Apple has posted impressive quarterly earnings for the 14-week period ending on December 31, 2011. According to a press release, the company reported a quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion, as well as a quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion, or $13.87 per diluted share, the company’s best quarterly results yet. Apple’s 116 percent profit growth helped push its total cash to $97.6 billion — enough to cover Greece’s debt payments due in the next two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Apple sold 37.04 million iPhones, 15.43 million iPads and 5.3 million Macs during the quarter.

What’s interesting is the continued growth of iPad sales.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around iPad, iPod and iPhone online.

iPhone vs. iPod vs. iPad buzz

iPad mentions topped iPhone mentions for the first time in December 2011.

Apple buzz

Overall Apple mentions have been in slight decline since 2008. Although Apple passed Exxon as the most valuable company based on market cap.

Flipboard, the popular social newsreading app for the iPad, launched its long-awaited iPhone app Wednesday. The app displays feeds from both formal news sources and social networks in a magazine-like format.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around Flipboard online.

Flipboard buzz

Flipboard mentions increased 577% Wednesday following the iPhone app launch.

Flipboard sentiment

Conversations around Flipboard are currently 91% positive. The term ‘iPhone’ is currently appearing in 56% of all Flipboard conversations.

New findings from ChangeWave Research show that demand for the Kindle Fire, Amazon’s first tablet, is outpacing pre-launch demand compared to the iPad. Surprised, we decided to use Social Radar to analyze buzz around Kindle Fire and iPad online.

Kindle Fire vs. iPad buzz

iPad generated 35x more buzz over the last month than Kindle Fire.

Content distribution

Both iPad and Kindle Fire are receiving balanced press via Twitter and blogs. Though iPad is generating significantly more chatter online.

Can Amazon’s Kindle Fire take market share from Apple’s iPad?

Tuesday Google unveiled video and screengrabs of the new Gmail look, which will be rolling out soon. Users have the option to click on the “switch to the new look” link to check out the changes now. News of the updated Gmail interface first hit the Web on October 20. The new Gmail interface is all about ease of use, with improved search, intuitive navigation and more streamlined conversations. You can also change the display density, and try out new themes.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around Google and Gmail online.

Gmail conversation topics

Overall conversations around Gmail are currently 83% positive. The word ‘design’ is appearing in 15% of all Gmail conversations and is 90% positive.

Google and Gmail buzz

Conversations around both Google and Gmail spiked to their highest point this month on October 20, the day news about new Gmail leaked.

Overall buzz around Gmail is up 944% and buzz around Google is up 150% this month.

Google sentiment

Conversations around Google are currently 80% positive.

Google released a new iPad and iPhone app for Gmail today. Have you tried the new Gmail? What are your thoughts?

After months of speculation, Amazon unveiled its new tablet this morning, the $199 Kindle Fire. Smaller and cheaper than Apple’s iPad, the Kindle Fire has a 7-inch display and runs on a heavily customized version of Google’s Android operating system. For a feature breakdown, visit Amazon Kindle Fire vs. iPad 2 vs. Nook Color: by the numbers.

Amazon’s focus is on media consumption — the Kindle Fire pulls together all of Amazon’s media services from the cloud, including 18 million digital books, movies, songs, magazines, apps, and games. The device is designed to tap into all of the digital media products and services Amazon has been building for the past few years: Amazon Web Services, Instant Video, Kindle Books, Amazon’s MP3 music store, cloud storage, and Android app store.

Priced at less than half the $499 starting price of an iPad, the Kindle Fire aims to undercut Apple’s popular tablet, which has sold 28 million units since its 2010 debut. ”The price is shockingly low,” Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps said.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also unveiled a new version of Amazon’s classic e-ink Kindle, now called the Kindle Touch, which will start at $99.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around Amazon and Apple online.

Amazon vs. Apple buzz

Amazon chatter spiked past Apple today following the announcements. Kindle chatter (purple) spiked up near iPad (green) levels today as well.

Content breakdown

Amazon and Kindle Touch are being heavily blogged about today. More than 51% of Kindle Touch mentions came via blogs this morning, while 83% of iPad mentions came via Twitter.

Amazon sentiment

Conversations around Amazon are currently 84% positive.

Apple sentiment

Despite excitement around Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 announcement October 4, overall conversations around Apple are currently 76% positive, 8% less positive than Amazon.

iPad sentiment

Conversations around the iPad are currently 86% positive.

Kindle Fire sentiment

Conversations around Kindle Fire are currently only 75% positive.

Kindle Touch sentiment

Conversations around Kindle Touch are 85% positive, 11% more positive than Kindle Fire currently.

