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Technology Stocks
WhatsApp at Facebook and Implications for the Industry
If there were any analysts that had doubts about Facebook’s mobile dominance plans, they have been put to rest. Last week, Facebook announced the $19 billion acquisition of the most popular mobile messaging app, WhatsApp. It is an exciting move by Facebook which seems to be leaving no stones unturned to make sure they dominate the world’s social networking market.
Domo Quietly Amassing Customers and Funding
According to market research firm Pringle & Company, the worldwide business intelligence software services market is projected to grow from $76 billion in 2012 to $143 billion in 2016. The research firm estimates that nearly two-thirds of the industry’s revenue is from consulting, development, and integration-related services, which are estimated to grow from $54.5 billion in 2012 to $96.9 billion by 2016. The growth in the BI market is attributed to the increased adoption of analytics software which is estimated to grow 19% annually.
RetailMeNot’s Growing Competition
eMarketer estimates the online coupon industry to be worth $4 billion annually. The research firm also estimates that the number of people redeeming digital coupons will grow to 100.1 million this year, compared with 92.5 million in 2012. The use of mobile devices to access coupons is also rising and is projected to grow to 53.2 million this year, compared with 12.3 million in 2010.
Intel Back to Focusing on Mobile
According to Gartner’s latest report on the worldwide PC industry, global PC shipments during the last quarter fell 7% over the year to 82.6 million units. This was the seventh consecutive quarter where PC shipments registered a decline. This spells bad news for chipmaker Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), which is still struggling to establish its dominance in the mobile dominated market.
Jive Software Yet to Turn In a Profitable Year
According to an IDC report on the enterprise social software segment published last year, the industry is projected to grow 22% annually over the period 2012 to 2017 to $2.7 billion. The market was pegged to be worth $1 billion in 2012. The report estimates IBM to be the leader in the segment with 14.2% market, followed by Jive’s market share of 10.2%. But despite being a strong player in the market, Jive Software (Nasdaq: JIVE) is finding it difficult to turn profitable.
Zynga Betting on Mobile Games
Gartner’s recent report on the gaming industry estimates the worldwide games market to be worth $93 billion last year, compared with $79 billion in 2012. The growth in the industry is attributed to mobile gaming, video game console, and software sales. Globally, the gaming industry is projected to be worth $111 billion by 2015 with mobile games reporting the highest growth during these years. Mobile games are projected to grow from $13.2 billion last year to $22 billion by 2015.
LinkedIn Eyeing China for Growth
The slowing growth rate for the projected quarters has been bogging down most social media stocks. Recently, the stock market took unfavorably to the newly public social networking giant Twitter, which projected a weaker outlook on account of slowing user growth. Professional network LinkedIn fared no better when they announced a similar trend for their projections.
IBM Re-Balancing Their Portfolio
Gartner’s recent report on worldwide IT spending estimates IT spending to grow 3.1% to $3.8 trillion in 2014. Enterprise software is expected to be the strongest growing market with spending projected to increase 6.8% to 320 billion in 2014. It is followed by a 4.5% growth in IT services to $963 billion. Spending on devices is projected to grow 4.3% this year to $697 billion while data center systems are projected to grow 2.6% to $143 billion. Telecom services will be the slowest growth segment with the market growing 1.2% to $1,653 billion.