The results shown by technology giants such as Amazon, Apple, Alphabet and Yahoo for the fourth quarter of 2022 indicate that the dominant trends in technology ecosystems are more complex, especially for firms that for years maintained a virtual monopoly over their sector.

This does not necessarily mean that markets are down, but may also mean that competition has increased, which could ultimately lead to benefits for consumers and improved technological developments.

The results of the technology companies highlight that areas as dissimilar as device sales, online commerce, advertising sales and the streaming business have been shaken at the same time by the economic environment and the entry of competition.

Nevertheless, the balance sheets showed some bright spots, especially for the Cloud businesses. For Alphabet, the 33% growth in Google Cloud revenue helped, although its impact is not as significant on overall quarterly revenue: US$ 7.315 billion versus US$ 76.048 billion for all of the company's business units. Thus, the company's net earnings reached US$ 13.624 billion, but well below the US$ 20642 billion registered in the same period of 2021. Hence, in this Friday's premarket, Alphabet's shares are falling by as much as 4%.

Alphabet's advertising revenue came in at US$ 59.042 billion, experiencing a pullback from US$ 61.239 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021. As for YouTube, advertising revenue fell to US$ 7.963 billion from US$ 8.633 billion a year earlier.

Google Cloud showed an operating loss that was nearly cut in half in the quarter. That would be, according to analysts, a good foothold in the fight for business supremacy, which is led by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and accompanied by Microsoft's Azure.

Amazon's cloud unit reported slower revenue growth of 20%, which is half the growth rate of a year ago. Amazon told analysts that AWS had also seen "continued sluggishness" so far in 2023, a sign that it has entered a turbulent zone. Nonetheless, AWS helped a lot for Amazon to close the quarter with earnings, albeit much lower than a year ago: US$ 300 million compared to US$ 14.3 billion, though don't forget that figure was inflated by a nearly US$ 12 billion gain from its investment in electric vehicle maker Rivian Automotive Inc. Amazon now reported that the October-December period included a US$ 2.3 billion tax valuation loss from its investment in Rivian. Amazon owns about 17% of the electric vehicle company.

Amazon is going through one of the most difficult stretches in its history as it seeks to find balance in its business after the boom during the emergence of Covid and confinements that executives say caused it to expand aggressively. Thus, its North American operating expenses exceeded sales during the first three quarters of 2022, although the company narrowed the gap in the fourth quarter.

Apple. Apple's results showed the complexity of the current situation, marked by its production problems, and the retraction of device consumption as inflation and rising interest rates hit mass consumption. Revenues fell 5% in the quarter, dragged by an 8% drop in iPhone sales. But these setbacks were smaller than those marked by the industry as a whole: IDC a couple of weeks ago reported that global smartphone shipments fell 18% in the fourth quarter, meaning the iPhone outperformed the overall market.

For the quarter ending in December, Apple posted revenue of US$ 117.2 billion, down 5% from the same quarter last year. Net income was US$ 30 billion, down 13% from a year ago and below analysts' estimates, which pointed to revenue of US$ 31 billion.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that in addition to manufacturing challenges, the economic climate also weighed on the company's results. "We estimate we would have grown without the supply constraints," Cook said in an interview. "The macroeconomic situation is harder to estimate, but it's clear from looking at the numbers that the wind was at our back during the quarter."

Strong dollar. The balance sheets showed another impact of the current economic situation: the strong dollar affects them. If revenues are measured excluding the impact of exchange rate changes, they don't look so bad. Apple executives, for example, said in the call with investors in which they showed their results, that revenues would have grown if it were not for the exchange rates. And that is in line with the rest of the results of the big tech companies.