Shutterfly Buys GrooveBook While Still Looking for a Buyer

According to a BCC Research report, the global digital photography market is estimated to grow 3.8% annually to reach $82.5 billion by the year 2016. While the photo printing industry is expected to suffer losses, the digital cameras and lenses market are expected to have 5.8% annual growth.

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Chinese Giant Baidu Now Targeting Brazil

According to iResearch, the Chinese search engine market grew 51% over the year during the last quarter to RMB 16.45 billion (~$2.67 billion). Internet search giant Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) remained the market leader in the country with 82.2% market share followed by Google China, Sougou, and 360 search. Mobile search is the leading segment in the country and revenues from mobile search are estimated to have improved 60% over the year to RMB 5.53 billion (~$0.9 billion).

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Hortonworks Plans to Raise Nearly $80 Million

According to a report by Allied Market Research, the global Hadoop market is projected to grow 58% annually over the period 2013 through 2020. The market estimated to be worth $2 billion in 2013 is expected to be worth $50.2 billion by the year 2020. The increase in the adoption of Hadoop is attributed to the demand for Big Data analytics.

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BlackBerry Counts On Security Features

BlackBerry’s turnaround remained elusive during the last quarter. The company’s financial results weren’t particularly impressive. However, they continued to upgrade products and services and remained focused on their core area of mobile security services, hoping that the efforts will pay off soon.

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HomeAway’s Expanding Tie-Ups

According to a travel report published by Amadeus, the global travel industry is expected to grow 5.4% a year through the ten year period from 2013 to 2023, faster than the global GDP. Travel growth is attributed to emerging markets of China and India as more travelers from Asia continue to take international trips.

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Electronic Arts’ Game Titles Keep Delivering

According to a research report by Newzoo, the global games market is expected to grow to more than $102.98 billion by 2017. The researcher projects that mobile device including phone and tablet games will report the highest revenue growth reporting annual revenues of $35 billion by 2017. Here is an interesting infographic showing the movement of the gaming industry, courtesy Venturebeat.com.

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Chegg Struggles to Find their Footing

According to the College Board, the average annual cost of textbooks and supplies for students has grown 50% over the last decade to $1,200 per year. Online text book rental service Chegg hopes to reduce the costs of these books by enabling students to rent out books at a more affordable price instead of purchasing them.

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OnDeck Raising Funds

According to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, since 2000, large business lending volume has grown 36% while small business lending volume has fallen 14% and micro business loans under $100,000 have reduced 33%. Further research reveals that the reduction was not on account of lack of demand, but more on account of the absence of supply as small businesses have found it harder to get approved for loans.

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The Rise of Japan’s GREE

According to Superdata Research, the global mobile gaming market is expected to generate revenues of $21.1 billion this year. It is projected to grow to $28.2 billion by the year 2016. The research study also says that mobile games account for more than a third of monthly spending among digital gamers in the US alone.

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Line Abandons IPO Plans

Earlier this year, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for a whopping $22 billion sparking interest in the mobile messaging industry. Soon after the acquisition, South Korean mobile messaging leader Line filed papers to list on the Tokyo Exchange and the NYSE earlier this fall.  The company claimed that they would much rather follow the IPO route than be sold to a bigger player. But in a surprising move, Line went back on their earlier plans and announced that they would abandon their IPO.

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