IDC: Big data alone will drive billions in storage sales
photo: Shutterstock / Mmaxer
IDC is predicting a $6 billion big-data storage market by 2016, part of an overall big data market worth nearly $24 billion. Read more »
Microsoft takes hits after bad PC numbers
photo: Flickr / ToddABishop
With Q1 PC sales breaking records — and not in a good way — Microsoft is taking heat with two analysts downgrading its shares. Read more »
Whatever happened to Oracle’s server business?
Oracle’s revenue from servers was down 18 percent year over year in the fourth quarter, according to Gartner and IDC. So far, the company’s high-stakes gamble on hardware isn’t paying off. Read more »
More evidence of tablets slowly killing the PC market
Naysayers may continue to ignore the trend, but tablets aren’t toys and the tablet market isn’t a fad, as 2012 shipments show. This year, tablets could surpass both desktops and laptops. Read more »
The PC had a really, really rough holiday quarter
For the PC, heavily impacted by the rise in popularity of tablets, it was the worst showing for a holiday quarter in more than five years. PC sales were down 6.4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011. Read more »
Why laptop makers should be focusing on tablets now
First smartphones overtook traditional computer sales and now tablets are on track to outsell laptops, according to IDC, which predicts more tablets will be sold than laptops by 2015. Computer makers should be looking to where the growth is as tablets replace laptops for many. Read more »
Fueled by holidays, record 362M mobile devices expected to ship in Q4
photo: Samsung
A lot of people are expected to unwrap smartphones and tablet gifts this month: Tablet shipments are expected to increase 55.8 percent this holiday over last year’s; smartphone shipments are expected to jump 39.5 percent in the same time frame, according to IDC. Read more »
This week in cloud: More outages, fewer data centers
photo: Flickr / mrs. tom
By 2016, there will be fewer data centers but those that are built will be much bigger, according to IDC research. Cedexis launches tool to help AWS customers route computing loads around Amazon EC2 regions to mitigate service problems. Read more »
Better Place and A123: Who will rise, who is down for the count?
Cleantech companies with effective business models still have excellent prospects, while those who don’t have a viable product to sell in the marketplace won’t be rising from anywhere. Read more »
Developer survey explains Facebook’s mobile moves
photo: Facebook
Two-thirds of mobile developers in a new survey believe that Facebook can get disrupted by a mobile-first startup. And most developers are unhappy with the state of HTML5. The results help explain why Facebook bought Instagram and why it has backed off supporting HTML5. Read more »
5 things you need to know about cloud in Europe
photo: Shutterstock / Iakoy Kalinin
Yes, cloud adoption in Europe hasn’t happened as fast as in the US. But despite the difficult economy, there’s considerable interest in cloud on the continent. The market bears watching and here are 5 things you should know about it. Read more »
DevOps grows up, Opscode preps services, solutions for enterprise use
Opscode is going beyond DevOps templates popular among DIY programmers to add enterprise services as well as configuration management and other solutions to its product roster. The goal is to make DevOps easier to deploy in big, established enterprise accounts. Read more »
Local governments could save most from cloud, but are least receptive to it
IT officials in cities and towns are far cooler towards the notion of cloud computing than their peers in state and federal government, according to new IDC research. That’s surprising considering how much they could save by making the move, experts say. Read more »
Subscriber Content
Takeaways from the second quarter in cloud and data
In cloud and big data, the second quarter of 2012 featured several high-profile deals and product launches that could reshape the marketplace for everyone. Google and Microsoft launched Infrastructure-as-a-Service offerings, software-defined networking took off, and all eyes stayed fixed on the continuing promise of data analytics. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
IDC: Analytics a $51B business by 2016 thanks to big data
The market for business analytics software grew 14 percent in 2011 and will hit $50.7 billion in revenue by 2016, according to IDC. The category will grow at a 9.8-percent-a-year rate until then, driven in part by the hype around big data. Read more »
IDC pegs Windows Phone to pass iOS by 2016. (Really!)
