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Tag: market-data

  • Skype Revenues Continue Growing in Q1


    Its future with parent eBay may be uncertain but that hasn’t prevented Skype from continuing to generate revenue.

    eBay’s Q1 financial statements published this week show the VoIP company is still increasing revenue, minutes and users.

    In the first quarter of 2009, Skype had revenues of USD $153.2 million, up from USD $145 million in Q4 of 2008.

    If trading continues in this vein the company is on target for USD $600 million in revenues for the year.

    Skype added 37.9 million registered users in Q1 – up from 35 million new users in Q4 2008.

    This takes its total tally to 443.2 million.

    In addition, it rang up 2.9 billion Skype Out minutes in the quarter – panning out to just over 6.5 minutes per user.

    Certainly a healthy position for a company that could be spun off from its parent.

  • Vopium Picks Up Innovation Award; Extends App to iPhone


    Vopium has become the latest mobile VoIP provider to introduce an iPhone application.

    The addition to its supported handsets comes as the company was named winner of this year’s European Mobile VoIP Technology Innovation Award by Frost & Sullivan.

    The annual award is presented by the growth consulting company to the company that has demonstrated technological superiority within its industry.

    Luke Thomas, programme manager with Frost & Sullivan, said that by offering a cost-effective service, Vopium was able to enhance customer loyalty and confidence in its applications.

    He said this had enabled the firm to create a sustainable competitive advantage over other mobile VoIP providers.

    "Considering that Wi-Fi is not as ubiquitous as cellular networks today, Vopium has also made provisions for users to automatically connect to a 3G network when Wi-Fi is not available within a particular location," he said.

    Vopium has expanded rapidly in the last six months, launching its free software programme using mobile VoIP and Wi-Fi technology to reduce the cost of international phone calls in 16 countries, including the UK, Germany, Switzerland, France and Spain.

    Tanveer Sharif, Vopium’s CEO

    The company also recently became the first mobile VoIP provider to offer mobile backup – a free service which allows Vopium customers to store their address book contacts and calendar securely online.

    Vopium’s iPhone app is now available in the App Store. Users will receive 30 minutes of free calls and 30 text messages to get started.

    Tanveer Sharif, Vopium’s CEO, said support was being extended to the iPhone to enable "millions of consumers and businesses to transform the powerful mobile device into the only solution they’ll ever need to call the world at a fraction of traditional mobile operator costs".

  • Apple Sold 3.8m iPhones in Q1 2009


    iPhone sales have boosted Apple’s quarterly profit by 15 per cent – despite economic woes and a new handset expected later this year.

    The company also said co-founder Steve Jobs intends to return from his medical leave as scheduled at the end of June.

    For the three months ended 28 March, Apple’s second-quarter net profits rose to USD $1.21 billion. In the same period last year Apple earned USD $1.05 billion.

    Apple said it sold 3.8 million iPhones worldwide in the quarter, more than twice as many as a year ago.

    iPhone revenues reached USD $2.2 billion for the quarter – a success that Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook, attributed to strong consumer interest in downloading applications. Apple expects to announce its one billionth app down load tomorrow.

    An estimated combined total of 37 million iPhone and iPod touch’s have created an enormous platform for developers, which he said "unleashes a whole new level of innovation that keeps Apple years ahead of everyone else".

    The popularity of the touchscreen smartphone has also helped the earnings of its exclusive US carrier, AT&T.

    Elsewhere, Apple sold 11 million iPods, up 3 per cent. However, its Macintosh computer line performed less well, with a 3 per cent fall in Mac sales and a 16 per cent drop in revenue.

    Overall, Apple’s average revenue per retail store sank 17 per cent in the quarter.

    Attention will now be focused on how the continuing economic situation – and the launch of Palm’s Pre and various other smartphones – impacts on the iPhone.

  • Bharti Telesoft Renamed "Comviva" In Market Drive


    Bharti Telesoft has been renamed Comviva Technologies Limited as part of a company-wide re-branding initiative.

    Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and managing director of the Bharti Group, said the name change also signals its intent to be the leading integrated VAS solution provider for mobile operators in emerging markets.

    "The company has grown rapidly to achieve stature and scale," he said.

    Manoranjan (Mao) Mohapatra, CEO of Comviva

    "With a strong reputation in the market and a new vision reflecting its ambitions, it is the right time to adopt a new and unique identity."

    Manoranjan (Mao) Mohapatra, CEO of Comviva Technologies Limited, said the need for a powerful brand that resonates with customers globally has grown as the company extended its reach.

    It now has 100 plus customers across over 80 countries.

  • HealthNet's New Venture Venyu Targets SMB Storage and Security


    Amerivault and Network Technology Group Inc data storage providers are to join forces to create Venyu Inc.

    The new venture will provide commercial grade, customizable solutions for data storage with disaster recovery, writes Samantha Sai for storage-biz.news.

    Both Amerivault and NTG are owned by HealthNet Services Inc (PHNS).

