If Microsoft can't do it, Apple sure can!!

Is Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) entertainment chief, Robbie Bach, talking about Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) or Microsoft when it comes to creating a great music player and phone?

1. Microsoft can't design it

"Putting together a phone with a media player raises many design questions, including how to manage various inputs, the optimal screen size and battery life, Bach said.

"You have to find out what it's great at. Is it great as a phone or is it great as music player? If it's great as a music player, then it's just another iPod trying to be a phone," said Bach."

Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world

2. Microsoft doesn't believe this to be a top priority

"Bach said it too is considering a mobile phone integrated with its Zune digital music player, but launching such a device is not at top of its priority list.

"It's probably on the table of things for us to look at, but not the number one thing we are focused on," said Bach, speaking to analysts at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas."

3. Microsoft still has work cut out with Zune

"The longtime Apple rival plans to come out with new Zune models later this year, but Bach said do not count on a phone model just yet."

Zune's initial estimates of selling a million units within the first year of introduction is in jeopardy.

4. Microsoft doesn't have a network partner (much less design and technology to integrate a phone)

"Bach said MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) phones often have difficult relationships with the mobile operators. One of the few successful MVNOs in the United States so far is Virgin Mobile."

On the flip side, Bach believes that "Historically, working with partners hasn't been a strong point for Apple, so maybe it will find a way to work around those relationships."

Of course, Bach is telling the media that iPod phone is going to be a challenge for Apple, and Apple can't really pull this off! NOT!!

The question though is what if Apple does introduce an integrated, great looking iPod phone that combines the best of both worlds: music and wireless phone, video and messaging, with a top service provider tomorrow at MacWorld! Remember, Apple has past experience when it designed and introduced the Rokr along with Motorola in 2005.

Would Microsoft give up on Zune all together upon learning of Apple's new iPod phone?
Microsoft and the world will be watching as Apple CEO Steve Jobs takes the floor at MacWorld and makes the announcement tomorrow. Bach would be all ears.

Apple and Microsoft are two of the top 20 Innovators on The Innovation Index.

References:

Reuters story: iPod phone a challenge for Apple

Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world

America Movile, S.A. de C.V. and Yahoo! Inc. added to The Innovation Index

America Movile, S.A. de C.V. (America Movil) (NYSE: AMX) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) have been added to The Innovation Index. With this addition, The Innovation Index now represents the top 20 Innovators in North America.

The Innovation Index will begin 2007 at 69.38 points with the addition of AMX and YHOO.

America Movile revenues have grown from 7.6 billion in 2003 to 16.9 billion in 2005; 2006 revenues are expected over 20 billion. America Movile net income has grown from 1.3 billion in 2003 to 2.9 billion in 2005; 2006 net income is expected over 4 billion. America Movile has a potential subscriber base of over 500 million users in Americas. AMX was up 56% last year, and is expected to repeat the performance this year.

Yahoo! revenues have grown from 1.6 billion in 2003 to 5.2 billion in 2005; 2006 revenues are expected to eclipse 6 billion. Yahoo! net income has grown from 296 million in 2003 to 1.1 billion in 2005 aided by one-time benefit; 2006 net income is expected above 600 million. Yahoo! is the worldwide online leader in page views and visitors, and is poised to grow in 2007 with new innovations through search, expansion of key properties, and focused leadership. YHOO was down 35% last year, however is poised to rebound in 2007.

Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world

The Innovation Index has returned 119% over the last five years along with the addition of these top two Innovators. $100 invested in The Innovation Index on December 31, 2001 returned $219 as of December 29, 2006. By comparison, $100 invested in S & P 500, NASDAQ and Dow Jones Index returned $124. The Innovation Index beats the S & P 500, NASDAQ and Dow Jones Index by 77% over the last five years. (click to see the comparison)




Summary of America Movil, S.A. de C.V. (from Google Finance):

