Oracle’s Cloud Strategy

Gartner estimates that the worldwide cloud computing market will be worth $58 billion this year, compared with $50 billion last year. Big players are focusing on growth within this market. Earlier this week, at Oracle’s OpenWorld conference, Oracle (Nasdaq:ORCL) CEO Larry Ellison announced the company’s plans to grow in cloud computing in his keynote address.

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Zuora Builds on SaaS Billing Infrastructure Service

Gartner’s recent report on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) estimates that global spending on SaaS will grow 18% this year to $14.5 billion. By 2015, the SaaS market is projected to be worth $22.1 billion. North America remains the largest, most mature market in the industry. SaaS revenues from the continent are projected to grow from $7.8 billion last year to $9.1 billion. SaaS spending in Europe will also grow from $2.7 billion to $3.2 billion this year. While growth in the industry will be dominated by leaders like Salesforce.com, which is estimated to report revenues of $3 billion by next year, other players are also reaping in big.

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No IPO for Twitter Anytime Soon

Not all social media players are looking to go public. Recently, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo reaffirmed his intentions to keep Twitter private. Costolo claims that “five years from now Twitter will remain an independent company.”  Twitter’s belief is that remaining private and independent is the best course of action.

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Steady Execution by Accenture

Analysts believe that the IT outsourcing market will grow 2.1% over the year to $251.7 billion in 2012.  Within IT outsourcing, cloud computing is projected to grow 48.7% to $5 billion. During the year, the application outsourcing market is expected to grow 2% to $40.7 billion. On the other hand, the data center outsourcing segment is expected to fall 1% this year.

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MercadoLibre Still Independent and Growing Nicely

By the end of 2011, Latin America had more than 231 million Internet users, including more than 145 million Facebook subscribers. Internet penetration in this vast region is close to 40%, and Latin America accounted for 10% of the world’s online population. Researchers estimate that Internet penetration is projected to grow to 53% by the year 2016. Internet use on mobile devices is also on the rise, and analysts expect more than 750 million mobile users in the region by 2015.

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A Model Shift Well Received by Adobe Customers

Digital software maker Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) is shifting from a license-based model to a subscription-based model for its services. But the transition isn’t so simple to dissect for market analysts. Adobe’s customers are migrating from a perpetual licensing model to cloud subscriptions. Financial reporting for the new business model requires Adobe to recognize revenues over time compared with recognizing them at the time of purchase. >>>

With Loss of Drug Patents, WebMD and Epocrates Look Elsewhere for Revenue

The healthcare IT segment may be growing. However, WebMD’s (Nasdaq: WBMD) newly appointed CEO, Cavan Redmond, does not see bright prospects for the pharmaceutical industry. Over the past few years, several big drugs have gone off-patent. In 2011 Pfizer lost exclusivity for Lipitor and Protonix, both of which accounted for combined sales of $6 billion. In 2010 in the U.S., Johnson & Johnson lost its patent for antibiotic Levaquin and ADHD/ADD drug Concerta, which brought in revenues of more than $2.2 billion annually. Last year, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s patent for Plavix expired. The company used to earn $7 billion annual revenues through the drug. Merck also lost protection for Singulair, a drug that raked in $5.5 billion in 2011.

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New Payment Models Mean Acquisitions for Athenahealth

According to a recent IDC report, electronic health record (EHR) penetration is projected to grow to 80% by 2016. Growth will be driven by continued government incentives, expansion in cloud computing, and advances in mobility technology. In 2009, EHR market adoption stood at 25%. Healthcare IT players are benefiting from this strong growth.

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Leapfrog Faces a Challenging Holiday Season

The holiday season usually marks a good run for the toy industry. However, recent news reports suggest that all may not be well in Toyland. Analysts believe that continuing macroeconomic conditions may impact sales of toys during the season. Researcher NPD Group saw U.S. retail sales of toys drop in the low-to-mid-single digit in the first quarter and fall at a double-digit rate in the second quarter of this year. Last year, toy sales fell 2% to $21.2 billion. But that isn’t stopping the industry from delivering newer toys to the market.

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HomeAway Makes Big Acquistions in Europe and China

Analysts believe that the vacation rental market in the U.S. will see strong growth in the coming quarters. In 2010, the vacation rentals earned $85 billion in income. PhoCusWright research estimates that at present, only 10% of the American population has used a vacation rental. Surely there is a large market to tap. This potential is driving bigger travel players like Priceline and Orbitz into the market. Recently Priceline added Bed and Breakfast offerings to its website, and Orbitz launched its own website for condo and vacation home rentals.

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