early on and is benefiting greatly from it. Microsoft has been playing catch up in that area, and are trying to bolster the PC market with the launch of Windows 8 later this month.

Google is still investing heavily in Web-based technologies, but it’s all a vehicle for the company’s ad business. Bloomberg cites projections from EMarketer that says Google will be the number one outlet in the U.S. for display advertising. Combine that with Google’s hold on the mobile search market through Android, and you have an unstoppable advertising machine.

Apple fans and investors shouldn’t be worried too much. Google is rising, but very slowly. Apple is still incredibly profitable, and nothing short of an act of God can change that. Of course, potential investors may want to start looking into Google as the company’s value continues to rise. Google may be able to break $300 billion market value if it continues its upward climb on the back of mobile search.

In other Microsoft news, the company announced the retirement of one of Raymond Gilmartin from its board of directors. Gilmartin is the former chairman, president, and CEO of Merck & Co. He stated that he will retire and not seek re-election to Microsoft’s board of directors at its next annual shareholder’s meeting.

“It’s been a real pleasure to work with Microsoft during a transformative period for the company, and see first-hand the vision and dedication that are reshaping Microsoft’s future and the future of the industry,” said Gilmartin.

Gilmartin joined the Microsoft board in 2001. At 71 years old, he is “reducing his professional commitments to free up more personal time.” His departure leaves the Microsoft board with ten members, including Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, Netflix founder Reed Hastings, former JPMorgan Chase CFO Dina Dublon, and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

“Ray has been a strong and insightful member of the board,” said Ballmer. “We appreciate his many contributions over the past eleven years,”