FriendFinder Network and The Online Dating Sector

The online dating industry is estimated to be worth $4 billion worldwide in 2011. Reports estimate that 5.5 million U.S. residents use some kind of online dating service. Earlier this year, FriendFinder Network, one of the leading players in personals and social networking for adults went public.

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How Will Meg Whitman Change HP?

IDC and Gartner reports estimate that global PC shipments increased 3% over the year last quarter to 91.8 million units, shy of 5% growth projected earlier. HP maintained their lead by growing 5% over the year to retain 18% of the global market. Within the U.S., HP’s shipments grew 15% over the year to reach a market share of 29%.

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Many New Games And A Possible Holiday IPO For Zynga

According to a report by PopCap Games, in 2011 the number of people in the U.K. and U.S. playing social games at least once a week increased 71% over the year to 118.5 million. The study claims that the number of players transacting in virtual currency increased 86% over the year to 31 million. Facebook remains the dominant platform in social gaming as it is the platform for 91% of casual and avid social gamers playing games. Google+ still has a long way to catch up with Facebook; only 17% of casual social gamers and 23% of avid social gamers play on Google’s platform as well as on Facebook.

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Dell Still In Turbulent Waters

According to IDC and Gartner reports, growth in global PC shipments over the previous quarter was not impressive. Reports estimate that global PC shipments of 91.8 million units reported meager 3.2% growth over same quarter the previous year. Gartner had earlier predicted growth of 5.1% for the quarter. HP maintained their lead in the PC market with 5.3% growth over the year to retain a 17.7% market share. Lenovo reported the highest growth at 25.2%, claiming a 13.5% market share and surging ahead of both Dell and Acer. Dell’s 11.6% market share declined 1.4% over the year. Within the U.S., HP was the leader with a 28.9% market share, up 15% over the year. Dell came in second with a 21.9% market share despite reporting a decline of 7.2% over the year. Apple continued to eat into the PC market share and reported impressive 21.5% growth to capture 12.9% of the U.S. market.

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Taleo A Takeover Target?

According to market research firm Bersin & Associates, the talent management market, currently worth about $3 billion, is expected to grow by 12-15 percent or more this year. SuccessFactors (NASDAQ:SFSF) and Taleo (NASDAQ:TLEO), the leading players in the market have over the past two to three years, have made many acquisitions and seen tremendous growth. Let’s take a closer look.

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Taking Stock Of Groupon Following Its IPO

Within North America, there are more than 650 daily deal providers from whom more than 26 million users have bought deals. With an 88% user share, Groupon is the market leader in the segment. Analysts expect the U.S. daily deals market to pick up during the holiday season after a slump over the summer. Domestic daily deals market fell 7% sequentially in July but has been growing since to report 9% sequential growth in August and 12% growth in September. By revenue, Groupon commanded 54% of the U.S. daily deals market, followed by Living Social at 22%.  Recently, Groupon’s long-awaited IPO also hit the market and was the largest offering by a U.S. Internet company since Google’s in 2004. Priced at $20 per share, the IPO was to raise $700 million for the daily deals leader. The list price was, however, lower than the market’s anticipated $25 per share.

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TCS, Infosys Eying Healthcare IT Acquisitions in the U.S.

The $76 billion Indian IT outsourcing industry is facing some of its biggest challenges in recent years. With an average 12.9% increase in salaries in 2011, the country claims to deliver among the highest wage increases in the world. Competition from other countries and regions such as Latin America, the Philippines, and Eastern Europe is also on the rise. The Indian IT majors are looking for a fresh bout of growth through acquisitions into other regions and newer market offerings.

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Worries For Kayak, But Travel Market Holding Steady

A travel study conducted by Trip Advisor on more than 2,700 U.S. travelers revealed that 31% of U.S. travelers will spend more on travel in 2012 than in the current year. Forty-nine percent of those surveyed are expected to keep their travel spending constant during the two-year period. The optimism in travel spending is reflected in the online travel players’ results.

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Genpact And Cognizant Growing Steadily

According to researchers, Global Industry Analysts, global market for business process outsourcing (BPO) is projected to be worth $280.7 billion by 2017. Growth will be driven by expansion in finance and accounting outsourcing with the financial services, manufacturing, logistics and travel industries adopting the F&A outsourcing trend. The report estimates that while the U.S. will dominate the global market, demand will increase from emerging countries and regions, including China, Latin America, and Central Europe. Clearly, outsourcers need to ensure their operations are present in these locations to be able to address this market.

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SAP To Intensify Cloud Strategy

SAP, one of the largest companies in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market, recently reported strong results – its seventh straight quarter of double-digit growth. It even reported a double-digit gain in market share against Oracle, which recently announced its plans to acquire customer service SaaS vendor RightNow for $1.5 billion. Let’s take a closer look.

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