Bidness ETC - Microsoft Failed To Surpass Amazon Web Services

Despite showing a 60 percent growth in the cloud infrastructure market, the company still trails Amazon to become the leader in this business.

Microsoft is one of the powerhouses in the information technology sector. The company has dominated for ages and has not given up on its lead in some segments yet. However, it has been going through a rough patch and has been facing serious competition from competitors in the smart phone market, cloud market, and the PC market as well. Recently, the company boasted about its cloud computing business. But the thing that the company needs to keep in mind that its business might be big, but it is not as big as Amazon’s. The cloud business of the Amazon Web Services is huge.

After nine years, Amazon revealed perfect earnings of its AWS business which shook the industry. The earnings speak for the company’s position in the sector and how ahead it is compared to the competition against Microsoft, IBM, and Salesforce.com. This shows that Microsoft has a lot more to catch up in order to keep up with the pace of Amazon. Despite the announcement that Redmond made regarding a growth by 60 percent in its cloud infrastructure, it is believed that Microsoft is on second only to Amazon as being the largest in the cloud market.

Not only Microsoft but Google has also shown significant growth in the cloud market in the first quarter of new fiscal year, yet the companies are trailing Amazon Web Services and it remains the dominant force after reporting $1.6 billion in revenues.

Amazon has grown mature with its cloud computing business platform and it has grown a lot in a short span of time. The cloud platform of the company is now known as a $5 billion dollar business in the market. All the big name companies such as Netflix and Expedia, as well as popular startups, are the customers of Amazon Web Services and not Microsoft Azure. The company has more than 1 million customers worldwide. However, the only company that seems to be catching up is IBM.

A Chief Analyst at Synergy Research Group stated “Across the full and varied spectrum of cloud activities there are now six companies that can lay a valid claim to having annual cloud revenue run rates in excess of $5 billion – AWS, IBM, Microsoft, HP, Cisco and salesforce – and all are able to claim leadership in different parts of the cloud market.” He further made it clear that no one comes close to Amazon. He said that if you compare the cloud businesses in the market, Amazon is well ahead of all peers and competitors.

Bidness ETC - GoPro reported First Quarter Earnings Report for FY15

GoPro reported its Q1FY15 earnings on Tuesday and posted 24 cents in earnings per share while its revenue boosted due to increasing in overseas sales.

GoPro announced its first quarter fiscal year 2015 earnings report on Tuesday April 28. The company improved its revenue by over 50% due to massive international sales that account for almost 50% of the total sales by the company.

The Camera manufacturer reported $363.1 million in revenue up by 54% YoY. GoPro surpassed analyst’s estimation of $341 million of total sales, as per FactSet. The company reported earnings of $0.24 per share more than Wall Street forecast of $0.18 per share, as per the analysts polled by Reuters.

This is the fourth time in a row that the company was able to beat Wall Street expectations since its initial public offering in June last year.

Company’s profit increased by 52% and reached $16.8 million equals to $0.13 per share. That is still less from $122 million profit company reported in the last quarter on sales of $634 million. But that was due to the holiday season that sets record revenue and profits for the company.

GoPro said that over 50% of its total revenue came from overseas, with almost 66% of sales from Europe and Asia markets in the quarter.

The international growth is nothing new for the company while the sales in Asia and Europe market accounted for 70% in the previous quarter of FY14. Last year, GoPro worked on establishing its global infrastructure by introducing a facility of product assembly in Brazil and also formed European marketing and sales headquarters in Munich. GoPro also forged associations with Chinese e-commerce retailers like JD.com and Tmall in 2014.

In another announcement different from earnings report, the company said, it has decided to acquire Kolor, a company that focuses in 360-degree video and virtual reality. The financial numbers of the deal were not revealed.

Chief Executive Officer of GoPro, Nick Woodman said, “GoPro’s capture devices and Kolor’s software will combine to deliver exciting and highly accessible solutions for capturing, creating and sharing spherical content,” during earnings release, Mr. Woodman had already advertised GoPro investment “investments in talent, technology, software, and innovative new products” in a statement related to sustaining company’s growth.

During after hour trading session, GoPro’s stock price jumped around 7% after going up by 4% during the regular trading hour.

Bidness ETC - Following Nepal Earthquake, Facebook Introduces Safety Check Feature In Full Force

Pundits applaud Facebook’s most useful and significant feature, months after several testings made it come out as a winner.

Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) has announced the deployment of its “Safety Check” application, in the wake of the Nepal earthquake that has left thousands dead (and still counting) and leaving many injured, destroying historical buildings and infrastructure in the process, making it difficult for aid workers to access the affected area.

Urgent attention is the need of many loved ones still trapped, especially foreigners who use Nepal as a passageway to reach the highest summit of Mount Everest. Facebook’s safety feature allows a user to convey the message in their Facebook newsfeed to inform their loved ones that they are safe from any natural disaster that has occurred within their surroundings. The CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, rightly points out, “It is moments like this that being able to connect really matters.”

Many pundits have heaped praise on the social media giant’s initiative as the most useful and significant to date. The mechanism of the feature works in a unique manner. Based on the security feature, users within the vicinity or around the neighborhood of the disaster will receive a notification whether they are safe or not. Facebook will then pinpoint their location and verify the information based on the user’s residential address, recent visits, and recent use of the Internet. Then two options will be introduced; one “I’m safe” or “I’m not in the affected area”. When one of the answers is selected, that answer will show on the News Feed.

Likewise, if someone wants to be sure of their friend’s safety, then they can check the status on a designated Safety Check Page, by pointing out the number of friends in the affected area.

The question remains that what actually prompted, if not inspired, the company to come up with this feature, since there is an element of social dimension to this. The social media giant came up with this unique and novel feature after the Japanese Tsunami in 2011. The idea among many strategists is that people used to keep in touch with their loved ones through social media and technology, giving latest news and status about the well-being of affected families or those indirectly affected by it.

In March this year, the company put its Safety Check to test once again after Cyclone Pam stormed the Southern Pacific, and the results were astounding. It reported that over a quarter of a million people used the service to search about the safety of their loved ones. Thus, it is hoped that this feature will provide a peace of mind to many victims and people who are affected by the disaster, one way or the other, to let them be known if they are safe or not.

Facebook’s stock price ended the day at $81.86, a gain of 0.01%.