Garmin, TiVO On The Decline

Google recently signed an audience research deal with TiVo while at the same time making things difficult for personal navigation device (PND) maker Garmin, since Google’s Android smartphones provide navigation applications free. For the first time in its history, Garmin posted a year of revenue decline as more and more smartphones are being sold with add-on navigation tools. >>>

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SaaS Consolidation Overview

The SaaS sector has seen quite a few acquisitions this year, the major ones coming from Adobe, Intuit, and ADP. The recent economic downturn has spurred this acquisition activity in the sector, which has turned out to be relatively less vulnerable to the effects of the economic downturn.  >>>

Electronic Arts Pushing Digital

The gaming industry is going through a turmoil: demand is there, but margins seem to be disappearing. Higher sales are driven by price cuts, and profitability is an issue. The industry is looking for a new idea or a game console that will shake up the gaming world. Sony seems to be planning to release such a console in 2010. In a recent interview, Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Worldwide Studios, said that we’ll see some new ideas coming out of Sony Japan in 2010 and indicated that a console could be launched next year. This could have a positive impact for the industry and invigorate the gaming companies. As for now, the gorillas of the gaming world are barely surviving. >>>

Securing Cyberspace: Websense, McAfee, and Symantec

IDC forecasts the global Web security market to grow at a CAGR of 12.3% to $2.5 billion in 2013 from $1.4 billion in 2008, with SaaS Web security being the fastest-growing segment at a CAGR of 46.5% between 2008 and 2013. Also, with the increasing use of Web 2.0 by corporations and more spam, data leaks and malware, it has become imperative for businesses to manage data and security on a real-time basis. This presents Internet security companies with a host of opportunities. >>>

Dell Declining

According to IDC, Dell (NASDAQ:DELL), which had annual revenue of $61.1 billion, has lost market share and it has lost its No.2 spot to Acer in the global market. It has, of course, lost the top spot in the U.S. market to HP. Dell’s recently reported third quarter results were also disappointing, missing both earnings and revenue estimates. >>>

ZipRealty, Move, Monster, Shutterfly: Signs of Recovery

To help revive the real estate sector, the Obama government approved the extension of an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers until April 30, 2010. The credit, earlier scheduled to lapse in November of this year, is now available till the end of 2010 in a phased out fashion. The goverment is also controlling mortgage rates by pumping in funds. The Federal Reserve added $1.25 trillion into mortgage-backed securities to try to lower mortgage rates and loosen credit via a program scheduled to end by March next year. Recently, the National Association of Realtors recorded monthly resales growth in October of 10.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.1 million, thus registering the biggest monthly increase in a decade. Home prices are also lower, and median sales prices are 7% lower over the year and 25% below the peak. But, despite lower prices and additional incentives, overall house sales are nearly 16% below their peak sale levels in 2005. Online realtors, ZipRealty and Move are thus finding recovery a very slow process. >>>

For Comcast and Viacom, It’s All About Content

The recently released results of most U.S. media companies offered optimistic views for the future and reflected an upbeat quarterly performance. The slowly recovering economy is driving negotiation of big deals within the industry. Comcast, for instance, is looking to purchase a controlling stake in NBC Universal from GE. News Corp and Scripps Network are also competing with each other to purchase the Travel Channel, and there are talks about Viacom and Real Networks restructuring Rhapsody America, their subscription-based online music channel. >>>

A New App, But Sharply Lower Revenues At Autodesk

CAD market researchers expected the industry to sustain growth despite the recession. In an overall U.S. market of $5.2 billion in 2007, the industry was expected to grow 15% in 2008 and another 10% in 2009 to $6.6 billion, and to maintain a CAGR of 11% through 2012. However, Autodesk’s (NASDAQ:ADSK) most recent performance does not seem to indicate such high growth numbers. >>>

Disney And Time Warner Hopeful For 2010

A recent report estimates that previous quarter’s global ad spend fell 9.9% over the year. By region, North American spend fell 13% over the year, compared with a drop of 21% in Central and Eastern Europe; 11% in Africa, the Middle East and Western Europe; and 3% in Asia-Pacific. Only Latin American spend grew, at a mere 0.6%. And while ad spend is expected to improve in 2010, the numbers aren’t very encouraging. 2010 is expected to grow at a marginal 0.5% over the year. Analysts expect television, cinema, and outdoor advertising to lead the growth in 2010. It is little wonder that Disney and Time Warner, two media players that recently announced their results, still have depressed ad revenues. Even so, the two companies are seeing pockets of success and are directing a lot of their energies toward improving content. >>>

Priceline, Expedia Making Me Dizzy

The Travel Industry Association estimates that total travel spending in the United States has fallen to $712 billion in 2009 from $772 billion a year ago. Recovery is expected in 2010, with travel spending expected to grow 5% to $745.2 billion driven by improvement in leisure travel sales. By 2012, total travel spending is expected to rise to $866.5 billion. According to a Forrester research report, online leisure and business travel spending grew marginally from $111 billion in 2008 to $117 billion in 2009. But things are expected to improve with spending projected to rise to $158 billion by the year 2013. The recovery is already visible in the performance of the online travel stocks, which are rising high after the recent announcement of their quarterly results. Perhaps a bit too high! >>>