Baidu, Alibaba Dominate Search and E-Commerce in China

iResearch’s statistics show that during the first quarter of 2012, China’s search engine advertising sales fell 5.2% over the quarter but grew 68.2% over the year to 5.49 billion yuan (~$0.87 billion) in Q1 2012. Baidu’s market share remained the highest last quarter, when it grew to 77.6%  from 77.3% a quarter ago. Google continued to struggle in the quarter and saw its search market share fall from 18.3% a quarter ago to 17.8% this quarter. Smaller player Sogou saw marginal gains, from 2.5% to 2.7%

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AppSense Also in the IPO Pipeline

According to the report Global Mobile Virtualization Market 2011-2015,  the global mobile virtualization market is projected to grow at an annual rate of 20.1% over that four-year period. Growth will be fueled by the increased adoption of cloud-based computing from both corporate and home users. Researchers also expect that in the coming years, cloud computing application vendors will witness increased demands from corporate clients for customization to cater to their specific business needs. Also, as the use of smartphones to access enterprise applications becomes more common, there will more demand for safe and secure network interfaces in the virtualization market.

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MindTree and Persistent Systems Represent New Wave of Indian IT Growth

The Indian IT body NASSCOM expects the IT services market in India to grow 11%-14% in 2012. Growth is projected to slow down from the previous year’s rate of 37%. The depreciating rupee has helped Indian outsourcers, which have been able to report higher earnings. But the industry continues to be plagued by the challenges of increasing labor costs, diminishing the benefits of labor cost arbitrage.

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Marin Software Readying an IPO

In a recent report, research firm Global Industry Analysts predicted that the global online advertising market will grow to $84.8 billion by 2017. This growth is attributed to increased use of mobile, online video, and social networking advertising platforms by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and e-commerce companies.

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Intel Battles ARM For Apple’s Love

Gartner estimates that in 2012, worldwide PC shipments will grow 4.4% over the year. Another report cites that growth in IP traffic will lead to increased demand for data centers. Further, analysts believe that IP traffic will triple by 2015, and lead to 50% growth in data storage needs. Growing demand for computers and data centers signals a strong market for processor firms Intel and ARM, both of which saw quarterly results surpass market expectations.

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CollabNet Eyeing IPO

According to Gartner, global spending on SaaS is projected to grow by 18% this year to $14.5 billion. Growth is projected to continue through 2015 when the SaaS market spend will grow to $22.1 billion. Mature markets of North America, Europe and Japan will see growth of more than 16% each. North America will remain the biggest bringing in $9.1 billion, followed by Western Europe’s $3.2 billion share. Japan is the smallest market segment with SaaS spending projected to grow to $495.2 million from $427 million. Emerging markets of APAC and LATAM will see continued adoption as SaaS spends grow more than 25% each to $934.1 million and $331.1 million respectively.
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Cloud Security Vendor Qualys Ready for IPO

According to research firm TechNavio, the global cloud security market is projected to grow at an estimated annual rate of 41% from 2010 through 2014 to reach $963.4 million. In 2010, the cloud security market accounted for 2% of the overall IT security software market. That share is also projected to grow to 4% by the year 2014. While the market is dominated by big players such as TrendMicro, McAfee, and CA Technologies, which together account for 27%-36% of the market share, smaller players are beginning to make their presence felt.

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RingCentral Gearing Up For IPO

In a report released last year, researchers at firm Point Topic estimated that voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) technology had more than 120 million subscribers worldwide. The report estimated the industry would grow to $40 billion by 2015. VoIP technology has helped many small and medium businesses (SMBs) establish a much bigger presence in the market. Recent news suggests that RingCentral, a leading player catering to SMB demand for phone systems over the cloud, may be looking at raising their IPO.

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Trend Spotting: CarTech, Enterprise Commerce

Over the last few months, my usual trend spotting nose has spotted a couple of interesting trends:

(1) CarTech: Well, I just coined this word. Cars, it seems, want to become more tech savvy, and hence,  the penetration of IT into them is becoming substantially more crucial. Yelp, for instance, wants to be integrated into cars, and it appears that car vendors are responding eagerly.

Recommended Reading: Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: Chris Ruff, CEO of UIEvolution | Outsourcing: Ravi Pandit, CEO of KPIT Cummins

(2) Enterprise Commerce: Enterprise SaaS vendors like Concur and Rearden Commerce are becoming significant channels for commerce. The most interesting effect of this transition is the fact that their revenue models could expand to include transaction revenues, beyond subscription revenues. Concur, for example, manages the travel expense reporting process for businesses large and small. They have detailed insights into what people’s travel preferences are, as well as into corporate policy. They can place precise offers from travel vendors consistently, and at the point of purchase. The opportunity is not lost on either Concur or on the travel vendors looking for differentiated ways of engaging with business travelers.

Recommended Reading: Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing: Steve Singh, CEO of Concur | 1M/1M Incubation Radar: Quadmo

Hope you find it useful to investigate these trends.

Middle East and Oil & Gas Help ERI

According to the World Resources Institute, demand for clean water in the emerging markets of the world is projected to grow by 50% over the next 15 years, and analysts estimate that water demand in India alone will double over the next 20 years. Demand in the developed markets is projected to grow 15% by 2027.  Another research report cites that water demand in China will grow 63% by 2030. Finally, analysts at Pike Research believe that cumulative investment in new desalination plants will reach $87.8 billion from 2010 to 2016.

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