Fifteen Tech Companies That Will Define 2014

Impressive list. Do check it out.

Digital Ecosystems – How Is It Going To Play Out?

Digital Ecosystem? This resource explains the concept in a very easy to appreciate manner.

“A natural life ecosystem is defined as a biological community of interacting organisms plus their physical environment.

In the same way, a business ecosystem is “the network of buyers, suppliers and makers of related products or services” plus the socio-economic environment, including the institutional and regulatory framework.

A digital ecosystem is a self-organizing digital infrastructure aimed at creating a digital environment for networked organizations that supports the cooperation, the knowledge sharing, the development of open and adaptive technologies and evolutionary business models.

The digital ecosystem approach transposes the concepts to the digital world, reproducing the desirable mechanisms of natural ecosystems. As several interacting natural ecosystems exist, several digital ecosystems exists due to differentiation and the development of endemic product and services tailored to specific local needs.”

Let us get a even more better picture of what it means.

12 Transfroming & Disruptive Future Technologies

There have been many technologies that have been bandied as those which will change the global landscape – socially and from a business standpoint. However when it comes to the crux many fail as not all factors that can truly influence the social fabric and business practices are built into it. Thus the need when studying such future technologies is to cut the buzz and realistically evaluate its potential to “to disrupt the status quo, alter the way people live and work, and rearrange value pools.”

A recent study has identified 12 such technologies filtering the noise. What are these?

Where Will India’s Next Technology Revolution (Tech 2) Come from?

Beyond $100 Billion

• The start ups of the 1980s in Indian technology industry have grown now to a strong $100 billion industry primarily riding the outsourcing wave they invented, if I may.
• It created jobs for over 3 million and created another 10 million collateral jobs.
• It led to India’s balance of payment position improving which had almost become bankrupt in early 1990s.
• Not only Indian firms but many multinationals now operate their outsourcing and technology operations from India.
• The cultural change brought by the IT companies has rubbed off on other industries which also have become increasingly export competitive and many noted overseas acquisitions have happened.
• The boom in the Indian real estate industry is largely attributed to the IT industry which has seen wealth of many individuals including those of farmers improving substantially (although in a country like India this has its own flip sides too).
• The wage cost advantage over this period has shrunk and there are greater barriers being set up on outsourcing, which moves jobs out of the respective countries from where these contracts originate.
• The margins have shrunk, business shift to other locations like Philippines etc. have also happened. Business in its original form is more a commodity now.
• Changes in technology and efforts to move up the value chain have kept the excitement going, but has not been good enough.

To step up the industry growth and the resultant rub off on the economy, the impact of which can be as large as outsourcing, India needs a Tech 2 revolution producing new generation of large tech firms.

So what would be the next accelerator?

What Happens In An Internet Minute?

What happens in an Internet minute? Today, the number of networked devices is equal to the global population. By 2015, the number of networked devices will be twice the global population. 639,800 GB of global data transferred!! Check this out.

Google’s Mobile Revenue Model

According to reports

“Mobile searches have increased 200% year over year in 2012, and it’s predicted that within the next year, mobile will become the primary way people access Google’s services.”

“The major factor supporting Google’s rising valuation is the weakening of the mobile bear thesis, which indicated the growth of mobile usage, and thus advertising, would eat into the search giant’s core business.”

“Its impressive run since mid-November, with shares gaining nearly 30%, is “justified and sustainable,” …”expects the stock to hit $950 over the next 12 months and possibly break the $1,000 mark if conditions are right.”

With mobile becoming the key access point  how is Google’s strategy emerging on this front?

Why Time Inc.Is Being Spun Out?

Time Inc. to Restructure

Times Inc. that publishes magazines like Time, Fortune and People and has more than 100 magazine titles has seen it s revenue decline from $5.4 billion in 2002 to $3.4 billion in 2012. The operating profit fell from $881 million to $420 million.

It is a subsidiary of the media conglomerate Time Warner, the company formed by the 1990 merger of the original Time Inc. and Warner Communications.

According to reports it “…will be spun off into a separate company….The process to separate Time Inc into an independent public company will likely take place by the end of the year.”

Time Warner CEO  is reported to have mentioned that, “although change can be unsettling,” Time Inc’s “great legacy will live on as embarks on this new journey as a publicly-traded company.”

What happened? How would this decision help?

Google Vs Apple

“Investors are willing to pay more for each dollar of Google’s earnings relative to Apple amid optimism that Google, with more than 40 percent of the U.S. online-advertising market, will command even more of the $37.3 billion that businesses spend each year to reach Web audiences. Google also has used an alliance with Samsung Electronics Co. to gain share in mobile software, feeding the competitive threat weighing on Apple as investors await the next big product from the iPhone maker.”

“…Google’s U.S. shares have added 35 percent in the past 12 months. Apple has declined 21 percent in the same period, though its market capitalization is still more than $100 billion higher than Google’s. Apple remains the world’s most-valuable company…”