Evan Niu, CFA

Just after Steve Ballmer announces his retirement, Microsoft gets back a key exec who could be a prime candidate to lead Microsoft into becoming a device maker.

Nokia has generally shied away from pursuing rivals for patent royalties, but that could potentially change after the sale of its handset business.

Investors hoping that Apple will unveil new iPads this week may be in for a disappointment. New tablets probably aren't slated for the event this week.

Nokia supposedly has a tablet in development, which would fall within the business that Microsoft just bought.

Microsoft has high hopes for its acquisition of Nokia's smartphone business. Is the software giant being too optimistic?

LinkedIn fetches insane valuation multiples. Can the professional social network prove its worth over time?

Social network Facebook has proved the bears wrong and now sits at all-time highs. Is it too late to buy in?

The biggest overhaul of Apple's most important operating system is imminent and could be a catalyst for investors to watch.

Apple is widely expected to be launching two different iPhone models this year, which would be a first for the company. It's about time.

Apple is very likely about to announce carrier partnerships with the biggest networks in China and Japan, which would dramatically expand its addressable market.

Investors and consumers already have a pretty good idea of what Apple has in store for its iPhone event on Tuesday. Does the Mac maker have any curve balls to throw?

Social reviewer Yelp has had an incredible year, but now the company finds itself fetching premium valuation multiples as investors rejoice mobile growth. Has Yelp gotten too far ahead of itself?

Graphics specialist NVIDIA is keeping pace with the broader market this year, and the company had no major mobile wins in early 2013. Fortunately, the core graphics business is still solid despite a weak PC market.

Facebook recently reclaimed its IPO price of $38, which was a sore spot for many early public investors. As the social network has transformed into a mobile ad play, is it a buy?

Baidu's recent gains have allowed the company to recover from a lengthy pullback. Mobile revenue is on the rise, which has helped reinvigorated investor confidence in the Chinese search giant.

Apple remains dirt-cheap and is trading at a significant discount to the broader market. Is it time to buy the Mac maker? CEO Tim Cook certainly thinks so.

In search and ads, Google remains the king. Even though Big G continues to march higher and trades at a premium relative to the market, the company has no meaningful threats right now.

The hottest games these days all embrace the freemium model, switching out upfront costs for in-game purchases. Traditional game makers will need to navigate the transition to stay relevant.

In the smartphone market, Japanese companies now lag international rivals despite a long history of success in consumer electronics. Today's computing market favors integrated players, and most Japanese companies don't fall into that category.

T-Mobile Jump, AT&T Next, and Verizon Edge all want to help consumers upgrade their smartphones more often. However, two of these programs aren't such a good deal.