So much for the Chinese domain renewal boost. Google's shares slid sharply in after-hours trading after the company reported lower than expected second quarter profit. Shares tumbled over 4% to $473.

 

Both revenue and profit were up by almost 24% compared to last year but the street had been expecting that number to be near 40%.  While the numbers may be disappointing to some, they point to the facts that Google's (News - Alert) foundation remains solid and the company continues to enjoy growth across all its large businesses, chiefly search and mobile.

 

Interestingly Apple's share were up by over 1% in after-hours training. This could indicate that traders view one company's weakness as another company's opportunity. Adoption of Google's mobile platform, Android (News - Alert), has been accelerating, jeopardizing Apple's dominant position which has been battling the iPhone 4 antenna malfunction issue, known as the death grip among the users.

 

Apple (News - Alert) has scheduled a press conference to address the antenna issue on Friday. It will deliver its third quarter financial results on Tuesday after the market close. Results are expected to be broadly positive.