America Movil, S.A. de C.V. (America Movil) (NYSE: AMX) founded in 2000, and headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico is a provider of wireless communications services in Latin America. The Company has subsidiaries in the telecommunications sector in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Paraguay and the United States. As of December 31, 2005, America Movil had 93.3 million subscribers in 14 countries. In August 2005, the Company acquired Smartcom, S.A. and America Movil Peru, S.A.C. In July 2005, America Movil acquired AMX Paraguay, S.A. In December 2006, Verizon Communications Inc. completed the sale of Verizon Canada Holdings Corp., to a subsidiary of America Movil, S.A. de C.V. As a result, the Company purchased Verizon Communications Inc.'s interest in Verizon Dominicana, which provides telecommunications services to more than 2.7 million wireless, wireline and broadband customers in the Dominican Republic.

Summary of Yahoo! Inc. (from Yahoo! Finance):

Yahoo! Inc. (Yahoo!) (NASDAQ: YHOO) founded in 1994, and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California provides Internet services to users and businesses worldwide. It offers online properties and services to users; and a range of tools and marketing solutions to businesses. The company’s search products include Yahoo! Search; Yahoo! Desktop Search; Yahoo! Toolbar; and Yahoo! Search on Mobile to navigate the Internet and searching for information; and local offerings comprise Yahoo! Local; Yahoo! Yellow Pages; and Yahoo! Maps. Its Marketplace products include Yahoo! Shopping; Kelkoo; Yahoo! Auctions; Yahoo! Real Estate; Yahoo! Travel; Yahoo! Autos; Yahoo! Personals; Yahoo! Personals Premier; Yahoo! HotJobs; and Yahoo! Small Business for users seeking to purchase products and services on the Internet. Yahoo! also offers information products, such as Yahoo! Front Page; My Yahoo!; Yahoo! News; Yahoo! Finance ; Yahoo! Health; and Yahoo! Education, as well as entertainment products, including Yahoo! Sports; Yahoo! Music; Yahoo! Movies; Yahoo! TV; Yahoo! Games; and Yahooligans!. In addition, the company offers communications and connected life products that provide a range of communication and content services to users and small businesses. Its communications products include Yahoo! Mail; Yahoo! Messenger with Voice; Yahoo! Photos; and Yahoo! Communities; and connected life products comprise Broadband; Yahoo! Mobile; and Yahoo! Go. Yahoo! has strategic alliances with Alibaba.com Corporation, AT&T Corp, BT Group plc, Rogers Cable Inc., Vodafone Group plc, and Verizon Communications, Inc.

About The Innovation Index

The Innovation Index introduced in December 2006 is a weighted stock price index of the top 20 Innovators in North America.

The alphabetical list of the top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index along with their stock ticker symbols are presented below:

3M Company - (NYSE: MMM)
Amazon.com, Inc. - (NASDAQ: AMZN)
American Movile - (NYSE: AMX)
Apple Computer, Inc. - (NASDAQ: AAPL)
Cisco Systems, Inc. - (NASDAQ: CSCO)
Dell Inc. - (NASDAQ: DELL)
eBay Inc. - (NASDAQ: EBAY)
General Electric Co. - (NYSE: GE)
Google Inc. - (NASDAQ: GOOG)
Hewlett-Packard Co. - (NYSE: HPQ)
Intel Corporation - (NYSE: INTC)
International Business Machines Corp. - (NYSE: IBM)
Microsoft Corporation - (NASDAQ: MSFT)
Research In Motion Limited - (NASDAQ: RIMM)
Southwest Airlines Co. - (NYSE: LUV)
Starbucks Corporation - (NASDAQ: SBUX)
Target Corp. - (NYSE: TGT)
The Proctor & Gamble Company - (NYSE: PG)
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. - (NYSE: WMT)
Yahoo! Inc. - (NASDAQ: YHOO)

The Innovation Index will analyze the positions and standings of the top 20 Innovators at the end of each year. For 2007, there will be no further changes in The Innovation Index. However, The Growth Innovation Index will be proposed that will include weighting based on market cap, past performance, and closing share price.

Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world

The Innovation Index gains 13.2% in 2006, beats NASDAQ

The Innovation Index gained 13.2% in 2006, beating NASDAQ by about 39%. NASDAQ returned 9.5% in 2006. By comparison, S & P 500 returned 13.6% and Dow Jones Index returned 16.3% in 2006 (click to see the entire index).



The Innovation Index is up 112% since 2002 over the last five years. By comparison, S & P 500, NASDAQ and Dow Jones Index have each returned 24%. $100 invested in The Innovation Index on December 31, 2001 returned $212. By comparison, the same $100 invested in either of S & P 500, NASDAQ or Dow Jones Index returned $124. Even in 2002, when most of the stock indices were down, The Innovation Index performed better than the S & P 500 and NASDAQ. The table below compares the returns of The Innovation Index to the major indices since 2002. Over the last five years, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) have each had gains over 100%. (click to see the entire five year table)

Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world

The Innovation Index 2006 Winners

Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) and Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ) are the top three performers on The Innovation Index for 2006 gaining 94%, 60% and 45% respectively. Only five innovators were in the red in 2006, led by eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), Intel (NYSE: INTC), Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV).

Changes in The Innovation Index

For 2007, The Innovation Index is adding two more Innovators in the North America. Who would make The Innovation Index? The names of the top 20 Innovators, including the two new Innovators, will be revealed in The Innovation Index Annual Report in the second week of January, 2007.

The Innovation Index has been compiling and reporting the results so far from the first trading day in January of previous year through the first trading day of January of next year. However, since all the major indices summarize their results from the last trading day of December of previous year through the last trading day of December the next year, The Innovation Index also made this change so that there can be apple-to-apple comparison of The Innovation Index vis-à-vis the major indices. The Innovation Index will now use the stock market closing prices of December 29, 2006, the last trading day of 2006, as the baseline to measure and project performance for 2007. This is consistent with how the major indices measure their performance.

The Innovation Index Annual Report

I am planning to post an annual report of the top 18 Innovators plus the two new Innovators of The Innovation Index during the second week of January, 2007. The report will include insights gained from the top 18 Innovators, top Innovations introduced during 2006, lessons learned, 2007 projections, and observations on Disruptors challenging the top 20 Innovators.

About The Innovation Index

The Innovation Index introduced in December, 2006 is a weighted stock price compilation index of the top 18 Innovators in North America (soon to be the top 20 Innovators).

The alphabetical list of the top 18 Innovators of The Innovation Index along with their stock ticker symbols are presented below:

3M Company - (NYSE: MMM)
Amazon.com, Inc. - (NASDAQ: AMZN)
Apple Computer, Inc. - (NASDAQ: AAPL)
Cisco Systems, Inc. - (NASDAQ: CSCO)
Dell Inc. - (NASDAQ: DELL)
eBay Inc. - (NASDAQ: EBAY)
General Electric Co. - (NYSE: GE)
Google Inc. - (NASDAQ: GOOG)
Hewlett-Packard Co. - (NYSE: HPQ)
Intel Corporation - (NYSE: INTC)
International Business Machines Corp. - (NYSE: IBM)
Microsoft Corporation - (NASDAQ: MSFT)
Research In Motion Limited - (NASDAQ: RIMM)
Southwest Airlines Co. - (NYSE: LUV)
Starbucks Corporation - (NASDAQ: SBUX)
Target Corp. - (NYSE: TGT)
The Proctor & Gamble Company - (NYSE: PG)
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. - (NYSE: WMT)

Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world

The Innovation Index Weekly Report

The Innovation Index stayed essentially flat at 73.74 for the week ending December 27, up 11% for the year from 66.36 (click to see the complete Index)

The Innovation Index began the month of December at 74.70, and is now at 73.74, or down about 1% for the month.