    The two entities joining forces were purchased by HealthNet Services for a combined USD $167 million.

    Venyu will be based out of Baton Range and will be a wholly owned subsidiary of PHNS.

    It will provide data backup, disaster recovery and managed data center services to small and medium sized businesses.

    Its progressive portfolio also includes online data backup, physical and virtualized recovery solutions, managed hosting, SaaS, and co-location services.

    Scott Thompson, CEO of Venyu, said it would address client concerns about security and privacy, including focusing on providing solutions and progressive ways to safeguard mission critical data against disaster.

    He said the company aimed to provide secure, reliable and scalable backup and storage solutions that require minimal maintenance, leaving clients free to pursue their business.

    "We’re focused on virtual disaster recovery," he said. "If you have five servers, we will take a snapshot of the data residing on them and keep a virtual instance of them in our own facility."

    Thompson said Venyu is also focused on handling increasing volumes of customer data and is looking for ways to service customer needs in this arena.

    "We’re not really as far along as we need to be storage-wise, I think. SSD [solid-state drive] is coming along, but I want to know what is the next fundamental thing that we’re going to do in the storage arena to help this problem, because the volumes of data that we’re talking about – tape can’t do this.

    "You can’t get this done on tape. I don’t care how large the jukebox is. The exponential growth of data that we’re talking about is not going to be able to be managed on tape. We have to do this through disk of some kind whether solid state or rotational."

  • Codima Adds Belgian Market As European Expansion Continues


    Codima has announced that it has established operations in the Benelux market as part of its continued expansion into Europe.

    The Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg operation is the company’s fourth European roll out in 2009.

    In March, Codima announced the launch of operations in the French market.

    Its new Benelux offices will be based in Brussels, with the local multi lingual team offering sales, marketing and technical support services to new and existing resellers throughout the Benelux region.

    The global provider of best practice software tools for VoIP and IT Asset Management offers a real time end-to-end solution for VoIP readiness and call quality assurance in VoIP networks.

    Christer Mattsson, Codima’s CEO, said that its Benelux team will work to propel its software solution for managing business critical IT networks cost efficiently into a market looking to invest in cost reducing software.

    The densely populated Benelux region has one of Europe’s highest broadband penetrations in addition to being an early adopter to IP telephony technology.

    "Our Benelux team excels in product knowledge and markets insights, and will deliver real value and first class support to resellers from day one," he said.

    "In Benelux, we see a growing demand for software tools to reduce IT costs and improve Quality of Service in existing networks, hence our local presence is vital to accelerate market penetration and expand into new market segments."

    The Codima Toolbox also encompasses a set of tools to discover, map, ping and monitor any IT network.

    The solution uses Microsoft Office Visio to visualize entire networks and network problems – useful functions when preparing for VoIP installations and when securing documentation for network auditing and legal requirements.

  • Nokia's Q1 Profit Drops 90% – But 5800 Smartphone Shines


    Nokia’s first-quarter profit plunged 90 per cent as the Finnish handset maker showed its vulnerabilty to the current economic difficulties.

    The world’s leading mobile manufacturer posted a net profit of just EURO €122 million (USD $161m), compared with EURO €1.22 billion (USD $1.58bn) in the year-ago period.

    One bright note was sales of Nokia’s first touchscreen S60 smartphone.

    The company revealed today that it has sold 2.6 million 5800 XpressMusic devices in just one quarter of availability.

    Overall, however, the company’s sales fell 27 per cent to EURO €9.28bn (USD $12.2bn) for the quarter, down from EURO €12.7bn (USD $16.77bn) in the first quarter of 2008.

    Handset sales were down 33 per cent to EURO €6.19 (USD $8.17bn), although the company did sell more phones than some analysts had predicted.

    Nokia shipped 93.2 million devices, down sequentially from the 113.1 million units it shipped in the fourth quarter of 2008 and down 19 per cent from the 115 million it sold in the year-ago quarter.

    Nokia’s market share remained steady at 37 per cent.

    While the Finnish giant’s result are hardly impressive, it isn’t alone in suffering from the downturm.

    Equally, the results were better than widely expected, which led to shares in the company rising by 8 per cent.

    Nokia sold 13.7 million converged (S60) devices, down from 14.6 million in Q1 2008 and 15.1 million in Q4 2008, of these 5 million were Nseries and 3 million were Eseries.

    Nokia’s industry outlook sees similar device volumes and market share for Q2, but expect overall conditions to improve in the second half of the year

    Olli-Pekka Kallasuvo, Nokia CEO, said:

    "In what has been an exceptionally tough environment, we continue to invest in a focused manner in consumer Internet services delivered across our broad portfolio of mobile devices. Combined, these solutions will drive our future growth. As an example in Q1, I am especially pleased with the performance of our first mass market touch product, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. Together with Comes With Music, it is a great example of Nokia providing solutions that consumers value.

