Who Would Buy BlackBerry? Why?

BlackBerry’s (Nasdaq:BBRY) troubles continue. Earlier this quarter, the company warned investors of impending disappointing quarterly results. Even with the warning, the quarterly performance was shocking. In last-ditch efforts, BlackBerry announced plans to restructure and lay off 4,500 people, or nearly 40% of its employees, while it looks for private buyers.

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Accenture’s Acquisitive Growth Continues

According to IBISWorld’s IT Consulting Market Research Report, the worldwide IT consulting market is estimated to have grown 2% annually from 2008 to 2013 to reach $337 billion. These projections are aggressive when compared with GIA’s report, which pegs the IT consulting market to be worth $255 billion by 2015. But while industry estimates vary, most consultants agree that after a few years of economic slowdown, the IT consulting market is gaining back lost ground.

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Oracle Pushing Further Into the Cloud

According to TheInfoPro Wave 5 Cloud Computing Study, the worldwide cloud computing market is projected to grow 36% annually to $19.5 billion by the year 2016. The study estimates that of the cloud-related projects being conducted by organizations, the biggest demand is in internal private cloud, followed by cloud provider strategy planning. Cloud projects related to Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) come a close third and fourth in terms of priority projects. It’s little wonder, then, that Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) is investing heavily in the cloud space.

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IPO Anticipated at Wearable Innovator Jawbone

Wearable technology is among the hot technology trends today. Google has been experimenting with Google Glass, Apple is rumored to be in the process of manufacturing the iWatch, and Samsung released the first wearable (albeit clunky) smartwatch, Galaxy Gear. But wearable technology isn’t entirely new. According to IMS Research, 14 million wearable devices were shipped worldwide in 2011. IMS also expects the market to be worth $6 billion by 2016. Another market research report, Wearable Technology Market – Global Scenario, Trends, Industry Analysis, Size, Share And Forecast, 2012-2018, estimates the wearable technology market to grow 41% annually from an estimated $0.75 billion in 2012 to $5.8 billion in 2018.

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Housing Rebound Pushes Online Real Estate Stocks Up

The housing market continues to rebound. Recent market reports show that housing prices have gone up significantly, with some markets reporting price increases of 15% over the previous year’s levels. The housing industry has benefited from lower mortgage rates and government policies such as the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) and the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the number of single-family houses sold in July this year rose to 454,000 from 276,000 in 2010. The median price for properties has also gone up from $204,000 in 2010 to $271,600. The report showed that in 2010, the housing inventory stood at 9.1 months, but today that number has fallen to 4.1 months. Improvement in the sector has also driven stock prices of online real estate firms to 52-week highs, with more headroom due to macro trends.

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Millennial Media Competing in High-Growth but Tough Segment

A Gartner report released earlier this year estimates worldwide mobile advertising market to grow 18.8% this year from $9.6 billion in 2012 to $11.4 billion. The report also projects the market to grow to $24.5 billion by 2016. Growth in mobile advertising is attributed to the increased and fast paced adoption of smartphones and tablets. Another report by Gartner forecasts downloads from mobile app stores worldwide to grow 57% annually over the period 2011 through 2015 to 108.8 billion.

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EA’s Mobile and Asian Market Push

The worldwide gaming industry is waiting eagerly for several big releases for the start of the holiday season this year. Microsoft’s XBox One and Sony’s Playstation 4 are both currently being pre-ordered for delivery in November. Within games, Take-Two Interactive recently released “Grand Theft Auto V.” Analysts estimate that the game will generate $1.5 billion in revenues. But even keeping the new releases aside, the video game industry has seen a recent surprising surge. According to NPD, video game sales in the country grew 1.0% to $521.0 million in August this year. Growth was driven by software sales, which reported a 21% increase to $293.4 million. Hardware sales were down 40% over the year to $90.8 million, and accessories sales grew 7% to $136.7 million in August 2013.

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Salesforce Platform Strategy Hold Immense Promise

According to Gartner’s Forecast: Enterprise Software Markets, Worldwide, 2012-2017, 2Q13 Update, worldwide spending on enterprise software is projected to grow 6% this year to $304 billion. Within the market, Gartner projects CRM market to be a fast growing market with an estimated annual growth rate of 15% over the period 2012 through 2017. A quarter ago, Gartner had projected this market to grow 9.7% annually over the same period.

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Intel’s Confusing Strategy

The PC industry is not seeing a recovery soon. IDC’s recent quarterly PC shipment report saw global PC shipments fall 11.4% over the year to 75.6 million units driven by the increased adoption of tablet devices. Besides PC vendors, the trend has also forced chip manufacturers like Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) to diversify their operations.

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IBM Remains Focused on Big Data and Cloud Computing

The latest Gartner’s Worldwide IT Spending Report estimates global IT spending to grow 2% over the year to $3.7 trillion. By segment, telecom services will remain the largest sector with $1.66 trillion of the market and growing 0.9% over the year. IT Services are projected to grow 2.2% over the year to $0.93 trillion. Devices are expected to account for $0.7 trillion of the market, growing 2.8% over the year. Enterprise Software will account for the fastest growth at 6.4% to account for $0.3 trillion of the market and Data Center Systems will account for the remaining $0.14 trillion, reporting a 2% growth over the year. The researcher estimates IT spending to grow 4.1% next year to $3.88 trillion.

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