Weekly Advances

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ), IBM (NYSE: IBM), and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) each gained 1% for the week. HPQ is up 46% for the year, while IBM is on a late rally in December and is now up 20% for the year. HPQ is having an outstanding year in 2006 on the heels of many innovations driving growth. IBM is also coming on strong with solid revenue growth and margins growth for the year. GOOG is up 8% for the year and is poised to return to double-digit growth in 2007 based on their innovation pipeline. WMT is in the black now, up 1% for the year. AMZN is still down 15% for the year, however is recovering from the lows. AMZN is poised to rebound in 2007.

Weekly Declines

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), Intel (NYSE: INTC), Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), and Target (NYSE: TGT) declined last week. RIMM led the declines with 4% for the week. RIMM has been oscillating the last three weeks between +6% and -6%. RIMM posted excellent quarterly results last week; however, investors are wary of the overall stock appreciation for the year. AAPL also went down 4% last week. AAPL is now down 11% in December, however up 9% for the year. EBAY shed 3% last week, and is now down a whopping 31% for the year. Can EBAY rebound next year? TGT dropped 1% last week, although is up 6% for the year. TGT is bound to benefit from the holiday shopping, and will provide a great start to the New Year. Couple of bell weathers INTC and DELL each lost 1% last week; INTC is down 20% and DELL down 17% for the year. What innovations did INTC and DELL introduce in 2006 that will impact their 2007 growth and lead a rebound?

Weekly Neutrals

3M (NYSE: MMM), Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), GE (NYSE: GE), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), P&G (NYSE: PG), Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) were even for the week. CSCO is on a roll in 2006, up 56% for the year. What important innovations have driven CSCO in the driver's seat again in 2006? Is CSCO gaining market share? GE, MSFT and PG are each showing double-digit percentage growth in stock price for the year.

Yearly Leaders and Laggards

Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) and Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ) are the top three performers on the Innovation Index for the year gaining 94%, 56% and 46% respectively. eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), Intel (NYSE: INTC) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) are the bottom three performers on the Innovation Index for the year losing 31%, 20% and 17% respectively. AMZN has moved upward from the bottom three performers due to the slight rally in December.

I released story on Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) brewing new innovations last week. The story is included below under References section. SBUX is now up 16% for the year. SBUX has had an impressive growth in the last five years, and when the engine is firing on all cylinders, there is no stopping for SBUX in 2007. Expect another 10% or higher growth for SBUX in 2007.

The Innovation Index is poised to end the year with gains around 11% to 12%. This would equal the stock performance of S & P 500 for the year. The Innovation Index is poised to beat the NASDAQ. However, Dow Jones Index appears to hold its lead over the Innovation Index for the year.

Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world

The Innovation Index Yearly Report

I am planning to post an annual report of the top 18 Innovators of The Innovation Index during the second week of January, 2007. The report will include insights gained from the top 18 Innovators, top Innovations introduced during 2006, lessons learned, 2007 projections, and observations on Disruptors challenging the top 18 Innovators.

About The Innovation Index

The Innovation Index introduced in December, 2006 is a weighted stock price compilation index of the top 18 Innovators in North America.

The alphabetical list of the top 18 Innovators of The Innovation Index along with their stock ticker symbols are presented below:

3M Company - (NYSE: MMM)
Amazon.com, Inc. - (NASDAQ: AMZN)
Apple Computer, Inc. - (NASDAQ: AAPL)
Cisco Systems, Inc. - (NASDAQ: CSCO)
Dell Inc. - (NASDAQ: DELL)
eBay Inc. - (NASDAQ: EBAY)
General Electric Co. - (NYSE: GE)
Google Inc. - (NASDAQ: GOOG)
Hewlett-Packard Co. - (NYSE: HPQ)
Intel Corporation - (NYSE: INTC)
International Business Machines Corp. - (NYSE: IBM)
Microsoft Corporation - (NASDAQ: MSFT)
Research In Motion Limited - (NASDAQ: RIMM)
Southwest Airlines Co. - (NYSE: LUV)
Starbucks Corporation - (NASDAQ: SBUX)
Target Corp. - (NYSE: TGT)
The Proctor & Gamble Company - (NYSE: PG)
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. - (NYSE: WMT)

Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world

References:

Innovations Brewing at Starbucks

Innovation Insights of 2006

Chuck Frey of InnovationTools today posted the top innovation lessons learned for 2006 from the top innovators and readers of InnovationTools.

