GoPro Plans to Move Beyond Action Cameras

Wearable technology is projected as the next big thing in the consumer hardware segment. Wearable gadgets range from wrist bands that measure a person’s activity and health statistics to wearable cameras and glasses that track the user’s actions. Analysts believe that it is still too early to accurately forecast the market size of wearable cameras, but some still guess that wearable cameras would account for a $10 billion market in the US alone by the year 2016.

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Online Lending Sector Heats Up

According to PayNet Small Business Lending Index, the volume of financing to small businesses in the country grew to 121.6 in December last year from 114.6 in November. This was the highest growth recorded by the market since March 2007. Like other retail customers, today small businesses also have the option of securing funding from organizations besides traditional banks. The need for alternate financial organizations has also increased since the economic recession hit the country. After the recession, most banks cut down the approvals of small business loan requests. In October 2012, banks had approved 14.8% of small-business loan requests in comparison with 46% before the economic downturn.

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Prosper Prospers

Today, banks and traditional money lenders are not the only source of credit to individual customers and small businesses. Instead, the Internet has led to the creation of peer-to-peer (P2P) lending that helps match borrowers with lenders through online platforms for small loans. P2P lenders are able to fund smaller debt requirements by being able to stay away from the high costs that are attributed to maintaining a brick-and-mortar bank and to meet the several capital adequacy requirements that govern the bank. According to Foundation Capital partner Charles Moldow, this new generation of lenders will help transact in more than $1 trillion by 2025.

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Zendesk IPO Underscores Momentum in Cloud CRM

A recent report released by Markets and Markets estimates the global cloud computing spend to grow to $121.1 billion by 2015, recording a compounded annual growth rate of 26% over the period 2010 through 2015.  Another report by Market Research Media expects strong growth within cloud computing to continue. The report projects a 30% annual growth rate over the five year period from 2015 with the market expected to be worth $270 billion by 2020.

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LinkedIn’s Publishing Strategy Kicks Ass

According to an infographic released by Staff.com late last year, nearly 92% of the companies surveyed use the social media for recruiting decisions. LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD) is the leading professional network choice for companies. 78% companies surveyed were using LinkedIn in 2010 and that number grew to 93% in 2012. The increased focus on social media as a source for potential employees is also driven by the improvement in the hiring process. 73% companies found that they were able to successfully hire employees through social networks. More significantly, 42% companies claim that the candidate quality has improved due to social media hiring and nearly 20% companies found that it took them lesser time to hire through social networks. Here is the infographic, courtesy MediaBistro.com.

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Chinese e-Commerce Market Continues Heady Growth; Alibaba Dominant

According to China Internet Network of Information Center, China’s Internet population grew 3.7% over the year to 618 million users as of December last year. That translates to 45.8% Internet penetration in the country. Mobile Internet usage statistics are also impressive with the number of users growing 19.1% to more than 500 million. The center also reported a 6% growth in Chinese online shoppers to 302 million.

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RetailMeNot Not Bothered By Google’s Search Algorithm Change

A recent eMarketer report projects that nearly 55% of the country’s Internet using population above 18 years of age will redeem digital coupons at least once this year. The number has increased by 8% over last year. The researcher estimates the total number of adult digital coupon users to grow from 103.5 million last year to 111.7 during the current year. By 2016, the number of people using digital coupons is expected to grow to 124.4 million. The digital coupon industry is being driven by the increased use of mobile coupons and the report estimates the number of mobile coupon users as a percentage of total adult digital coupon users to grow from 59.5% last year to 70.3% this year and to 82.9% by 2016.

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Disney Trading at Five-Year High

PwC’s report on Global Entertainment and Media projects entertainment and media (E&M) services market to grow to $2.2 trillion by 2017 – translating to a 5.6% annual growth over the five years from 2012 through 2017. PwC projects the digital segment of the market to be the big driver with digital revenues growing 12% annually and accounting for 47% of the market share compared with 35% in 2012.

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Shutterfly Sees Photo Books Replacing Albums

An IBIS World Research report published last December pegs the US online photo printing market at $2 billion, led by Shutterfly and Snapfish. Over the five year period 2008 through 2013, the market reported an impressive 14.5% annual growth. The increased adoption of services like Photo Books is already replacing traditional albums. In a US Photo Printing Survey conducted last year, InfoTrends found that 34% of the respondents had already shifted to Photo Books and another 29% were planning to use them instead of albums.

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Workday Taking on Oracle and SAP with Recruiting

According to an IDC report released last year, the worldwide Human Capital Management (HCM) market was pegged to be worth $7.5 billion in 2011. IDC estimates that HCM will grow annually at 8.1% over the next five years through 2016. The growth in the market is expected to be driven by the increasing adoption of cloud-based services.

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