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Hot off the wire – Nintendo chef belittles iPad; Amazon profits skyrocket; Google digital books deal still under fire; Yelp raises $25M after failed Google deal; Broadcom CEO case dismissed; Samsung earnings surge

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A roundup of the latest news from The Associated Press:

• Nintendo president downplays iPad, questions 3D games

TOKYO — Nintendo's president shrugged off the just unveiled iPad tablet computer from Apple as delivering "no surprises," and displayed as little enthusiasm for 3-D technology and high-definition upgrades for games.

"It was a bigger iPod Touch," Satoru Iwata said of the much anticipated device shown Wednesday by Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs.

Iwata denied speculation in Japanese media that what Nintendo Co. has in the works in new gadgets may be a DS equipped with a motion-sensor similar to the wand for Nintendo's hit Wii home console, or a Wii upgraded for high-definition TVs.

"I question whether those features would be enough to get people to buy new machines," he said of the DS. Nintendo engineers are developing new machines, he said, without giving details.

Iwata also doesn't expect 3D video-gaming to catch on, although he welcomed 3D movies at theaters like James Cameron's hit "Avatar."

"I have doubts whether people will be wearing glasses to play games at home. How is that going to look to other people?" he said at a Tokyo hotel.

• Lots of holiday cheer at Amazon as sales soar

SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon.com Inc.'s fourth-quarter earnings skyrocketed 71 percent, as shoppers spent more than ever during a holiday season that improved over the previous year for retailers on and off the Web.

Despite the sluggish economy, Amazon did well throughout the year, drawing shoppers with its Kindle e-reader and deals on an immense selection of goods ranging from alarm clocks to stuffed zebras.

Amazon reported Thursday that this behavior carried through the holiday season, which is typically the busiest time of the year for retailers. And Amazon doesn't expect growth to slow: The company predicted first-quarter revenue that exceeds analyst expectations.

Amazon said it earned $384 million, or 85 cents per share, in the October-December period. That compares with $225 million, or 52 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter, which included a holiday season that Amazon had described then as its "best ever," only to be surpassed by the 2009 holidays.

Revenue rose 42 percent to $9.52 billion. That includes a $200 million contribution from online shoe and apparel store Zappos, which Amazon bought late last year.

The results blasted past estimates of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who expected earnings of 72 cents per share on $9.04 billion in revenue.

Amazon forecast revenue of $6.45 billion to $7 billion in the current quarter, an increase of 32 percent to 43 percent; analysts had been looking for $6.36 billion, on average.

Revenue from books, CDs, DVDs and other media climbed 29 percent to $4.68 billion. Electronics and other "general merchandise" revenue rose nearly 60 percent to $4.61 billion. Revenue increased 37 percent in North America and nearly 49 percent elsewhere.

Speaking to analysts during a conference call, Chief Operating Officer Tom Szkutak said there are still plenty of product categories and geographic markets that Amazon could enter.

Dan Geiman, an analyst with McAdams Wright Ragen, said the quarter was "extremely strong" and Amazon's results suggest it took some share of the online retail market from competitors.

"It's just huge growth, given that consumers are still under quite a bit of pressure," he said. "The economy still isn't that great."

• Critics step up attacks on proposed Google digital book settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc.'s bid to secure the digital rights to millions of books remains under attack from rivals and other critics trying to block a revised legal settlement that would unlock a vast electronic library.

The opposition fired its latest salvo Thursday, the deadline for filing objections with U.S. District Judge Denny Chin in New York.

The critics contend Google's $125 million settlement of a class action lawsuit with U.S. publishers and authors would thwart competition and drive up prices in the budding electronic book market. Opponents also warn the digital books will give Google an important tool for attracting more traffic and building upon its already commanding lead in the Internet's lucrative search and advertising market.

Google argues the agreement will benefit society by making it easier to see and potentially buy hard-to-find books that have only been available in print in a handful of libraries.

