MS takes eye off the ball

In the last two weeks, the international ICT world was dominated by the executive reshuffle involving EMC and VMware, Microsoft's first ever quarterly loss, and an array of smallish acquisitions.

At home, Vodacom's latest financial figures and a handful of acquisitions were the main stories.

* Satisfactory interim figures from MICROmega, with revenue up 7.1% but profit up just over 100%.
* Mediocre Q1 numbers from Vodacom, with revenue down 0.9%, although subscriber numbers up 29.2% to 50 million.
* Positive trading updates from AdaptIT, Blue Label Telecoms, Datatec, Metrofile, MICROmega Holdings and Pinnacle Technology.
* Bytes Technology Group, a subsidiary of the Altron Group, acquired Alliance Business Solutions, an Oracle Platinum partner.
* Capita bought Full Circle Contact Centre Services, in a deal that allows the former to offer a full range of off-shoring services to its clients from a Cape Town base.
* DataTec purchased Triple AcceSSS IT, an Austrian value-added security distributor. The deal includes the latter's Swiss subsidiary.
* WPP Digital, a global communications powerhouse, acquired Acceleration, a South African digital marketing firm.
* Information Builders has entered into SA via a new full representative, InfoBuild, which will be headed by Johan Jurd as MD.
* UMT Consulting SA, a PPPM solutions provider, has rebranded to TPG Africa, following the former joining forces with the TPG Group in Germany.
* Mustek is de-listing from the Taiwanese Stock Exchange.
* Ricoh is accelerating its investment into SA as it seeks to tap into a growth market.
* J2 Software, a security specialist, has entered a strategic partnership with Secude, a global provider of IT data protection solutions.
* ContinuitySA has unveiled its mobile data centre.
* The appointments of Zunaid Bulbulia as acting chief enterprise business officer of MTN; Miles Crisp as CEO of SecureData; Rabelani Dagada (Wits University) as president of the CSSA; Deon Liebenberg (ex-MD of Samsung Electronics SA) as head of Telkom Business Mobile; and Matthew Thackrah as deputy MD of Samsung Electronics SA.
* The resignations of Jason and Pat Elk, the founders of Zoopy, which is now owned by Vodacom; and Angela Gahagan-Thomson, MD of MTN Business (ex-Verizon Business).
* The death of Inana Nkanza, EMC country manager for southern Africa.

Look out for clarification regarding Business Connexion's recent cautionary announcement on the JSE.

Paul Booth, MD, Global Research Partners

* Good year-end figures from Econet Wireless, with revenue up 24% and profit up 18%.
* Mediocre half-year numbers from Maroc Telecom, with revenue down 1% and profit down 22%.
* Intel has invested in Ghana-based Rancard Solutions, a company that specialises in generating mobile business. Rancard Solutions, which was started in 2001, connects the world's leading brands to relevant mobile audiences at what it says is a “minimum cost per subscriber acquisition”. The deal also involves Intel Capital and a Mauritius-based private equity firm, Adlevo Capital.
* There are rumours that MTN plans to file a $100 million lawsuit claim against Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications Corporation after the latter allegedly breached a joint contractual agreement by setting up a competitor to MTN.
* The appointments of Edison Basson as deputy MD of Business Connexion Namibia; Hodge Semakula as the first executive secretary of the East African Communications Organisation; and Alexandra Zagury as southern African MD for RIM.
* Ninety-six percent of key IT decision-makers in the finance industry across the Middle East and Africa indicated they were planning strategic initiatives focused on addressing operational efficiencies, according to the IDC.

