HP Continues Shifting Toward Enterprise

Gartner’s PC Shipment report for the third quarter this year did not offer any bright spots in PC sales. According to the report, worldwide PC shipment fell 8.6% over the year to 80.3 million units. Normally the third quarter has the advantage of back-to-school sales. But despite this advantage, sales were the lowest since 2008. Globally, Lenovo remained the market leader, with 14.15 million units shipped to command a 17.6% market share. HP (NYSE:HPQ) wasn’t too far behind, with sales of 13.73 million units or 17.1% of the market. HP was the market leader in the US with shipments of 4.33 million units, commanding 26.9% of the market. Globally, HP saw PC shipment increase 1.5%. For the U.S. market, shipment grew 4.5% over the year.

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Salesforce Says Grow First, Profit Later

Gartner’s recent forecasts for worldwide enterprise software peg the worldwide CRM market to grow 15% annually from 2012 through 2017. Many CRM companies are expecting strong growth. But this rising revenue is not necessarily turning into profits.

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Workday: High Revenue Growth, but What About Profits?

Gartner forecasts the SaaS market to grow 19.5% over the period 2011 through 2016 to $32.8 billion. Even at conservative estimates, researcher Tech Navio estimates the global software-as-a-service based enterprise resource planning software market projected to grow 13.93% annually from 2012 through 2016. The high growth in the market is estimated to be driven by the increased adoption of these services by SMEs.

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Pandora Competing with iTunes Radio

The online radio industry recently got a new player, with Apple launching its service under the banner iTunes Radio. For now, online radio player Pandora (NYSE:P) has managed to successfully thwart this stiff competition, as is evident in both user metrics and the company’s improving financial performance. But whether it will manage to grow market share with Apple now in the run remains to be seen.

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Fusion-io an Acquisition Target?

Analysts estimate the enterprise PCIe SSD (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express Solid State Drives) based flash storage market to be worth $4 billion this year. The flash storage market is projected to grow 70% this year, making it a very attractive space for bigger technology players.

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Dell: Now Private, What Next?

According to the latest worldwide PC shipment report, during the past quarter, PC shipments continued to decline. Globally PC shipment fell 8.6% to 80.28 million units. Lenovo remained the market leader with a 17.6% market share, and Dell came in a distant third with a 11.6% market share. Dell’s quarterly shipment of 9.31 million PCs was 1% higher than previous year’s shipment of 9.22 million. Dell’s market share has also improved from 10.5% a year ago to 11.6% during the recently ended quarter. Within the U.S. Dell maintained its position as the second largest PC vendor, with shipment of 3.34 million PCs growing 3.3% over the year to account for 21% of the U.S. market.

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LeapFrog’s Disappointing Outlook for the Holidays

Come the holiday season, retailers and toy manufacturers begin to count on the usual sales rush that happens at this time of the year. But 2013 holiday season sales projections aren’t very rosy. According to a report by Morgan Stanley, Expect Coal: We Predict the Weakest Holiday Since 2008, analysts are projecting depressed U.S. economic conditions will lead to this holiday season seeing the slowest retail growth in five years. Add to that the calendar shift which has resulted in fewer shopping days. The National Retail Federation has forecast that during this holiday season, per capita spending on gifts and décor will fall 2% over the year.

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Benefitfocus – A Successful SaaS IPO

An IBISWorld report published for the previous year estimates the human resources benefits administration market in the U.S. to be worth more than $59 billion last year. Researcher Gartner estimates that last year, the U.S. insurance industry spent more than $55 billion on software and related services. Recently listed Benefitfocus is a provider of cloud-based benefits software solutions.

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LivingSocial Is Burning Through Its Cash

Last year, the rise in the daily deals market prompted the market leader, Groupon, to list its IPO. Competitor LivingSocial, was expected to list as well. But since then, the market has taken a tumble. Driven by increased competition and waning consumer interest, both Groupon and LivingSocial have tried to restructure their business offering. But they have yet to come up with the winning formula.

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Shutterfly’s Growth Strategy

Recent market reports suggest that consumers are shifting from printing photos to sharing them electronically. According to market reports, more than 22 billion photos will be shared through electronic media by 2015. The trend now is to create personalized products like mugs and totes instead of ordinary photo prints.

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