Google takes its time

The possible $130 billion deal by Verizon to buy out Vodafone's share of its joint venture, and Google's acquisition of Wimm Labs, a smart watch maker, were the top stories in the international ICT arena last week.

At home it was fairly quiet, with Datacentrix's buyout of eNetworks and the merger of Tarsus with Platinum Micro being two of a small number of local ICT events.

* Satisfactory year-end figures from Morvest Business Group, with revenue up 10.1% and profit up 2.6%; and Mustek, with revenue up 16.3% and profit up 4.4%.
* A positive trading update from EOH.
* Datacentrix acquired eNetworks, an Internet service and network specialist.
* Imperial Holdings purchased ForeFront Africa, a mobile technology start-up.
* MB Technologies will merge its two distribution subsidiaries, ie, Tarsus Technologies and Platinum Micro.
* SnapScan, a Stellenbosch start-up, has won the MTN Business 2013 App of the Year award. The application allows independent retailers and big chains to accept in-store payments from customers using mobile phones.
* A new JSE cautionary by Jasco Electronics regarding its possible disinvestment of its interest in M-TEC.
* A renewed JSE cautionary by Stella Vista.
* Wilson Liu was appointed CEO of Huawei South Africa.

* Stream Global Services, a BPO firm, bought Tunisia's N2SP Tunisie.
* The launch of the .africa domain has been planned for March 2014.
* Namibian mobile operator, Leo, has been rebranded as TN (Telecom Namibia) Mobile.
* Christian de Faria was appointed CEO of Airtel Africa.

Microsoft and Google will sue the US government over its requests for more information regarding their user data.

* Apple acquired AlgoTrim, a Swedish start-up that builds codecs and designs solutions to maximise data, while minimising the amount of memory the data uses.
* Arrow Electronics purchased Computerlinks, a distributor of value-added IT services and solutions to hardware and software manufacturers, for $300 million.
* Google bought Wimm Labs, a smart watch maker.
* Micrel acquired Discera, a provider of silicon timing solutions.
* Wasserstein & Co, an investment firm, privatised Globecomm Systems, a satellite communications provider, for $340 million.
* Yahoo purchased IQ Engines, an 'image intelligence' company.
* Carl Icahn made an additional investment in Nuance Communications, raising his stake to 16.9%.
* Sonae (Portugal) made an additional investment of 20% in its mobile subsidiary Sonaecom, which is currently held by Orange, raising its stake in the former to just under 74%.
* Microsoft and Google will sue the US government over its requests for more information regarding their user data.
* HTC is developing a mobile software system specifically for Chinese consumers that would involve close integration with apps such as Weibo, a Twitter-like micro-blogging app.
* Very good half-year numbers from SMIC.
* Very good quarterly figures from Salesforce.com (back in the black).
* Good quarterly numbers from OmniVision Technologies.
* Satisfactory quarterly results from QAD.
* Mediocre half-year numbers from SFR (France).
* Mediocre quarterly results from Bouygues Telecom.
* Mixed quarterly figures from Avago Technologies, with revenue up but profit down; and Vivendi, with revenue down but profit up.
* Quarterly losses from Splunk, although revenue was up 50%.
* The resignations of Ted Tewksbury, president and CEO of Integrated Device Technology; and Ashok Vemuri, head of Infosys Americas.
* The departure of Google's Hugo Barra, one of its top Android executives, to Xiaomi, one of China's leading phone makers.
* An IPO filing for the NYSE from Violin Memory, a flash storage company.
* An IPO filing for the NYSE from Globant SA (Spain), a technology services provider focused on delivering innovative software solutions that leverage emerging technologies and related IT trends.
* A possible IPO by Pure Storage, a flash storage company, following the raising of $150 million in its latest round of fundraising.
* A planned listing by UK-based Rightster, a Web video marketer, on London's AIM market.

International:
* The possible $130 billion buyout by Verizon of the 45% stake Vodafone has in its US joint venture with the company.
* The possible purchase of bankrupt Alvarion by Israeli-based Valley Telecom.
* The possible purchase by Microsoft of Foursquare, the social networking company.
* The possible spin-off by BlackBerry of its messaging service.
* The possible withdrawal by Carlos Slim of his bid for KPN, following a possible block by a shareholder foundation.
South Africa:
* Further developments on the restructuring of Telkom SA.
* Further announcements from the new minister of communications.

* Worldwide server shipments grew 4% in Q2, although revenue declined 3.8% with IBM regaining the number one slot from HP, according to Gartner. Dell, Oracle and Cisco took the number three, four and five positions.
* Worldwide PC shipments are expected to fall 9.7% this year to 315.4 million units; although by 2017, the number is expected to grow marginally to 319.8 million units, with almost all the growth coming from emerging markets, ie, mature markets will shrink further in the period 2013 to 2017, according to IDC.
* Global mobile data traffic doubled during the 12 months that ended 30 June; and smartphones made up 55% of all mobile handsets sold in Q2 compared to 50% in Q1 and 40% in the full-year 2012, according to Ericsson.

* JSE All share index: Down 1.8%
* Nasdaq: Down 1.9%
* NYSE (Dow): Down 1.3%
* Top SA share movements: AdaptIT (+7.1%), Gijima (-10.9%), Huge Group (+50%), Jasco (-18.4%), Labat Africa (+21.1%), MICROmega Holdings (+23.1%), Morvest Business Group (+33.3%) and TCS (+100%)

The Sunday Times Top Brands 2013 winners were announced during August. The following are significant from a technology perspective:

Top of the Crop - Business categories
* Cellphones - iPhone
* Computer tablet/e-readers - iPad
* Telecommunications service providers - Vodacom

Top of the Crop - Consumer categories
* Cellphones - Nokia
* Electronic goods - Samsung
* Social networks - Facebook
* Telecommunications providers - Vodacom