Microsoft’s Future Remains Cloudy Despite Windows 7

A recent IDC report indicates that the global PC market recovered in the fourth quarter of 2009 driven by sales of cheaper laptops, a clear sign of demand returning to some extent. Global PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2009 were up 15.2%, Y-o-Y, while the United States saw a 24% increase to 20.7 million units shipped during the same period. Shipments of consumer PCs are estimated to have grown more than 20% during the period while business PCs were roughly flat. >>>

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Will SAP Open Its $7 Billion Wallet For SaaS In 2010?

This week, SAP (NYSE:SAP), the German enterprise software company, reported its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2009 results. Revenue exceeded the company’s target thanks to a strong fourth quarter. As the economy recovers, SAP also expects to return to revenue growth in 2010. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

Yahoo! Beating A Path To Nowhere

In an earlier post, I had discussed how Google is maintaining its search leadership and how Microsoft, thanks to Bing, is gaining some ground at Yahoo!’s expense. Yahoo! has been steadily losing its share of the global search market, which is now at 17.3%. To try to gain lost ground, Yahoo! finalized and executed a definitive search and advertising services and sales agreement and a licensing agreement with Microsoft in early December. But this is too little, too late in the day. Let’s look at Yahoo!’s financial results for fourth quarter ended December 31, 2009, to see how the company performed. >>>

Can Apple’s iPad Restore Paid Content?

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported a strong first quarter this week, but what is grabbing the headlines is its new product, the iPad. After the success of the iPod and the iPhone, Apple and just about everyone else are ready for another innovative product. Will our high hopes be fulfilled? >>>

eBay Rides On PayPal’s Strength

In the face of the economic downturn, e-commerce seems to be holding its ground. Initial reports indicate modest, mid-teens growth in 2009 over 2008. Consumer e-commerce spending for the Christmas holiday and post-holiday season through early January 2010 was roughly $25.5 billion, an almost 4% increase over 2008. Cyber Monday, November 30, boasted sales of $887 million. The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce estimates that U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the third quarter of 2009 totaled $32.0 billion, an increase of 3.9% from the second quarter of 2009. >>>

Only Facebook Can Match Google’s Run

According to a recent comScore study, the global search market grew 46% annually to more than 131 billion searches in December 2009. The United States is the world’s largest search market with 22.7 billion searches or approximately 17% market share. China was ranked second with 13.3 billion searches, followed by Japan with 9.2 billion and the UK with 6.2 billion. Google sites dominated the global search market with 87.8 billion searches in December 2009, or 66.8% of the market. Google sites gained 58% in December 2009 from December 2008. Google was followed by Yahoo!, Baidu, and Microsoft sites. Microsoft sites gained 70% to 4.1 billion searches following the launch of the company’s new search engine, Bing. >>>

IBM Business Remix Boosts Earnings

This week, IBM (NYSE:IBM) reported fourth quarter and fiscal year 2009 results that beat estimates. Although it was modest, IBM did record slight revenue growth in the fourth quarter after more than a year of no growth. The company’s focus on software and services has helped it to boost its earnings.  >>>

Infosys Moves Beyond Body Shopping

In a recent discussion of Accenture, I talked about the recovery in the IT services and consulting space, which was driven by small and medium-sized deals in application maintenance and development, infrastructure outsourcing, risk management, data analytics, cost cutting, and business process outsourcing (BPO). The recovery seems to continue, judging from recent results. On January 14, SAP announced that it beat its revenues and margins forecast for 2009, signaling a recovery in demand. In December, Oracle reported a strong second quarter and gave guidance that exceeded expectations. With positive announcements by SAP and Oracle, there is increasing confidence among IT services companies on the pickup in discretionary spending. >>>

Intel Demonstrates Low-Power Smartphone Platform At CES

At last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Intel formally launched 27 new processors produced with the 32 nanometer process technology. It also demonstrated the LG GW990, a smartphone built with the company’s yet-to-be-released Atom Moorestown platform. >>>

Baidu, Alibaba.com, Smiling At Google’s Stance

On January 13, Google announced that it is considering shutting down its Chinese operations if it cannot reach an agreement with the Chinese government over censorship policies; Google wants to run its search engine without filtering results, which it is required to do under Chinese law. Google also said that it has been the target of cyber attacks that it suspects were from China. Google has been steadily losing market share to Baidu, China’s homegrown search engine and the leading Chinese-language search provider, since the former’s entry into China in 2006. According to a recently published report by UBS, together Google and Baidu control 90% of search revenue and 95% of search traffic in China. Baidu is estimated to have 62% of Internet search revenue and 74% of search traffic in China. >>>