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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LinkedIn: Jewel of the Social Media Crown

Social media stocks, including giants like Facebook, may not have done well after listing on the stock market. But one social media company, LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD), the largest online professional network, continues to outperform market estimates.

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Blue Nile and WebMD Seek Growth Overseas

According to a recent report, US Jewelry Market Report: Focus on Online Segment – 2012 Edition, consumers are continuing to shift to online options for buying jewelry. The U.S. market accounts for half of the global jewelry market. Increasing internet penetration, rising income levels, and continued growth in the amount of knowledge available online is helping shift the trend to online models. >>>

A Mixed Quarter for IBM

Gartner estimates that worldwide IT spending will grow 3% this year to $3.6 trillion. The researcher projects that number to grow another 4% in 2013 to surpass $3.7 trillion. IDC has more aggressive estimates and projects that current year IT spending will grow 6% over the year to $3.8 trillion. But while both researchers are predicting increased IT spending, the still weak economy continues to hurt the bigger technology players for now.

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Facing a Rough Patch, Zynga Shrinks Games Portfolio and Workforce

Transparency Market Research’s report on the social gaming market estimates that more than 200 million people play online games on social networking websites. The researcher believes that the social gaming industry will be worth $5.5 billion by 2015, driven by the increased adoption of smartphones and other mobile devices.

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Apple Set for a Strong Holiday, But Can’t Rest on Laurels

Apple may be gearing up for a big holiday sales quarter, but in the recent quarter, performance has been short of market projections. Apple is also losing ground, albeit slowly, to some of its competitors. In a recent report by researcher Strategy Analytics, Android tablets now account for 41% of the tablet market worldwide. Although Apple’s iPads may still have the lead in the market with a 57% market share, Android-based devices are catching up.

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Amazon Striving for Ever-Faster Delivery of Kindle and Other Goods

According to a recently released report on Global Online Retail, excluding travel, the global online retail sector reported saw revenues grow at an annual rate of 15.4% to $530.2 billion from 2007 through 2011. Growth in retail sales were driven by sales of electronics, which grew to $119.2 billion and amounted to 23% of the retail sector’s revenues. The researcher expects the online retail sector to be worth $1,096 billion by 2016, reporting an annualized growth of 15.6% over 2011-2016.

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Netflix

According to the IHS Screen Digest, during the current year, the number of movies and TV shows streamed and downloaded legally in the U.S. will exceed the number of DVDs and Blu-Ray disc sold this year. Digital streaming will account for 3.4 billion transactions in 2012, reporting a growth of 135% over the year. Analyst expect that 2.4 billion DVD and Blu-ray discs will be sold this year.

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