Can Amazon Kindle compete with Apple iPad? There are plenty of reasons why the Kindle Fire is no iPad killer. What do you think?

News broke today that Apple will start its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with several important software releases: iCloud, Apple’s upcoming cloud service, as well as the next iteration of its desktop and mobile platform, Mac OS X Lion and iOS 5.

The really big announcement at this year’s June 6 WWDC will be iCloud, which is rumored to be Apple’s cloud service for music. Recent reports said that Apple has signed a licensing deal with EMI and was close to signing similar deals with Sony and Universal, which would pave the way for iCloud.

WWDC buzz

Chatter around Apple’s WWDC is already up 426%, still a week away from the conference.

WWDC sentiment

Conversations around WWDC are currently 83% positive. Steve Jobs is currently being mentioned in 11% of WWDC posts after speculation that he would participate in the keynote.

We will report back next week following the conference to break down the buzz.

On Monday, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s mobile payment service Square released a Register app for merchants to use an iPad at the point of purchase. With the software merchants can complete transactions with absolutely no plastic as long as the customer has Square’s mobile app. Square has built a wallet into its app called Card Case, which stores payment details, sharing your name when checking out, processing the transaction and sending a text message confirmation.

On Tuesday, Ad Age reported that Square’s Card Case system marked the first major mobile payments launch in a category that has everyone from Visa to AT&T in a tizzy. And while Square nabbed Visa as a strategic investor in April, Visa is also launching its own mobile wallet competitor based on near field communication (NFC) technology, which will enable users to touch or wave their phone at the register to pay, rather than give their name to a salesperson.

Then, today, Google announced Google Wallet, an app that the company says will make your phone your wallet. You’ll be able to tap, pay and save using your phone and near field communication. Google is field testing Google Wallet now and plans to release it soon. Users will be able to store credit cards, offers, loyalty cards and gift cards. When you tap to pay, your phone will redeem offers and earn loyalty points. Google also plans to store things like boarding passes, tickets, IDs and even keys.

We used Social Radar to measure buzz.

Google Wallet chatter online

Google Wallet, which had been nearly unmentioned before today, experienced a 116,483% spike in chatter.

Google vs. Square vs. Visa vs. MasterCard vs. AT&T vs. Verizon mentions within “mobile payment” conversations

Visa and Square generated the most overall chatter within “mobile payment” conversations over the past month. However, Google spiked above all others today, being mentioned in 90% of all “mobile payment” conversations.

Did Google Wallet just change the game? How will Google Wallet affect plans and offerings for Square and Visa moving forward?

RIM launched its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet today.

We measured chatter around the new tablet compared to its hottest predecessors the Apple iPad 2 and Motorola Xoom.

BlackBerry PlayBook vs. Apple iPad 2 vs. Motorola Xoom buzz

iPad clearly generated the most chatter, while BlackBerry PlayBook and Xoom generated a similar amount of buzz.

BlackBerry PlayBook sentiment

Conversations around the BlackBerry PlayBook have been 83% positive.

Apple iPad 2 sentiment

Similarly, iPad 2 conversations have been 83% positive. Impressive, considering that the device has been out longer and generated significantly more chatter.

Motorola Xoom sentiment

Conversations around Motorola Xoom have been only 74% positive.

Will BlackBerry PlayBook quickly surpass Motorola Xoom and become a legitimate contender against market leader iPad?

HP officially unveiled its next generation of webOS devices today, including the new TouchPad tablet, Palm Pre 3 and HP Veer.

Palm chatter

Buzz around Palm has already doubled so far today following the announcements.

HP TouchPad chatter

The TouchPad is HP’s big move into the white-hot tablet space. Check out the Engadget review comparing HP’s TouchPad to the iPad and Motorola Xoom. Chatter around TouchPad spiked above Xoom today, but is still well below iPad buzz.

HP Chatter

Conversations around HP are currently 86% positive.

HP Conversation Topic Cloud

The TouchPad is being mentioned in 24% of HP conversations today.

Google officially unveiled Android Honeycomb, the first Android OS designed specifically for tablets, during a press conference today.

Google Android Honeycomb chatter

Chatter around today’s Honeycomb announcement has already equaled buzz from early January following its debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Android Honeycomb vs. iPad Chatter

Despite two spikes in chatter this month, Android Honeycomb chatter still pales in comparison to Apple’s iPad chatter. The iPad would be ranked in the top 1/3 of Fortune 500 companies if the product were just a company within itself.

Android Honeycomb vs. iPad Sentiment

Conversations around both iPad and Android Honeycomb are both right around 85% positive. However, the iPad has been used and reviewed by customers and is generating much more content. Time will tell whether the Android Honeycomb tablets are a serious iPad competitor.