This Week's 5 Smartest Stock Moves

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If you're feeling good about the market, you're not alone. Take my hand as we go over some of this week's more uplifting headlines.

1. An Apple a day keeps the Palm away
It has been a big week for Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), which once again unleashed a new fleet of updated iPhones to the market. It also updated its operating system for all iPhone owners, giving the popular smartphone new features like the ability to copy and paste as well as a built-in voice recorder app.

However, Apple's slickest move may have come earlier in the week, when it issued a warning on its site about iTunes syncing through third-party smartphones.

"Apple does not provide support for, or test for compatibility with, non-Apple digital media players and, because software changes over time, newer versions of Apple's iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with non-Apple digital media players," the statement says.

It's an obvious statement, and the timing is no coincidence. Earlier this month, Palm (Nasdaq: PALM) launched its Pre, promoting its ability to sync with iTunes. Apple's move helps steal some of the Pre's thunder, even if the Palm developers are unlikely to let any iTunes tweak go unmatched.

2. Big screens, big countries, big potential
IMAX (Nasdaq: IMAX) knows how to live large, with its gigantic movie screens and cranked-up cinematic experiences. It's also thinking big in announcing deals involving the world's two most populous nations.

One deal doesn't seem like much at first. The company will replace an existing IMAX screen in Mumbai with a digital projection system. It's bigger than you think. As India's first digital IMAX, the exhibitor will be able to take advantage of the digital delivery of features. This results in materially lower film distribution costs and greater flexibility to switch out content.

The second deal is in China, where a studio will put out as many as three theatrical releases in IMAX, along with the more conventional multiplex version. It's the first time that a studio is making this investment for a non-English film. If it's successful, one can expect even more Chinese exhibitors lining up for IMAX installations -- ideally, digital upgrades.  

3. Cool beans for Mr. Coffee
Jarden's (NYSE: JAH) Mr. Coffee is running with the cool crowd. It is teaming up with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (Nasdaq: GMCR) to develop single-cup coffeemakers that are fueled by Green Mountain's Keurig K-Cup portion packs.

This is the second deal this month for Green Mountain. It struck a licensing and distribution deal with Cuisinart two weeks ago. Green Mountain may have sold nearly 1.2 million brewers during the first half of fiscal 2009, but it doesn't mark them up. The company makes its profit from the K-Cup refills. In other words, the company is letting other kitchen appliance giants do its grunt work, giving it greater opportunities to sell more K-Cups for flavored coffee, tea, and hot cocoa.

4. Cooler beans for Mr. Softy
Can I have a slice of crow pie? I poked fun at Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) launch of its Bing.com search engine last month. I liked what the world's largest software company did with the site, but was wondering why Microsoft goes through search platform brands like Spinal Tap goes through exploding drummers.

Well, it appears as if the fifth time is the charm. Bing is a hit. Instead of fading after the initial popularity, traffic to Bing continues to grow, according to marketing research specialist comScore. Its stateside penetration of users has gone from 13.7% to 16.7% since its launch in late May.

This wouldn't be happening if the ad campaign wasn't working or if users weren't recommending Bing to their friends and families. As long as Microsoft's next step isn't to rebrand this as Bing Vista or Bing-a-Zune, the company finally has the ticket it always wanted to matter in paid search.

5. P.S.: I love you
Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO) is zigging while the other mall rats are zagging. The teen apparel retailer is rolling out a new concept called P.S. from Aeropostale, hoping to outfit kids between the ages of 7 and 12 with trendy and comfortable clothing.

I have no idea if tweeners -- or the parents of tweeners -- will take to the new concept. What I do know is that many specialty retailers are closing stores and eliminating mall concepts so quickly that it would make Paul Blart's head spin. This is going to lead to some serious voids in suburbia, with hungry landlords making some serious concessions to woo potential tenants. Aeropostale's timing couldn't be any better.