* Agilent Technologies acquired AT4 wireless' Test Systems business. Privately held AT4 wireless, based in Malaga, Spain, is a provider of testing services and solutions for wireless communications.
* Apple bought AuthenTec, a security technology provider, for $355 million.
* Cisco purchased Virtuata, security software firm and provider of tools related to cloud computing and data centre infrastructure.
* Cogeco Cable (Canada) acquired Atlantic Broadband, a US cable operator, in a move aimed at the former gaining a foothold in the larger US market. The deal was worth $1.36 billion.
* eBay bought cards.io, a credit card payments start-up.
* Facebook purchased Acrylic, a Canadian applications developer.
* Facebook also acquired the engineering team of Spool, a San Francisco-based mobile application developer.
* Google bought Sparrow, an e-mail application developer.
* Intel purchased Whamcloud, a commercial purveyor of the open source Lustre, in a move aimed at fortifying its position in the high-performance computing market.
* Millicom International Cellular acquired Cablevisi'on Paraguay for $150 million.
* Oracle bought Skire, a provider of software that helps companies plan and execute projects.
* SAIC purchased MaxIT Healthcare, a healthcare IT consulting company, for $473 million.
* Samsung Electronics acquired UK-based Cambridge Silicon Radio's (CSR's) development operations in handset connectivity and location, including 310 people, together with certain rights over CSR's technology in these areas. The deal was worth $310 million.
* VMware bought Nicira Networks, a network software provider that addresses networking functions with data centres, for $1.26 billion.
* WiLAN, a patent holding company, purchased a patent portfolio from Siemens.
* Xerox (Global Imaging Systems) acquired Martin Whalen Office Solutions, a provider of office technology and software solutions.
* The listing of Engility, a spin-off from L-3 Communications. The former is a provider of global professional and technical services for the US government.
* EMC announced that Paul Maritz, ex-CEO of VMware, is joining the company as head of strategy. Rumours abound that EMC/VMware will centralise their various cloud-oriented units and that Maritz will head up this new entity.
* FiberTower has filed voluntary petitions for reorganisation under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code.
* Microsoft has sold off its 50% stake in its joint venture with NBC, ie, MSNBC, to Comcast.
* RIM must pay Mformation $147 million arising from a patent infringement lawsuit.
* Excellent quarterly results from Baidu and Western Digital.
* Very good quarterly figures from LG Electronics.
* Good quarterly numbers from Apple, ARM Holdings, eBay, Citrix Systems, Coinstar, EMC, Equifax, F5 Networks, Google, Idea Cellular, NCR, Qualcomm, Riverbed Technologies, Samsung Electronics, SAP, TSMC, Turkcell (back in the black), VeriSign (back in the black) and Wipro.
* Satisfactory quarterly results from AT&T, Check Point Software Technologies, Ingram Micro, MetroPCS, Netgear, NTT DoCoMo, Saudi Telecom, Telenor, Verizon Communications and Yahoo.
* Satisfactory half-year numbers from Colt Group.
* Satisfactory year-end figures from Equinix, Filtronic, Forrester Research.
* Mediocre quarterly results from Altera, AMD, America Movil (with revenue up but profit down), AMSL, CA Technologies, Compuware, Cypress Semiconductor, Ericsson, Fairchild Semiconductor, Flextronics, France Telecom, Informatica, Iron Mountain, Juniper Networks, KDDI, KPN, Lexmark, SanDisk, Sanmina-SCI, Texas Instruments, TomTom, United Microelectronics, Vodafone, Xerox and Xilinx.
* Mediocre half-year figures from Software AG.
* Mixed quarterly figures from Akamai Technologies, with revenue up but profit down; Amphenol, with revenue up but profit down; Anixter International, with revenue up but profit down; AOL, with revenue down but profit up (back in the black); Broadcom, with revenue up but profit down; BT Group, with revenue down but profit up; IBM, with revenue up but profit down; Intel, with revenue up but profit down; InterDigital, with revenue up but profit down; Lam Research, with revenue up but profit down; LSI, with revenue up but profit down; Motorola Solutions, with revenue up but profit down; Netflix, with revenue up but profit down; Polycom, with revenue up but profit down; Rogers Communications, with revenue up but profit down; Telefonica, with revenue up but profit down; TeliaSonera, with revenue up but profit down; Unisys, with revenue down but profit up (back in the black); VMware, with revenue up but profit down; and Websense, with revenue down but profit up.
* Mixed half-year figures from Huawei Technologies, with revenue up but profit down.
* Very poor quarterly figures from Amazon, although revenue up 30%; and Nokia.
* Quarterly losses from Ariba, Clearwire, Facebook, Level 3 Communications, LG Display, Logitech, Microsoft (its first ever), NetSuite, Sharp, SK Hynix, Sprint Nextel, ST-Ericsson, STMicroelectronics, Tata Communications, Tata Teleservices and Zynga.
* A half-year loss by Everything Everywhere.
* The appointments of Steve Bennett as president and CEO of Symantec (also retains chairman position); Pat Gelsinger as CEO of VMware; Marissa Mayer as CEO of Yahoo; and Philip Pead as non-executive chairman of Progress Software.
* The resignations of Steve Bailey, COO of Glo (Nigeria) and ex-CEO of Virgin Mobile SA; Paul Maritz, CEO of VMware; Raymond Roman, COO of Leap Wireless International; and Enrique Salem, CEO of Symantec.
* A withdrawn IPO filing in Singapore by Reliance Communications for its undersea cable unit.
* A postponed IPO on Nasdaq by Avast Software, a Dutch security services provider.
* A good IPO on Nasdaq by Kayak Software, an online travel company.
* A very good IPO on the NYSE by Palo Alto, a security software provider.
* A disappointing IPO on Nasdaq by E2open, a provider of software that helps companies manage their supply chain.