    Regarding the health of the overall mobile device market, the inventory already in the sales channels decreased substantially during Q1 due to extensive destocking by operators and distributors. This adversely impacted our sales volumes in the quarter. However, it has also resulted in the demand picture becoming more predictable as we enter the second quarter."

  • Handset Shipments Expected To Drop 20% in 2009


    While cellphone shipments and subscription numbers have held up relatively well during the global recession, the outlook is more tumultuous for the mobile industry.

    In-Stat forecasts that both handset sales and subscriptions will take a hit this year.

    Allen Nogee, In-Stat analyst, said that subscriptions, however, are expected to weather the financial crisis better than handset shipments.

    "People that are unemployed are less likely to replace their cellphones, and businesses will not pay for cellphone subscriptions for employees they’ve let go," he said.

    "Even those with existing subscriptions are more willing to ‘make do’ with their existing handsets.

    "As the wireless industry matures, replacement handsets make up three-quarters of handset sales; handset sales are now particularly vulnerable to economic contraction."

    Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

    • After experiencing a 19.3 per cent growth in subscriptions in 2008, subscription growth will fall by more than half to 8.9 per cent in 2009 and by 6.3 per cent in 2010.
    • Worldwide, In-Stat is forecasting a 20.5 per cent drop in handset shipments for 2009 compared to 2008.
    • It will take until 2011 for shipments to regain robust growth, a forecasted 9.6 per cent increase.
    • Middle East and Africa will have 75.2 million WCDMA/HSPA/HSPA+ subscriptions by 2013.
    • SC-SCDMA subscriptions in Asia Pacific will rise more than ten-fold between 2009 and 2013.

  • Strong Q1 Expected from Nokia's 5800 Smartphone


    Nokia’s Q1 sales are expected to be down when accounced tomorrow – despite the success of its 5800 XpressMusic smartphone launched last year.

    Analysts estimate 2.5 million 5800s may have been sold in the first three months of the year – helped by repeated sell-outs in the UK and roll-outs into new markets.

    Key to the Nokia smartphone’s success is its cost – often undercutting the iPhone while offering comprehensive features.

    Despite the device’s strong sales, however, the Finnish mobile giant is expected to report a drop in overall shipments of 20 per cent, with revenues around USD $12.6 billion.

    The company had sales of USD $16.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008.

    While Nokia remains the leading global mobile maker, its position has been under fire recently – not least in the smartphone category where the iPhone and BlackBerry have nibbled at its market share.

    However, there may be positive news for Nokia. Some analysts expect the company to announce that it has reduced inventory levels from the fourth quarter of 2008, raising the prospect of an upswing in the second quarter.

    Recent measures have seen Nokia streamline its operations, cutting 1,700 jobs worldwide and temporarily suspending outsourcing for handset manufacturing.

    Nokia is also expected to provide more details tomorrow on reports that its joint venture with Siemens is bidding for parts of Nortel Networks’ CDMA carrier networks business.

  • Litigation Issues May Hamper Ebay's Skype Spin-off


    eBay today announced it plans to spin Skype off as a stand alone publicly traded company in the first half of 2010.

    Action at last. But surely the VoIP provider’s parent company has to resolve legal issues centred around its core P2P technology – and involving Skype’s founders – before the planned Initial Public Offering (IPO) can take place?

    The IPO move follows mounting pressure for eBay to act over Skype’s future, which despite its success has "limited synergies" with the ecommerce giant.

    As eBay’s President and CEO, John Donahoe, said in a company statement: "Skype is a great stand-alone business with strong fundamentals and accelerating momentum.
    "But it’s clear that Skype has limited synergies with eBay and PayPal.

    "We believe operating Skype as a stand-alone publicly traded company is the best path for maximizing its potential.

    "This will give Skype the focus and resources required to continue its growth and effectively compete in online voice and video communications.

    "In addition, separating Skype will allow eBay to focus entirely on our two core growth engine – e-commerce and online payments – and deliver long-term value to our stockholders."

    While the IPO move suggests eBay is preparing to sell Skype to an outside buyer, there is still the question of a possible bid from the founders of Skype Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis.

    The London-based pair are reported to have approached a number of private equity firms and are gathering their own personal resources to make an offer for Skype.

    To complicate issues, a company controlled by Niklas and Janus, JoltID, sued Skype over the issue of core P2P technology. Skype/EBay later filed a counter suit.

    So the possibility of on-going litigation will surely need to be cleared up before an IPO can be considered.

    The thorny question of a realistic price – and willing buyer – for Skype is another hindrance to eBay off-loading it.

    Analysts believe eBay wants at least USD $1.7 billion, this being the value of the calling service on its balance sheet after it wrote off part of the acquisition in 2007.

    eBay bought Skype in 2005 for USD $2.6 billion,, with subsequent payments raising this sum to USD $3.1 billion.

    Skype had sales of USD $551 million in 2008 and ended the year with 405 million registered users. Skype expects to top USD $1 billion in revenue in 2011, nearly doubling 2008 revenues.

    Should be an interesting few months ahead for everyone involved.