On Tap This Week: Apple and Microsoft Events, Earnings Galore

Flickr: Paqman

The staff at AllThingsD is generally a very busy bunch. But the next five days promise to be particularly jam-packed with news from some of the biggest names in tech.

(For the record, these are only some of the events that are scheduled to occur. There are also contingencies in place for unplanned events — like, say, Google accidentally publishing its earnings release hours before it was supposed to.)

From Apple’s iPad Mini event to Yahoo, Facebook and Amazon’s earnings, here’s a breakdown of the week to come:

Monday, Oct. 22: Yahoo’s third-quarter report is on deck for after hours. As you may recall, CEO Marissa Mayer’s first day on the job was July 17, the same day Yahoo reported second-quarter earnings. So, technically, this will be the first time investors will have a chance to hear from the new boss — that is, if she makes an appearance on the call.

Tuesday, Oct. 23: First thing Tuesday morning, we’ll be live at the highly anticipated Apple event in San Jose. Invitations were sent out last week, simply saying, “We’ve got a little more to show you.” Hint, hint. In addition to the more compact iPad that everyone has been anticipating, we we might also see a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display and perhaps a new Mac Mini. In the afternoon, it’s Facebook’s turn to report third-quarter earnings. Last month, Mark Zuckerberg made his first appearance since going public to explain what had gone wrong over the past year. But given that the company’s stock has done nothing but fall since (minus one small bump), it seems the company will have some more explaining to do.

Wednesday, Oct. 24: Zynga’s third-quarter earnings call hits after the bell, and thanks to its preliminary report we already know what we’re going to get: Bad things. The company warned it was missing both third-quarter and full-year guidance. Expect CEO Mark Pincus to provide a cost-cutting plan to help the company return to profitability.

Thursday, Oct. 25: The two A’s report quarterly results today — Amazon and Apple. Pretty routine stuff here. Look for Apple to discuss iPhone 5 sales figures and for Amazon to say zilch about how many Kindle Fires it is selling. In addition, Microsoft will be hosting a press event in New York City to “celebrate Windows 8,” including a Microsoft Surface Reception. The next day it starts making the software — and computers running it — available to the public. It’s also when Microsoft plans to start selling its own tablet, known as Surface.

Correction: In the original version of this post, it incorrectly stated that the Microsoft event was set for Friday, Oct. 26. The post has been updated to reflect that the event is actually on Thursday, Oct. 25.

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