Groupon Still Struggling

Recently, online travel player Priceline purchased online restaurant reservation service provider OpenTable for $2.6 billion. The acquisition has sparked merger interest in several other local focused online players such as Yelp. Recently, analysts have also been speculating the possibility that daily deals site Groupon (Nasdaq: GRPN) could be a possible take-over target and that someone like Google may be interested in buying it to beef up their Google Offers service.

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Twitter’s Shopping Bag Grows

According to eMarketer, social networking company Twitter’s (NYSE: TWTR) growth in the US is beginning to slow down. During the current year, Twitter’s user base is estimated to grow a modest 11.6%  in the US. Compare that to growth anticipated in the other regions. eMarketer estimates that Asia Pacific will see a growth of 33% over the year and will account for nearly a third of Twitter’s user base by the end of the current year. Slowing growth in the US, however, has not slowed down Twitter’s financial performance or their shopping spree.

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Surprise, Yelp Rings in Profits

The growing importance of local review sites like Yelp (NYSE: YELP) can no longer be underestimated. Recent studies have revealed that for every additional star that is earned on Yelp by a local business, the business sees a 5% increase in revenues. The research has found that positive Yelp reviews saw revenues of independent restaurants improve while taking share away from branded, restaurant chains.

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All Guns Blazing at LinkedIn

Professional networking site LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) reported a stellar quarter recently. They are seeing strong growth driven by investments in international and mobile operations. Here is a quick peek into what is driving the company’s growth engine.

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Competition Toughens for Pandora

According to a survey conducted by Edison research, Internet Radio popularity has been increasing over the last year. As of this year, there are 67% more people listening to Internet Radio compared to only 23% more people listening to “Over-the-Air” AM/FM Radio. The shift to the online streaming services has been driven by the increasing availability of content and convenience associated with the internet radio services.

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Nothing Can Stop Facebook Now

The share of mobile advertisements continues to be on the rise. According to an eMarketer report, spending on mobile advertising is projected to grow 83% over the year to $18 billion this year compared with $17 billion on newspaper and $15.5 billion on radio advertisements. Here is an interesting infographic, courtesy The Wall Street Journal, that depicts the rising importance of mobile advertising in the coming years.

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Netflix Continues to Add Markets and Content as Competition Increases

While Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) did account for 57.5% of all online video traffic in a recent survey, its competition is heating up. Over the past few quarters, Netflix has gained popularity due to the vast collection of both licensed and original content programming. But now, giants like Amazon are eating into its space. Not only is the retail giant investing in original programming, but it is also entering into agreements with media moguls like HBO that will make Amazon Prime Instant Video the exclusive online-only subscription channel for HBO scripted shows. Netflix had recently flaunted a Morgan Stanley survey in which 17% respondents viewed Netflix as the service that offered the best original programming, second only to HBO. However, Netflix seems unfazed as it continues to deliver in newer markets and add to their content library.

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Market Loses Patience With Amazon

Looks like the market is beginning to lose patience with Amazon’s (Nasdaq: AMZN) loss-making quarters. Amazon continues to invest in new opportunities and report stellar revenue growth, but margins remain elusive, and that is believed to be by design. On the announcement of the results for the recently ended quarter, Amazon saw their stock fall nearly 12% in response.

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Expect Cloud Acquisitions From Microsoft

According to IDC, worldwide PC shipments fell 1.7% over the year to 74.4 million units in the second quarter of 2014. This was the smallest decline reported in the last two years. Last quarter, Microsoft had announced the end of their support to Windows XP machines. The US and European markets saw growth in their commercial PC shipments as organizations continued to purchase upgrades for Windows XP systems.

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Tim Cook Puts His Stamp on Apple

According to IDC, total smartphone shipment volumes are expected to reach 1.2 billion units in 2014, up 19.3% year over year and a dramatic fall from the 39.2% growth seen in 2013. However, the research firm adds that the lower growth rate for 2014 should not be interpreted as a sign that the market has come as far as it can – Apple’s entry into China is only the start of where it has yet to go.

The most exciting new development, however, is Apple’s recent deal with IBM, which empowers its enterprise mobility strategy and has added an interesting twist to the space. >>>