The company, based in Mountain View, has made digital copies of more than 12 million books during the past five years, but can't display most of them until copyright issues are resolved.

Chin has scheduled a Feb. 18 hearing to consider whether he will grant final approval to the complex settlement that was first worked out 15 months ago.

Google revised the agreement in November, two months after the Department of Justice warned the original settlement probably would violate antitrust and copyright laws. The government has until Feb. 4 to file its opinion about the revised settlement.

The most strident criticism to the changes so far have come from the same foes that have spearheaded the resistance since last summer. The opposing camp includes the Open Book Alliance, a group including Google rivals Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., as well as Consumer Watchdog, a group that fights abusive business practices.

More people and industry groups have lined up to support the settlement since Google agreed to narrow the settlement's scope. The new backers include the families of author John Steinbeck and songwriter Woody Guthrie, as well as publishing groups from Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.

A French publishing group remains opposed to the revised settlement. Google is currently fighting a French court ruling fining the company for showing digital snippets from books in that country.

• Broadcom ex-CEO cleared in federal narcotics case

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A federal judge tossed out a raft of felony narcotics charges against Broadcom Corp.'s co-founder and former CEO Thursday, ending an embarrassment for prosecutors that grabbed headlines with allegations of prostitutes and drug stashes but ultimately withered under the court's critical eye.

Henry T. Nicholas III smiled and hugged his supporters outside court and said he felt vindicated after two years of prosecution on the drug case and a parallel securities fraud case that accused him and his technology company's former chief financial officer of improperly backdating stock options.

"At this juncture, I would simply like to thank all of the many people who stood by me, and never doubted me, during these last several years," Nicholas said during his brief remarks.

U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney threw out the fraud case in December, citing what he called prosecutorial misconduct and a lack of evidence. At the time, he also questioned the government's narcotics case against Nicholas and told prosecutors they'll have to explain why it shouldn't also be thrown out.

Prosecutors ended up asking Carney to dismiss the drug charges, and he did so Thursday — but not before chiding Nicholas, 50, for his apparent struggles with drug addiction.

"From the evidence ... as well as what's been attained from the pretrial services, it does seem that you had a serious drug problem," Carney told Nicholas. "You paid dearly for that. You lost your marriage, you lost your job, your reputation has been tarnished, but from what I gather you've been clean and sober for two years and I commend you for that."

The double dismissal is a big embarrassment for the government, which in June 2008 unsealed a salacious indictment that so impressed a magistrate judge that he set Nicholas' bail at $3.3 million and ordered random drug tests and weapons searches of the billionaire's luxury coastal home.

• After failed Google deal, business rating site Yelp raises $25M

SAN FRANCISCO - The online business rating site Yelp has raised $25 million from the private equity firm Elevation Partners.

The funding announced Wednesday comes a month after negotiations to sell Yelp to Google unraveled. Google at one point had offered about $500 million for Yelp, according to numerous published reports.

Elevation Partners bought stock at a price that values Yelp at about $475 million, according to a person familiar with the deal's terms. The person requested anonymity because Yelp is privately held.

Elevation also hopes to buy up to $75 million in stock from Yelp's 300 employees and other shareholders.

Yelp has raised a total of $56 million since its 2004 inception.

• Samsung 2009 net profit rises 75 percent

SEOUL, South Korea — Samsung Electronics Co. says its 2009 net profit jumped 75 percent as sales rose amid higher prices for memory chips and strong demand for consumer electronics.

The company said Friday in a regulatory filing that it earned 9.65 trillion won ($8.33 billion) in the 12 months through Dec. 31. It reported net profit of 5.53 trillion won the same period the year before.

Samsung said sales last year rose 23 percent to 89.77 trillion won from 72.95 trillion won a year earlier.

The Suwon, South Korea-based company is the world's largest manufacturer of computer memory chips, flat screen televisions and liquid crystal displays. It ranks No. 2 in mobile phones behind Finland's Nokia Corp.

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