Research firm IDC offers up its look at smartphone market share through 2016 and suggests several surprising trends: Android may peak this year while Windows Phone will jump past iOS in 2016. A year ago, IDC said the same thing for 2015. Here’s the problem. Read more »
All aboard the Hadoop money train
Market research firm IDC released the first legitimate market forecast for Hadoop on Monday, claiming the ecosystem around the de facto big data platform will sell almost $813 million worth of software by 2016. But Hadoop’s actual economic impact is likely much, much larger. Read more »
Gartner to IT: Get a grip on cloud services, or else
A new Gartner list of cloud computing trends shows how nervous the burgeoning use of cloud makes IT departments, which traditionally controlled what applications and data ran and on what devices. That’s all changed and now IT has to change too. Read more »
Subscriber Content
A near-term outlook for big data
Big data now touches everything from enterprises to smart-meter startups, while Hadoop is fast becoming the leading tool to analyze that data, and debates around privacy abound. GigaOM Pro analysts offer insights on what to consider when it comes to big data decisions for your business. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
China leads the second coming of the smartphone
After leading the world in smartphone sales, the U.S. reign is over. China will take over the top spot this year and has no plans of looking back. India and Brazil are also moving up, bringing a “second coming of the smartphone” to the world. Read more »
E-Reader Shipments Are Declining…Unless They're Increasing
A look at two new reports about shipments of media tablets and e-readers shows that nobody really has any idea yet whether tablets are canni… Read more at paidContent »
Another take on the cloud-jobs debate
Whether you think cloud computing creates or kills jobs depends on what kind of jobs you’re talking about and how companies will use the IT savings they reap in moving to the cloud. Consultant David Linthicum sees validity in the cloud-as-jobs-creator argument. Read more »
IDC: Apple sold most smartphones in Q4, but Samsung wins 2011
Both Apple and Samsung have sold a historic amount of smartphones in the past year, and coming up with a tally of who sold more is harder than you’d think. But The NPD Group says they’ve done all the number crunching and have a winner. Read more »
Living In A Smartphone World: Apple Number-Three Among ALL Mobile Players
It was five years ago that Nokia (NYSE: NOK) executives brushed off the idea of Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) as “not a threat” to Nokia’s top position… Read more at paidContent »
Macs sales growing, but U.S. PC market stagnates
Apple sold a little over 2 million Macs between October and the end of December, according to IDC. That’s 18 percent more than the same quarter a year ago. It’s really good news for Apple, as that growth has put its market share at 10.92 percent of the U.S. PC market, its highest share in a very long time. Read more »
Does Anybody Care About Tablet Stats That Don't Include The Kindle Fire?
Let’s find out! Research firm IDC released its Q3 2011 report on media tablet shipments today. You’ll recall that the Kindle Fire and Nook T… Read more at paidContent »
Subscriber Content
Why the big data startup boom will likely be short-lived
There has been a remarkable flowering of companies over the past year or two, all riding a wave of developer and investor enthusiasm for the loosely defined concept of “big data.” But given that the big data startup market is probably overvalued and headed for a ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
It’s cloud prediction time: IDC, Gartner (and I) weigh in
Analyst powerhouses IDC and Gartner both rolled out their latest cloud computing and big data predictions and statistics Thursday morning, and while some are bold, others should have you saying “Duh.” Here’s what they have to say, and how that squares with what I’m seeing. Read more »
Subscriber Content
Dissecting the data: 5 issues for our digital future
When it comes to the promise of data as the currency of the web, the current state of affairs has privacy advocates and many consumers up in arms. But it doesn’t have to be the one-sided affair it is today, in which companies have all the data and all the rights, and we shouldn’t have to be afraid of who’s doing what with our information. With laws, products, practices and education, data can become a far more valuable currency than cash ever was. Keeping that in mind, this research note examines five issues that must be addressed by policy makers and entrepreneurs so that they can deliver on our data-driven digital future. Companies mentioned in this report include Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Subscriber Content
Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
Connectivity changes everything. That’s the credo driving just about every corner of our day-to-day lives. As human beings, we are now connected to one another through not just our social networks but also our cars, the books we read, the albums we download and even our own health and wellness habits (to name just a few areas). With that in mind, GigaOM Pro has singled out certain areas in the technology industry where we see this shift to constant connectivity taking place most drastically. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Apple Dips On The Back Of JPMorgan’s Back And Forth On iPad Production
Here’s one of those instances that makes you wonder about where investment analysts get their information, and what their agendas might be b… Read more at paidContent »
Mobile Lowdown 9-21-11: Apple October 4; Google; HTC; Tablet Forecasts
A look at some of the big stories in mobile today:
» Apple looks like it has a date for its much-anticipated new product announce… Read more at paidContent »
IDC: Q2 Is The First Time Smartphones Outstripped Feature Phone Shipments
Looks like another tipping point in mobile progress was reached in Q2 this year: IDC says that shipments of smartphones outstripped those of… Read more at paidContent »
Will spectrum scarcity sink wireless access to content in the cloud?