* International:
* A possible IPO for O2 Germany.
* A possible investigation by the European Union into Microsoft and its recently announced Windows 8 operating system, following allegations that it will unlawfully stifle competition.
* The outcome of the negotiations by Google with the EU regarding a settlement for its anti-trust case.
* The $150 million sell-off by HTC of half of the 50.1% stake in Beats it acquired last August. The 25% share will be bought by Beats' founders.
* Africa:
* Further moves by Jasco into Africa, either directly or indirectly.
* The resolution of Vodacom's situation in the DRC.
* The sell-off by the Tunisian government of its 25% stake in Tunisiana, although Qatar Telecom, the holder of the remaining 75%, is not allowed to bid for it.
* South Africa:
* Clarification regarding Business Connexion's recent cautionary announcement on the JSE. Suggestions include the sell-off, excluding its recently acquired retail arm, to a telecommunications company such as Cell C, Neotel/Tata, France Telecom (Orange), Bharti Airtel or even Korea Telecom.

* Q2 global notebook shipments dropped 1.8% since last year to slightly above 50 million units, according to Digitimes Research.
* Global mobile service revenue will reach $976 billion by 2016, according to Infonetics. Mobile broadband services will be the primary growth driver, but SMS revenue will also continue to increase. Voice revenue will decline slightly, but both voice and SMS will remain a mainstay for telcos.
* Worldwide semiconductor revenue will grow 4.6% this year to $315 billion and is forecast to grow 6.2% in 2013 to reach $335 billion, according to IDC.
* Worldwide spending in the banking environment is growing with a 5.2% CAGR forecast for 2010 through 2015, according to IDC.
* Worldwide social media revenue is forecast to reach $16.9 billion this year, according to Gartner.
* The worldwide mobile phone market grew 1% in Q2, with Samsung and Apple accounting for shipping almost half of the total shipments, according to IDC.
* Consumers will spend $2.1 trillion on technology products and services worldwide in 2012, according to Gartner.

* JSE All share index: Up 2.6% (highest-ever weekend close)
* Nasdaq: Up 1.7%
* Top SA share movements: Amecor (-33.2%), Ansys (-17.1%), Blue Label Telecoms (-12.1%), ConvergeNet (-10.8%), Gijima (+12.5%), Huge (+11.1%), Ifca Technologies (+40%), ISA (-12%), TCS (-50%) and Telemasters (-15.8%)

Fortune magazine has published its 2102 Global 500 listing. From a technology perspective, the following are noteworthy:

* Samsung is confirmed as the number one ICT company. It has pulled well away from its major challengers. It is now number 22 on the overall list, with annual revenue closing in on the $150 billion mark.
* NTT snatches the number two ICT slot from HP and AT&T.
* Hon Hai Precision Industries (Foxconn) rises 17 places to 43, and six from an ICT perspective. It was also the top ICT employer, with almost one million employees.
* Apple rises 56 places to 55.
* Amazon rises 64 places to 206.
* Google rises 48 places to 277.
* Oracle rises 64 places to 300.
* Lenovo rises 80 places to 370.
* Compal Electronics drops 128 places to 468.
* Sharp drops 101 places to 354.
* BT Group drops 57 places to 358.
* Avnet returns at 414.
* Acer, Alcatel-Lucent, LG Display, Motorola Solutions and RIM drop out of the list.
* Panasonic is the top ICT money loser, followed by Telecom Italia, Sony, Sharp and Sprint Nextel.