Comcast Faces Stiff Competition

Even though more Americans may have more time to watch TV, as layoffs continue and working hours are reduced, the economic crisis has taken its toll on cable providers’ revenues. Consumers are showing that they are not willing to pay extra for high-priced premium packages or for a service that is available free. >>>

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$96 Billion Water Infrastructure Stimulus

Dwindling water supplies are no longer just a problem in developing nations. Developed parts of the world such as California and Australia are also facing the heat. According to the International Water Management Institute, a third of the world’s population will face water scarcity by 2025. For a more detailed look at this problem and possible solutions, see Dominique Trempont’s essay Water Shortages: Opportunities for Entrepreneurs. >>>

NVIDIA Rising; Infineon Improving; AMD Precarious

Chipmakers AMD (NYSE:AMD) and Infineon Technologies AG (OTC:IFNNY.PK) made it on EEtimes.com’s list of “10 companies in trouble”: they haven’t reported profits in almost three years. On the other hand, NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), AMD’s GPU rival, took a $119 million charge for shipping defective chips but returned to non-GAAP profitability. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

Fat Cisco Shines In Telepresence

Yesterday, Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) reported its fourth straight quarter of revenue declines as the economy and low-cost competition took a toll on sales. However, the company did manage to beat analyst estimates. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

EMC, VMWare Holding Steady

A recent Gartner report said that IT spending is likely to fall 6% in 2009, compared to a previously forecast drop of 3.8%. Despite such reports, which paint a gloomy picture for all IT sectors, there are players such as EMC and VMWare that are continuing to hold steady. >>>

Video Conferencing A Major Opportunity For Networking Players

Recently, online video beneficiaries Juniper and Polycom reported better-than-expected results as the market stabilized. However, Akamai reported a disappointing quarter due to the delayed impact of the economic downturn. >>>

Media Industry: The Answer Is Quality

The print media is operating in permanent crisis mode, with big names such as BusinessWeek and The Boston Globe up for sale in the coming quarters. According to MediaFinder.com, already nearly 280 magazines have called it a day in the first half of the year. And it is not just the smaller titles: the entertainment magazine Vibe and Condé Nast’s Portfolio have shut down. Newspapers have been systematically shutting down their print operations, and going online only. Despite the profitable turnarounds witnessed by most companies which recently announced results, overall print media’s future remains uncertain, to say the least. >>>

Samsung’s and Motorola’s Smartphone Gaps

Motorola (NYSE:MOT) and Samsung recently reported strong quarters, further signs that the handset market is stabilizing. According to a Gartner report on the first quarter, Samsung at No.2 has 19.1% (14.4% last year) of the market and Motorola at No.4 has 6.2% (10.2% last year). However, smartphones offer high margins compared to the rest of the handsets, and both companies need to improve their smartphone strategy. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

SaaS At SAP

According to recent research from IDC, the economic crisis has actually accelerated the growth prospects of the SaaS model. SAP (NYSE:SAP) recently unveiled its SaaS strategy for large enterprises and has been making “tuck-in” acquisitions to complement this strategy. SAP’s commitment to SaaS may protect the company from the worst of the cost-cutting going on at IT departments around the world. Let’s take a closer look. >>>

Chipmakers Gain Market Share Despite Losses

As per iSuppli, even as the wireless chip market tanked in 2008, chipmakers Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) and ST-Ericsson turned in strong performances and gained market share. Broadcom (NASDAQ:BRCM) also increased its share marginally while Texas Instruments lost market share. Let’s take a look at their recent performances. >>>