Chuck asked his readers to respond to the following question:

"What is the most important lesson you learned regarding innovation during 2006?"

Chuck also invited me to post a response to his question (my insights are included below).

Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world

I have included herewith a selection from the many innovation lessons learned from the article:

Use customer communities to innovate

One of the take-aways that surprised me most from my new book, Outside Innovation, was the fact that online customer communities were one of the key ingredients for success in 80% of the dozens of organizations I studied. Forward-thinking execs actively monitor the online communities in which their customers and prospects "hang out" to spot new patterns and behaviors. Savvy product developers invite lead customers to participate in closed communities in order to pick their brains about the problems they're trying to solve, the outcomes they're trying to achieve and the work-arounds they've already improvised. Smart business people engage their most insightful customers as co-designers, co-creators and co-inventors, encouraging them to share their ideas, their creations and their solutions with other like-minded customers.

Innovators both empower and harness the collective wisdom of their most inventive customers, often by amplifying customers' creativity by encouraging them to strut their stuff to gain recognition from one another and from the company's own thought leaders and subject matter experts.

-- Patricia Seybold, author, Outside Innovation

I discussed the new innovative business of co-creation in "Co-Creation driving Innovation" and "People Innovation."

Companies are gaining momentum in breaking down barriers to innovation

One key thing I learned this year is that companies of any size are further along in revamping how they approach innovation than I thought. That said, even the early majority of firms are finding they lack the champions and the internal entrepreneurs needed to dream up and execute bold ideas. Companies have been operationally-minded for so long that even with emphasis on innovation, they aren't able to bust the bureaucracy and execute quickly. You can dream up a great idea, but if it takes months of hassles and delays to get approval from your boss, her boss, and your bosses boss, forget about it. So we're still finding a lot of structural resistance to this new world order but I do see progress when senior management is onboard.

-- Robert Tucker, author, Driving Growth Through Innovation

Companies must build systems and processes to create innovations through creativity and entrepreneurship. There are many key innovation ideas from Six Ways to find Innovation, Unblocking Creativity and Innovation, and successful practices from the top innovators of The Innovation Index and their practices: 3M - The Innovation Machine, Toyota's Innovation Factory, Innovations Brewing at Starbucks, and Innovations Driving Growth at GE and P & G.

Never forget the power of questions

Never forget the power of questions. In a recent interview Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, said “We run the company by questions, not by answers.” Innovative leaders put the emphasis on questioning, not telling. Ask fundamental, challenging questions and encourage others to do the same. For example: “What business are we in? Why do customers buy our services? What is our real added value? Is there a better way to do this?” The style and type of questions matter. Don't ask aggressive, inquisitorial questions, such as: “What went wrong? Why did you screw up?” Instead, ask broad questions, like these: “What lessons can we learn? What are the opportunities for us here?”

-- Paul Sloane, Destination Innovation

Creativity begins when you question everything. Question is the fundamental building block of Creativity and Innovation. Google successfully acquired YouTube while answering key innovation questions about the growth of on-demand video and entertainment when you put millions of people in charge. And Google continues to grow by constantly taming ambiguity and chaos and questioning the status quo.

Here are my insights gained from the top innovators and some disruptors from The Innovation Index:

Five rules for successful innovation

Successful business innovations that drive growth require:

1. Vision to create new products, business models or processes that make a difference and create new markets
2. Systematic processes and rigor that stimulate creativity and learning to execute on the vision
3. Reward and recognition system for teams to take measured risks and experiment
4. Focus on clear and present customer needs, the market facts, and the intangible
5. Growth-oriented leadership that is decisive, inclusive, focused, takes risks, and has market expertise

Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world

If you enjoyed reading this Creativity best practice, I recommend the complete list of Creativity Innovation Best Practices.

