Accenture Poised To Benefit From IT Outsourcing Upswing

A recently released study by IDC, “U.S. BPO Contract Analysis 2006–2010 by Vertical,” revealed that during the five-year period, BPO contract values soared in 2008 and have since declined because of the recession. However, the situation should improve in the coming years. Gartner’s projections state that the ITO market will grow 6.9% over the previous year to end 2011 with revenues of $313.2 billion. The industry is also expected to grow at a compounded rate of 4.6% over 2010–2015. Market leader Accenture is already witnessing such growth.

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Electronic Arts Shifting Heavily Toward Social & Mobile Gaming

NPD Group estimates that U.S. retail video game sales fell 20% over the year in July to $707.7 million because of a significant drop in console gaming revenues. The researcher estimates that retail video game full-year revenues to fall 2% over the year. In July, sales of video game hardware, which includes hand-held game systems and gaming consoles like the Wii and Xbox 360, fell 29% to $223 million. Software sales fell 17% to $336.2 million, while sales of game accessories fell 8% to $127.8 million. Declining console gaming revenues are making game developers focus on social and mobile games instead.

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Qihoo: A Chinese Internet Powerhouse

Thomson Reuters data shows that 21 Chinese companies with VC backing raised $2.2 billion last year when they went public in the United States. From 2000 to June 2010, mainland Chinese companies raised $188 billion in 495 deals on leading global stock exchanges, including the NYSE, Nasdaq, LSE, and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. During the same period, worldwide there were 1,114 deals raising $366 billion. Ernst & Young estmates that China will lead the IPO market in the coming years. Beijing-based Internet player Qihoo 360 Technology, is one recent entrant to the NYSE who raised $200 million as part of their IPO funding round. >>>

China’s Online Video Leader Youku

According to research firm Analysys, China’s online video revenues grew 148% over the year to RMB 621 million (~$96 million) in Q3 last year. Youku, which has been called the YouTube of China, is the leader with over 22% of the market share, followed by Tudou with 16% share and Sohu with 13%. Youku launched an IPO in the U.S. in December 2010.

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Oracle Brings Some Cheer

Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) last week reported strong results driven by its software business. Hardware sales continued to decline and were at the lower end of the company’s guidance. Oracle maintained that rather than revenue numbers, its focus is on increasing the profitability of its hardware business. Let’s take a closer look.

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Baidu And Alibaba Launch Mobile OS

According to the China Internet Network Information Center, at more than 500 million Internet users, China has the largest population of internet users in the world. McKinsey estimates that in China, 6 million people access the Internet for the first time each month. They expect China’s Internet population to rist to 750 million by the year 2015. The company’s Internet players are already having a good market run.

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Security Market Continues To Grow

According to Gartner, Governments, corporations and individuals spent $16.5 billion on security software last year – growth of 12% over the previous year. Last year, Symantec captured 19% of the security market share and was the leader in the segment. Spending on security software is expected to grow 14% in 2011 and another 10% in the following year. IDC meanwhile estimates that security spending will grow annually 9.1% over the year through 2013.

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Yandex Topping The Russian Internet

According to Moscow-based Association of Communication Agencies, online advertising in Russia grew 51% from 2008–2010 to reach 26.65 billion rubles (~$940 million). During the same period, spending on print ads in the country fell 41%, radio ads declined 21% and television ads fell 6%. And, it is not just online advertising. The country was named by the Boston Consulting Group as the one with the largest internet industry in Europe after Germany. The Internet industry is expected to amount for 3.7% of GDP by 2015, more than double the contribution in 2009. Yandex, the online Russian search engine, is among the companies benefiting from the market’s growth. Known as the “Google of Russia,” the company launched their IPO in the U.S. earlier this year.

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Pandora Must Deal With Increasingly Sophisticated Competition

According to researchers, 63% of IPOs that came out this year are now trading below their list price. But despite the weak performance, overall the IPOs were still better than the S&P 500 Index. Year to date, the S&P 500 Index is down 11.5% compared with 6.5% reduction faced by the IPOs. Pandora, the online radio company, is among the newly listed stocks this year facing similar headwinds. >>>

iPhone 5 Should Give Verizon An Edge

The iPhone was released on Verizon in February this year. However, since it was not a new model, it was not as much a success as it was expected to be. With the iPhone 5 to be released soon, a huge spurt in sales is expected at Verizon, the No.1 wireless carrier. In the meantime, its closest rival, AT&T, is facing problems with its T-Mobile deal. Let’s take a closer look.

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