Demand For Bandwidth A Boon For Optical Networking

The optical networking sector is on a strong growth curve as the demand for bandwidth continues unabated. Smartphones, tablets, and netbooks have led to a surge in the demand for online video, social networking, and multimedia applications, which in turn consume a lot of bandwidth. Riding high on these trends, optical networking players, JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ:JDSU) and Finisar (NASDAQ:FNSR) reported strong quarters in their recent results. >>>

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Electronic Arts Introduces Gaming On Kindle

According to researchers, retail sales of video game equipment and software in the United States fell 10% in August. Hardware sales declined 5% to $282.9 million and software sales fell 14% to $403.5 million. Overall, from January to August 2010, video game sales dropped 8% over the year. >>>

Adobe Looking At Acquisitions

This week Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) reported a strong quarter driven by the strong momentum for its flagship software Creative Suite 5 released in April as well as Omniture and Enterprise products. However, they missed the sales estimate and also gave a weak outlook. Early this month Apple announced that it will be easing restrictions for developing iPad and iPhone applications and allow developers to use Adobe’s Flash for iPhone apps. Steve Jobs in a blog in April cited Apple’s reasons for not opting for Flash Player.
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U.S. Housing Market Getting Worse

Housing inventories in many U.S. cities continued to rise for the eighth consecutive month in August, reflecting the downtrend in the housing market. The number of available homes for sale in twenty-six major metropolitan areas at the end of August grew 0.4% over the month. The demand in the industry has fallen significantly on account of the expiration of the April deadline for the homeowner tax credit. Researchers estimate that at the current pace, the market is carrying a 12.5-month inventory compared with a six-month inventory that a healthy housing market is expected to carry. According to Zelman Data, national inventories are at their highest levels since November 2008. >>>

Latin America Rising Online

According to a recent study by Visa, e-commerce in Latin America and the Caribbean grew 39% over the year to $21.8 billion in 2009. Between 2007 and 2009, e-spending grew 106% in Latin America and the Caribbean, driven by 170% growth in Brazil, 91% growth in Mexico, and 56% growth in Argentina. Within Latin America, Brazil was the biggest market, contributing 61% of total online consumption, followed by Mexico with 12% and Chile with 5%. >>>

Hurd At Oracle: Great Expectations

Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) reported strong results last week for a seasonally weak quarter. Early this month, Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, recruited his friend and former CEO of HP, Mark Hurd, as a copresident. Hurd will help to manage the recent $7.3 billion acquisition of Sun. Conceivably, Oracle will do many more acquisitions, and Hurd will be managing those as well. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

Will RIM End Up In Microsoft’s Arms?

Last week, Research in Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM) reported strong second quarter results that beat estimates. It maintained its position as the No.2 smartphone vendor, but its market share declined to 17.8% from 19.1% last year. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

Infineon After Sale Of Wireless Unit

Intel recently announced its plans to acquire Infineon’s wireless chip business for $1.4 billion. On the other hand, communications chip company Marvell Technology, with fiscal 2010 revenue of $2.81 billion, last month announced its acquisition of Spain’s powerline chipmaker Diseño de Sistemas en Silicio SA (DS2) for an undisclosed sum. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

Naukri Performing Well, But Should Not Underestimate Competitors

According to the latest Job Seach Index released by Naukri.com (NAUKRI.BO) for the Indian market, hiring activity in the country has grown 28% over the year this August. The index reported hiring activity across industries, functions, and cities, with the banking sector reporting 14% growth followed by information technology enabled services’s (ITES) 6% and construction’s 5% growth. >>>

Alibaba, Baidu Leveraging China’s Online Momentum

Of the 384 million current internet users in China, reports estimate that a mere 9% of people shop online. However, the numbers are growing fast. Analysts project China’s online population to reach 650 million in five years and the percentage shopping online to grow to 19% in 2012. Recent research conducted by BCG on 1,700 Chinese has shown that almost 99% of university students and professionals aged between twenty-two and thirty-five spend almost four hours online per day. Given such positive trends, Chinese Internet players are delivering strong results. >>>