Incumbent wireless service providers and a chorus of experts have warned of a looming spectrum crisis, which could threaten the success of cloud-based and other high-bandwidth offerings. A silver lining is on the horizon, however, in the form of policy and technological innovations. Read more »
Subscriber Content
Mobile payments: forecasts, technologies and opportunities
Mobile payments — payments initiated by a phone for a transaction at a physical point of sale or online — will total over $750 billion worldwide by 2015, and many predict they will soon begin to replace a typical credit card transaction. This report analyzes and forecasts the mobile payments industry, from its current technologies to the companies implementing them and the trends we can expect in the coming months. Much of the near-term growth of mobile payments will be driven by near-field communication (NFC) technology, but QR and 2D bar codes, mobile POS systems and SMS transactions are also important platforms for companies to consider when creating business models and strategies. Meanwhile, services from the likes of MasterCard, Nokia, Amazon and Google offer examples for others to follow and clues into the future of the industry. Additional companies mentioned in this report include Research in Motion, T-Mobile, Zong and Groupon. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Subscriber Content
Infrastructure Q2: Big data and PaaS gain more momentum
Big data and Platform-as-a-Service offerings highlighted the second quarter, suggesting that we can expect to see a shift in enterprise IT practices around application development and analytics very soon. On the PaaS front, we saw new projects like DotCloud and Cloud Foundry gain incredible momentum in just a few short months. The big-data activity ranged from major new Hadoop vendors to heavy investment in flash storage that will speed the serving of data to processing engines. In other areas, we saw an uptick in cloud-computing plans from large vendors, OpenStack continued to mature and pick up both contributors and users, and Facebook caught our eye by launching an open-source project around the designs for its specialized servers and data centers. Additional companies mentioned in this report include VMware, Salesforce.com, IBM, Heroku and Calxeda. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Can metadata manage our growing data deluge?
IDC’s latest snapshot of the digital universe suggests that data volumes continue to grow at a dramatic pace that shows little signs of slowing down. The sheer scale of the problem suggests that simply adding more storage is not a sustainable strategy. What is the solution? Read more »
Is SaaS the key to cloud revenues?
IDC today released the results of a report finding that the cloud services market by $72.9 billion by 2015, drive almost entirely by Software as a Service. This suggests — likely accurately — that SaaS is the key to cloud computing ubiquity. Read more »
Mac Market Share Surges in U.S.
Both Gartner and IDC report the Mac is now accounting for a tenth of the PC market in the U.S., but these preliminary numbers will likely climb higher still when Apple reports actual Mac sales during its quarterly conference call next week. Read more »
The Global Rise of the Smartphone
BlackBerry maker Research in Motion broke into the top five handset vendors for the first time during the first quarter of this year, according to numbers released by research firm IDC. However, BlackBerry is just the first beneficiary of the wider transition to smartphones. Read more »
