Safe to say that the mood of last week–with its anticipation of change–is a distant memory. A different kind of anticipation permeated the tech and online media industries, one more reminiscent of April 2001. There was news all around of layoffs, pending layoffs, bankruptcies and stock dives.

To wit:

Digital Daily offered up a body count of companies in the tech sector that have been beaten into whimpering submission. Nortel (NT), once a telecom high-flyer, lost $3.4 billion in Q3. The company announced plans to lay off five percent of its workforce–including some high-ranking executives–eliminating 2,500 positions. Other high-ranking execs are taking part in the econalypse too, notably Kevin Kettler, Dell’s (DELL) chief technology officer. A week after the computer maker began offering workers voluntary separation plans, Kettler decided to take the company up on it. No word on how many followed suit. Other victims of the gloomy economy are Circuit City (CC), which declared bankruptcy this week, and Intel (INTC), which faced “sharply lower revenue.”

Media Memo presented a handy index of actual online advertising sales results (courtesy of Jupiter Media) and noted that the ad slowdown has hit Google (GOOG), too. Nick Denton, Gawker Media publisher, folded Valleywag into Gawker.com, the flagship blog of the media empire and, in an ironically appropriate move, put Consumerist up for sale. Denton, doom-mongerer of the econalypse, would surely appreciate the following layoff roll call: Condé Net and Time Inc., not once, but twice. No, wait. Three times.

BoomTown was on a Yahoo (YHOO) roll this week, writing about the company’s upcoming layoffs and its stock plunge. Just to squash rumors: Jerry Yang will not be laid off. Social media, mainly Twitter, became a hot topic this week in terms of its effect on the PR industry, and BoomTown had something to say about it. Also noted was the good humor of Mobuzz video, which made a plea to its users to donate five euros apiece to keep it afloat. And in case you were wondering what makes BoomTown impatient, the main two things this week were Microsoft’s (MSFT) continuing failure to find a head for its digital business and Yahoo/AOL’s failure to make anything happen in the ongoing yawn-fest of a nonacquisition.

In Personal Technology, Walt Mossberg gave the lowdown on Wi-Fi for your car, and in Mossberg’s Mailbox discussed disabling Wi-Fi on a laptop. In The Mossberg Solution, Katherine Boehret reviewed the Flip MinoHD, the latest addition to the Flip family, and its first foray into hi-def.

We have almost $25 billion safely in the bank and zero debt. This provides us tremendous stability and the ability to invest our way through this downturn. This is what we did during the last downturn–we increased R&D investments and created some of our best new products and businesses, like the Apple retail stores, for one. This downturn may also present some extraordinary opportunities for companies that have the cash to take advantage of them, like Apple does.”

What was that again?

“This downturn may also present some extraordinary opportunities for companies that have the cash to take advantage of them, like Apple does.”

Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi noted that remark as well and followed up on it during the Q&A. “Steve, you mentioned a couple of times that you thought there were extraordinary opportunities for companies with cash,” he said. “I think you could hire almost every engineer in Silicon Valley on a lifetime employment contract and not really dent that significant cash horde that you have. When you made that statement, are you suggesting that there are significant opportunities for Apple outside of Apple, specifically in terms of acquiring companies?”

Jobs’s reply: “I just meant exactly what I said, which is I think there’s going to be some significant opportunities.”

Could this mean that Apple is considering an acquisition–a major acquisition? It’s hard to say, but the fact that Jobs dropped such a hint at all is certainly interesting. Perhaps it’s time for that long-rumored merger with Adobe (ADBE).

Incidentally, Adobe’s market cap is $14.65 billion. …    

We have almost $25 billion safely in the bank and zero debt. This provides us tremendous stability and the ability to invest our way through this downturn. This is what we did during the last downturn–we increased R&D investments and created some of our best new products and businesses, like the Apple retail stores, for one. This downturn may also present some extraordinary opportunities for companies that have the cash to take advantage of them, like Apple does.”

What was that again?

“This downturn may also present some extraordinary opportunities for companies that have the cash to take advantage of them, like Apple does.”

Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi noted that remark as well and followed up on it during the Q&A. “Steve, you mentioned a couple of times that you thought there were extraordinary opportunities for companies with cash,” he said. “I think you could hire almost every engineer in Silicon Valley on a lifetime employment contract and not really dent that significant cash horde that you have. When you made that statement, are you suggesting that there are significant opportunities for Apple outside of Apple, specifically in terms of acquiring companies?”

Jobs’s reply: “I just meant exactly what I said, which is I think there’s going to be some significant opportunities.”

Could this mean that Apple is considering an acquisition–a major acquisition? It’s hard to say, but the fact that Jobs dropped such a hint at all is certainly interesting. Perhaps it’s time for that long-rumored merger with Adobe (ADBE).

Incidentally, Adobe’s market cap is $14.65 billion. …    

But that was the hand that Apple (AAPL) was dealt. And so, with its stock trading at a little over $91 in a dismal market, the company reported fourth quarter results. And lo and behold, they’re good. Very good.

Apple, which typically low-balls its earnings forecasts and then exceeds them, appears to have done so once again. The company posted revenue of $7.9 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.14 billion, quite a bit more than the profit of $1 a share on $7.8 billion in revenue it had forecast. It shipped 2,611,000 Macs during the quarter, over 11 million iPods and nearly seven million iPhones–6,892,000 to be exact. Said CFO Peter Oppenheimer, “We had a quarterly record for Macintosh sales, and we blew it out on the iPhone.”

Apple CEO Steve Jobs was even more effusive in his praise. “Apple just reported one of the best quarters in its history, with a spectacular performance by the iPhone–we sold more phones than RIM,” Jobs said in a statement. “We don’t yet know how this economic downturn will affect Apple. But we’re armed with the strongest product line in our history, the most talented employees and the best customers in our industry. And $25 billion of cash safely in the bank with zero debt.”

Not “the best quarter ever,” as Jobs is often wont to say. But one of them. An impressive showing amid the current econaclypse.

And what of future guidance? Apple is, once again keeping with tradition. The company delivered a first-quarter outlook well below analysts’ forecasts.

We are preconfigured for the downturn.”

– Sun CEO Jon Schwartz, Oct. 13, 2008

The econalypse is weighing heavy on Sun Microsystems. Its business sullied by the financial crisis, the company warned of a much larger-than-expected quarterly loss on lower revenue after market close Monday afternoon. Sun (JAVA) said it expects to post revenues of $2.95 billion to $3.05 billion when it reports full financials on Oct. 30. Analysts had been looking for $3.14 billion and a loss of $0.01.

Sun’s ugly news just seems to be getting uglier. “The company continues to miss its targets,” said Edward Jones analyst Bill Kreher. “There’s a lack of confidence in management, given continued shortfalls. … They are just not well-positioned … [Sun] has an uncertain future.”

We are preconfigured for the downturn.”

– Sun CEO Jon Schwartz, Oct. 13, 2008

The econalypse is weighing heavy on Sun Microsystems. Its business sullied by the financial crisis, the company warned of a much larger-than-expected quarterly loss on lower revenue after market close Monday afternoon. Sun (JAVA) said it expects to post revenues of $2.95 billion to $3.05 billion when it reports full financials on Oct. 30. Analysts had been looking for $3.14 billion and a loss of $0.01.

Sun’s ugly news just seems to be getting uglier. “The company continues to miss its targets,” said Edward Jones analyst Bill Kreher. “There’s a lack of confidence in management, given continued shortfalls. … They are just not well-positioned … [Sun] has an uncertain future.”