Latin America Rising Online

According to a recent study by Visa, e-commerce in Latin America and the Caribbean grew 39% over the year to $21.8 billion in 2009. Between 2007 and 2009, e-spending grew 106% in Latin America and the Caribbean, driven by 170% growth in Brazil, 91% growth in Mexico, and 56% growth in Argentina. Within Latin America, Brazil was the biggest market, contributing 61% of total online consumption, followed by Mexico with 12% and Chile with 5%. >>>

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Hurd At Oracle: Great Expectations

Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) reported strong results last week for a seasonally weak quarter. Early this month, Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, recruited his friend and former CEO of HP, Mark Hurd, as a copresident. Hurd will help to manage the recent $7.3 billion acquisition of Sun. Conceivably, Oracle will do many more acquisitions, and Hurd will be managing those as well. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

Will RIM End Up In Microsoft’s Arms?

Last week, Research in Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM) reported strong second quarter results that beat estimates. It maintained its position as the No.2 smartphone vendor, but its market share declined to 17.8% from 19.1% last year. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

Infineon After Sale Of Wireless Unit

Intel recently announced its plans to acquire Infineon’s wireless chip business for $1.4 billion. On the other hand, communications chip company Marvell Technology, with fiscal 2010 revenue of $2.81 billion, last month announced its acquisition of Spain’s powerline chipmaker Diseño de Sistemas en Silicio SA (DS2) for an undisclosed sum. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

Naukri Performing Well, But Should Not Underestimate Competitors

According to the latest Job Seach Index released by Naukri.com (NAUKRI.BO) for the Indian market, hiring activity in the country has grown 28% over the year this August. The index reported hiring activity across industries, functions, and cities, with the banking sector reporting 14% growth followed by information technology enabled services’s (ITES) 6% and construction’s 5% growth. >>>

Alibaba, Baidu Leveraging China’s Online Momentum

Of the 384 million current internet users in China, reports estimate that a mere 9% of people shop online. However, the numbers are growing fast. Analysts project China’s online population to reach 650 million in five years and the percentage shopping online to grow to 19% in 2012. Recent research conducted by BCG on 1,700 Chinese has shown that almost 99% of university students and professionals aged between twenty-two and thirty-five spend almost four hours online per day. Given such positive trends, Chinese Internet players are delivering strong results. >>>

M&A Scene At Alcatel And Brocade

Alcatel-Lucent, (NYSE:ALU), the telecommunications equipment company with annual revenue of €15.57 billion ($21.19 billion), recently made two acquisitions in the mobile applications space. Mikael Ricknäs of ComputerWorld says Alcatel-Lucent has realized the importance of applications and developers and hopes to become the intermediary between service providers and developers. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

SanDisk Soaring On Apple’s Wings

Last quarter, we observed how the soaring sales of Apple’s iPad benefitted the storage industry. Eric Savitz of Barron’s reports that there are at least two dozen companies planning tablets that rely on NAND flash memory chips for data storage. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

Online Travel: More Destinations, More Services, More Apps

The online travel sector has been abuzz with activity. In July of this year, Google announced its intention to enter the vertical and acquired flight search engine ITA Software for $700 million. The deal is still under antitrust investigation. More recently, MakeMyTrip, an India-based online travel services provider, debuted on the Nasdaq through its IPO; the stock appreciated 89% on the first day of trading. >>>

The Ideal Carrier For The iPhone

The upcoming end of iPhone exclusivity on the AT&T network is bound to change the equation in the carrier industry. According to Shaw Wu with Kaufman Bros., details are being worked out for a Verizon iPhone and that it would be “premature” to rule out T-Mobile and Sprint. In an earlier note, Wu said that T-Mobile USA is the most likely candidate given that it uses similar cellular technology as AT&T. Also, T-Mobile needs the iPhone more than Verizon does, but it seems that Apple needs Verizon more than any other carrier. Let’s take a closer look. >>>