Identity Crisis at HP

According to Gartner’s latest Worldwide PC shipment report, during the third quarter of this year, worldwide PC shipments fell 8.3% over the year to 87.5 million units. Gartner estimates that the decline was partly on account of delay in consumer buying decisions as many waited for Windows 8 to be released this quarter. HP finally slipped from its position as leading vendor with a 15.5% global market share. It was replaced by Lenovo, which became the leader in PC sales with a 15.7% market share. Dell came in a distant third with a 10.5% market share.

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Competition Continues for Solid CRM Acquisitions

Cloud computing and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings continue to remain a high-growth segment according to several research reports. Recently published Gartner’s Market Trends: Platform as a Service, Worldwide, 2012-2016 estimates that SaaS and cloud-based business application services will grow at an annual rate of 19% from 2011 through 2016. The industry will be worth $32.2 billion in 2016, compared with $13.4 billion in 2011. IDC estimates enterprise cloud application revenues to grow from $22.9 billion in 2011 to $67.3 billion by 2016, reporting an annual growth rate of 24%.

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Gilt Groupe Needs to Focus on Profitability

According to comScore, during the first quarter of this year, online retail sales grew 17% over the year to $44 billion. The quarter was the tenth consecutive quarter of positive growth, and the sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. Online retail sales were driven by growth in digital content and subscriptions, computer software, consumer electronics, jewelry and watches, and event tickets, each of which reported 17% growth over the year. Retail sales are also being spurred by the growth of flash sales sites. Researchers estimate that the discount flash sales market will be worth $6 billion by 2015. Within the U.S., flash market leader, Gilt Groupe, is rumored to be preparing for its IPO to ride this big wave.

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AppNexus Waits for the Right IPO Moment

The U.S. display advertising market is estimated to be worth $14.98 billion this year, compared with $12.33 billion a year ago. eMarketer estimates that this market will be worth $20.69 billion in 2014 and $17.67 billion in 2013.

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Glam Media’s Delayed IPO

IPOs of Web-based companies have not necessarily gotten the results that companies or their investors were hoping for. The biggest fall-outs have been from Facebook, Groupon, and Zynga, which had many hopes pinned on them but have seen their market values plummet since their public offerings. As a result, several other IPO favorites have decided to slow down their run-up to an IPO.

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Microsoft Counting on Nokia and Vice Versa

Nokia has managed to surprise the market this quarter by announcing better than expected financial results. However, its continuing decline in the smartphone market has done little to improve its market valuation. Analysts remain skeptical of whether Nokia will ever regain its market leadership again. A recent report saw Nokia fall to the 7th position in the global smartphone market, with Apple and Samsung maintaining their leadership in the segment. Gartner estimates that total smartphone sales grew 47% over the year to 169.2 million units, and they accounted for 40% of the mobile phone market. One player counting on Nokia’s regeneration is, of course, Microsoft. Last week, I was at the Churchill Club event with Steve Balmer jumping up and down about Windows 8 and the company’s phone strategy. Will Nokia deliver?

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UCWeb Eyes IPO on the Wings of the Mobile Web

Market data suggests that while there more than 1.2 billion computers worldwide, there are more than 6 billion cellphones, including smartphones, in the market. Analysts believe that because cellphones are less expensive than computers and access to the Internet is more easily available than fixed-line Internet, especially in emerging markets, there is an increasing adoption of mobile web browsers. In China, the number of smartphone users exceeds the number of smartphone users in the U.S., making that side of the world a high-growth market for mobile browsing technology. In the below graphic, courtesy of allthingsd.com, one can see how mobile Internet browsing has caught up with desktop browsing in the Indian market.

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Wireless Services Vendor Meraki Eyeing IPO

According to market researcher Infonetics the global wireless LAN equipment market rose to a record high value of $893 million in the last quarter of 2011, recording sequential growth of 1% over the Q3 value of $880 million. Analysts believe that continuing declines in equipment prices will lower the growth rate of the market over the next few years. But that hasn’t slowed the progress of wireless services provider, Meraki, which may be looking to fuel growth through an IPO.

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Groupon Continues With Business Model Experiments

In recent research, BIA/Kelsey increased its market projections for the daily deals market. The segment is expected to double in size this year to $3.6 billion. A year ago, the researcher had estimated the market to be worth $4 billion in 2015. Today, it projects that the market will grow to $5.5 billion by the year 2016. But as we saw with LivingSocial, U.S. daily deals market leader Groupon is also finding it difficult to maintain a strong business model despite this growth.

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LivingSocial Bleeding

According to research by BIA/Kelsey, U.S. consumer spending on online deals is projected to double this year to $3.6 billion. The researcher estimates that the market will be worth $5.5 billion by 2016. But increasing revenues are not guaranteeing a strong financial performance for the players in the sector.

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