Nokia Wakes Up

Nokia last week reported weak fourth quarter earnings and provided a weak outlook as its market share continues to decline in a competitive market. This was the first full quarter under the new CEO, Stephen Elop. Last quarter, Elop announced plans to restructure Nokia’s smartphone business by cutting 1,800 jobs, and this quarter he acknowledged the need for a strategy change in a fast-changing and highly competitive industry. >>>

Featured Videos

SAP Looking Good

SAP (NYSE:SAP) reported record fourth quarter revenue this week and growth in all segments driven by pent-up corporate demand. However, its profits took a hit due to the $1.3 billion payment to Oracle following the verdict of TomorrowNow lawsuit.

>>>

Is Content Or Web 3.0 The Answer For Yahoo?

According to ComScore, for the third quarter of last year, Facebook led the display ad market in the U.S. Overall display ads grew to 1.3 trillion displays, registering 22% growth over the year. Facebook alone had 297 billion display ad impressions in quarter, translating to 23.1% market share compared with 9.2% in the previous year. Yahoo! came in second with 140 billion impressions or 11% market share, followed by Microsoft’s 5% share or 64 billion impressions. To counter Facebook’s growth in the display ad business, Yahoo! seems to be focusing on improving content. >>>

The Implications Of Google’s Management Change

By all measures, Google is going gangbusters. It has made a major management change, but let’s first look at the results and then analyze the change in context.

With the market recovering, online ad spending is on the rise. According to eMarketer, a marketing research firm, total online ad sales in the U.S. increased 13.9% over the year, with search advertising growing 15.6% and online display advertising 17% in 2010. In the coming years, the display advertising market is expected to continue to expand rapidly, driven by strong growth in video advertising: Online video advertising is expected to drive online display ad growth by increasing 34% annually until 2014. Banner ads will increase between 7% and 16.2% annually from 2009–2014. Total U.S. online advertising spending is expected to be $18.84 billion in 2014 compared with $12.37 billion in 2010. Of this, display ads will account for $15.92 billion compared with $7.58 billion in 2010. >>>

EBay Should Acquire TheFind

According to ComScore, online sales in the U.S. in November and December grew 12% over the year to $32.6 billion. Cyber Monday, the Monday following Thanksgiving, was the biggest online spending day of the holiday season in the U.S. with sales of $1.028 billion. This was the first time ever that online sales crossed the billion-dollar mark in a single day. According to the report, free shipping offers helped to fuel such strong demand. Green Monday, the second Monday of December, was the second-biggest day with sales of $0.95 billion.

>>>

IBM At A Record High

IBM (NYSE:IBM) this week reported strong results that beat estimates driven by increased tech spending. Ten years ago, IBM made a strategic shift to higher-margin software and services while divesting its low-margin commoditized businesses such as computers. That shift in strategy has paid off: IBM reported almost $100 billion in revenue in 2010 and plans to add $20 billion more by 2015. >>>

Apple Doesn’t Need Steve Jobs; Tech Industry Does

On Monday, 55-year-old Steve Jobs, the legendary CEO of Apple, disclosed that he will be going on medical leave. He was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer in 2004, and he had a liver transplant in 2008. He said he will continue as the company’s CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions, but COO Tim Cook will be handling the day-to-day operations. Jobs has taken Apple to the peak of high-end technological innovation and fashionable design and in the process made it the world’s most valuable technology company, surpassing Microsoft. On Tuesday, Apple reported yet another stellar quarter that was beyond all expectations. The near-term future also looks bright, with the iPhone soon coming to Verizon, which has a subscriber base of 93 million. It looks as though Apple does not need Steve Jobs to sustain its momentum, at least not for the moment. >>>

TCS And Infosys Expanding In China

A recent Gartner study claims that the global spending on technology will increase 5% in 2011 to $3.6 trillion. IT outsourcers are pleased by the report. However, in India, currency volatility continues to pose a threat. During the previous quarter, the U.S. dollar fell more than 5% against the euro and around 2% against the pound, but the rupee rose an average 3.5% against the dollar. The U.S. market claims nearly 80% of the Indian outsourcers’ revenues. As the rupee continues to strengthen, the cost advantage for the region is wearing off faster than expected. But even amid such concerns, India’s largest IT outsourcer, TCS, posted better-than-expected results.

>>>

Popularity Of Mobile Devices Challenge For Intel

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), which has an 80% share in PC chips and a 90% share in the server market, reported strong results last week that beat estimates and provided a strong outlook for 2011 driven by the growth in servers. The growing number of connected devices like smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and embedded devices is leading to a surge in Internet traffic and data usage. This dynamic in turn leads to a demand for high-performing servers and networking infrastructure. Intel says it is well positioned to benefit from the growth of its Data Center division and the build out of cloud computing. But it needs to look out for challenges from ARM, not just in smartphones and tablets but in servers as well. >>>

For-Profit Education Sector Reporting Massive Enrollment Drop

The for-profit educational sector has had a tough year with the tightening of government scrutiny of loan default rates, media publicity highlighting poor education, and tighter controls being levied by the Department of Education for federal student aid. All of these measures have impacted student enrollments. Earlier last week, education institutes revealed their winter enrollment statistics, and the numbers were gloomy. Strayer Education reported a 20% drop in winter enrollment, DeVry a 5% drop, and Apollo a 3.8% drop in degreed enrollment. Even the S&P 1500 Education Services subindex fell significantly in the past year. After having touched a 52-week high of $139.10 in April of last year, the index dropped to $81.04.

>>>