When in San Diego recently, BoomTown paid a visit to Qualcomm and its Chairman and CEO, Paul Jacobs, to talk about a new “smartbook” device the wireless-technology company unveiled last week, but that won’t make its debut until the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in January.

There, Jacobs will show off what is essentially a combination of a smartphone and a netbook.

Obviously, it’s going to be a competitive market and, really, Apple, with its upcoming tablet computer, is also pushing into this mobile-phone-that-ate-computers space.

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Who said the venture capital industry is sucking wind lately?

Well, it is–but not today and, especially, not Accel Partners, which sold two of its portfolio start-ups to large public companies for a total of $1.5 billion.

That would be the sale of AdMob to search behemoth Google for $750 million in stock, and the acquisition of Playfish by gaming giant Electronic Arts for about $300 million.

While Accel is not getting all that dough, it’s not a bad haul for the day.

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Google has a Web page up about today’s acquisition of AdMob for $750 million in stock, which includes this lovely image of the differences between what the Silicon Valley companies do in the mobile advertising space.

Here’s the quick translation: The Web search behemoth has been slower than molasses in the space, sticking with boring blue links of death, especially compared to the innovative and nimbler start-up, which is rocking the pretty ads.

So, we ate it.

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Google has acquired AdMob for $750 million, a huge price for an innovative start-up that hass pioneered online ads on mobile and now smart phones.

BoomTown visited AdMob last fall and posted about how it was likely to eventually be acquired by…Google!

The move is a major one for the search giant, which has been pushing hard into the mobile advertising space as it seeks to grow its already considerable Web business. AdMob is arguably the fastest out of the gate in the nascent arena.

Plus, here’s AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui in a video interview with me last November, as well as the official press release on the sale.

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Microsoft announced much better than expected results–led by strong Windows and Xbox demand and cost discipline.

Here are Microsoft’s slides on the financial results, which you can enjoy all weekend long (if you have no life, it goes without saying).

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Well, well, well, that financial imp at Microsoft–CFO Chris Liddell–pulled a fast one on Wall Street and turned in first-quarter earnings that blew away all estimates and even whisper numbers.

BoomTown liveblogged the morning conference call, which took place at 7:30 am PT–thanks for the Kiwi-laced wake-up call, Chris!

While revenue and net income in Q1 were down significantly from the same period a year ago, they were not as bad as investors expected.

Which apparently passes for terrific these days!

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A gauntlet of wildly cheering sales people dressed in brightly colored T-shirts, a sleek, white store, a simple but elegant design.

You will be excused for thinking the video below is from an Apple store, but it is actually from the opening of a Microsoft Store in Scottsdale, Ariz., today.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

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When Apple reports its fourth-quarter earnings today, investors are hoping–actually, expecting–that the iconic computer company will look a lot now as it always has.

In other words, don’t go changing and it will please us.

In fact, Wall Street is anticipating, as it has throughout the econalypse, another estimate-beating performance.

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To be totally honest, BoomTown was a little late getting a request in to Microsoft to host a Windows 7 Launch Party.

Thus, no “special Signature Edition of Windows® 7 Ultimate and your very own Windows® 7 Party Pack to share with your guests” for a shindig at my house!

So, because we admire the very gumption of Microsoft marketing types trying to make a software launch festive, which many have mocked mercilessly, the Swisher boys and I pressed on and created our own party to mark the launch of the much anticipated operating system software.

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For many years now, one of our regular attendees at the D: All Things Digital conference has been award-winning movie and television director, producer and writer Barry Sonnenfeld, who is–as it turns out–a not-so-closeted geek in his spare time with a gadget column for Esquire magazine called “The Digital Man.”

Now he is branching out to a vlog about his geek passions on Crackle, which will appear every two weeks from wherever he is–either from his homes in East Hampton, N.Y. or Telluride, Colo., or from Hollywood sets.

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Since the beginning of the year, Apple shares have more than doubled from $90.75 on Jan. 2 to almost $186 today.

Google has done about half that performance, while Microsoft has done one-third.

But that’s apparently not enough, according to Thomas Weisel analyst Doug Reid, who has raised his price target on Apple to $210 from $180.

BoomTown is getting dizzy.

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This week, BoomTown has found an interesting chart to peruse about the loyalty people have for their smart-phone apps.

The takeaway for developers: Try to stay in Quadrant I!

In other words, Sally-Field-at-the-Oscars territory–it’s where they love you, they really love you.

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One of Microsoft’s top execs, Debra Chrapaty, who heads its infrastructure business, is leaving the software giant to take a top job at Cisco, sources said.

Chrapaty–whose title is corporate VP of Global Foundation Services–is also one of increasingly few top women tech execs at Microsoft, where she has worked for seven years.

Chrapaty will now shift to products at Cisco, running the collaboration software group, according to sources.

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Courtney Love went into a Twitter frenzy yesterday, threatening to sue Activision Blizzard over of its use of the image of her late husband and grunge music legend Kurt Cobain in the latest version of its popular music game, Guitar Hero.

Except, oops, Love signed the contract herself and also, sources said, the check has long been cashed from Activision.

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Nokia is set to announce today that it has acquired Plum, the San Francisco “microsocial networking” start-up, for an undisclosed amount, sources said.

UPDATE: Nokia confirmed the purchase, but gave few details.

The small company was founded several years ago by Hans Peter Brøndmo as a social-bookmarking site. He then shifted its focus, trying to make a business in the places big social networks ignore.

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