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- The Accelerator Conundrum
- The Startup Velocity Question
- Platform as a Service
- Man and Superman
- Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS)
- The Future: End of Capitalism
- Capitalism 2.0
Technology Stocks
Online Real Estate Sector Update
According to recent S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, housing prices in the country rose the fastest in August this year since their bubble in 2006. Another report by Zillow, (Nasdaq: Z) also found that the volume of sales has increased. In 2006, the volume of sale transactions for houses had peaked to 7 million. But the volume is now picking up, and analysts expect to end the current year with more than 5 million transactions. Zillow’s report estimates this number to grow to 7 million by 2018. The real estate sector stocks are already witnessing the impact of this growth as stocks of quite a few of them have more than doubled since the beginning of the year.
Baidu and Alibaba: The Chinese Dragons Counting on Mobile for Growth
According to recent data released by the China Internet Network Information Center, 591 million people in the country were using the Internet as of June 2013. That translates to a 44% internet penetration rate. Mobile Internet users are growing fast and account for 420 million Internet users in the country. Most Chinese Internet players are thus focusing on growth through the mobile segment.
Uber Faces Scalability Hurdles
The advancements in mobile and internet technology have helped the growth of some innovative service companies. One such start-up is San Francisco–based Uber, which offers a solution for car transportation and logistics using mobile technology.
HP Continues Shifting Toward Enterprise
Gartner’s PC Shipment report for the third quarter this year did not offer any bright spots in PC sales. According to the report, worldwide PC shipment fell 8.6% over the year to 80.3 million units. Normally the third quarter has the advantage of back-to-school sales. But despite this advantage, sales were the lowest since 2008. Globally, Lenovo remained the market leader, with 14.15 million units shipped to command a 17.6% market share. HP (NYSE:HPQ) wasn’t too far behind, with sales of 13.73 million units or 17.1% of the market. HP was the market leader in the US with shipments of 4.33 million units, commanding 26.9% of the market. Globally, HP saw PC shipment increase 1.5%. For the U.S. market, shipment grew 4.5% over the year.
Salesforce Says Grow First, Profit Later
Gartner’s recent forecasts for worldwide enterprise software peg the worldwide CRM market to grow 15% annually from 2012 through 2017. Many CRM companies are expecting strong growth. But this rising revenue is not necessarily turning into profits.
Workday: High Revenue Growth, but What About Profits?
Gartner forecasts the SaaS market to grow 19.5% over the period 2011 through 2016 to $32.8 billion. Even at conservative estimates, researcher Tech Navio estimates the global software-as-a-service based enterprise resource planning software market projected to grow 13.93% annually from 2012 through 2016. The high growth in the market is estimated to be driven by the increased adoption of these services by SMEs.
Pandora Competing with iTunes Radio
The online radio industry recently got a new player, with Apple launching its service under the banner iTunes Radio. For now, online radio player Pandora (NYSE:P) has managed to successfully thwart this stiff competition, as is evident in both user metrics and the company’s improving financial performance. But whether it will manage to grow market share with Apple now in the run remains to be seen.
Fusion-io an Acquisition Target?
Analysts estimate the enterprise PCIe SSD (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express Solid State Drives) based flash storage market to be worth $4 billion this year. The flash storage market is projected to grow 70% this year, making it a very attractive space for bigger technology players.