For further insights and lessons learned on innovation in 2006, please visit Chuck's InnovationTools Blog.

The Innovation Index down 1% for the week

The Innovation Index yielded to year-end profit-taking and news of a slowing U.S. economy, and was down 1% for the week ending December 20, 2006 closing at 74.00 (click on the image to view the Index). The Innovation Index is up 11% for the year, now trailing S & P 500 by 1% and Dow Jones Index by 4%. The Innovation Index is up by 3% over NASDAQ.

For the first time, I am including the Innovation Index summary since January 1, 2001 for reference. Since 2001, The Innovation Index is up 120%, whereas the S & P 500 is up 11%, NASDAQ is up 6%, and Dow Jones Index up 17% (click on the image to view the Index). This is a clear indicator that it pays to stay with the Innovation Index innovators for the long term, and importantly, new innovations take time to create markets, market share growth, and resulting revenue and profit growth. Case in point: Apple Computer (NASDAQ: AAPL) which is up 1,039% since 2001 to lead all the innovators in the index, thanks in large part due to iPod, Apple's best innovation.

The big mover last week was General Electric (NYSE: GE), up 7% in one week, and now up 7% for the year. What a great time to stage a rally. Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ) were each up 4% for the week. AMZN is recovering nicely from the year lows, and is now down 16% for the year. HPQ is on a tear this year notching gains of 44% for the year. Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) made up for the 6% drop the previous week, by gaining back 6% for the week. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is up 12% for the year on the back of many innovations announced this year including the recent Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange 2007, handily beating Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) only up 6% for the year, who used acquisitions such as YouTube to spur innovations. GOOG has cooled down as the year winds down. Will MSFT beat GOOG again next year, or will GOOG rebound? Apple Computer (NASDAQ: AAPL) dropped 5% last week, followed by 3% drops each by Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), and eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) contributing to the fall in the Innovation Index.

Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) and Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ) are the top three performers on the Innovation Index for the year gaining 102%, 57% and 44% respectively. eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY), Intel (NYSE: INTC) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) are the bottom three performers on the Innovation Index for the year losing 29%, 19% and 16% respectively. Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) joined Amazon.com at 16% loss for the year, with another 1% drop last week.

I released story on Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) flying high with innovations last week. The story is included below under references section.

Where will the Innovation Index close for the year? Will there be a Santa rally? My earlier projection that the Innovation Index will be up 15% for the year is going to require a significant rally. I will keep my fingers crossed. We had GE moving up 7% for the week. Are we going to find more rallies such as GE's before the year comes to a close?

About The Innovation Index

The Innovation Index is a compilation of the top 18 Innovators in North America.

The alphabetical list of the top 18 Innovators of The Innovation Index along with their stock ticker symbols are presented below:

3M Company - (NYSE: MMM)
Amazon.com, Inc. - (NASDAQ: AMZN)
Apple Computer, Inc. - (NASDAQ: AAPL)
Cisco Systems, Inc. - (NASDAQ: CSCO)
Dell Inc. - (NASDAQ: DELL)
eBay Inc. - (NASDAQ: EBAY)
General Electric Co. - (NYSE: GE)
Google Inc. - (NASDAQ: GOOG)
Hewlett-Packard Co. - (NYSE: HPQ)
Intel Corporation - (NYSE: INTC)
International Business Machines Corp. - (NYSE: IBM)
Microsoft Corporation - (NASDAQ: MSFT)
Research In Motion Limited - (NASDAQ: RIMM)
Southwest Airlines Co. - (NYSE: LUV)
Starbucks Corporation - (NASDAQ: SBUX)
Target Corp. - (NYSE: TGT)
The Proctor & Gamble Company - (NYSE: PG)Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. - (NYSE: WMT)

Selected references:
Leading eBook on Creativity and Innovation in Business
Creativity and Innovation Best Practices
Creativity and Innovation Case Studies
The Innovation Index
Top 50 innovative companies in the world

References:

Southwest Airlines Flying High With Innovations