Growth in BRIC nations is stalling

June 28, 2012

The BRIC countries are cooling off.

Economic growth in Brazil, India and China slowed in the past quarter.

Until now they have been considered the driving force behind global growth.

Austerity measures in Europe, coupled with uncertainty about the future of the euro, saw the economy of the common-currency area shrink marginally.

In America, though, despite signs that the recovery could decelerate, first-quarter growth nearly reached 2%, driven primarily by consumption and exports.

Overall, the world economy’s growth accelerated in the first three months of the year.

First-quarter output expanded by 2.9% compared to the same period last year, one-tenth of a percentage point higher than in the previous quarter.

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Youtube’s revenues will pass $3.6 billion in 2012

June 27, 2012

Facebook just changed email addresses listed in its members contacts with its own email address system in an attempt to shut out Google.

You can see why. Google are eating the web.

Take Youtube for example. How much money is Google making off Youtube? A lot. As usual Google provide no firm evidence.

But Wall Street estimates the video site, now also the second biggest search site behind its owner Google, will generate more than $3.6 billion in gross revenue this year. After giving some of that to partners, Google will probably record net revenue of $2.4 billion, says Citi’s Mark Mahaney.

That revenue estimate is 50% greater than Yahoo’s Display Advertising total and the same as Netflix’s total subscription revenue. “I doubt whether most investors realize how big and important Youtube has become,” says Mahaney.

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Android is Africa’s smartphone platform of choice

June 26, 2012

App developers in North America prefer to build for Apple’s iOS — that’s where the money is

But the story is quite different in other parts of the world. According to a new report from market analysis and strategy firm VisionMobile, Android is strongest with app makers in the developing world.

The survey included more than 1,500 developers from all around the globe and found the lower price of Android handsets makes them more attractive.

Most of the growth in smartphones is going to come from the developing world, where penetration is still very small. If Android can solidify early gains in these regions, it could remain the dominant platform worldwide.

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Say hello to this year’s hot web company

June 20, 2012

Square, a payments startup run by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, could be this year’s Groupon, Facebook or Twitter.

The company is growing payments volume superfast – since March this year, payments processed per day is up 50%. (Square takes a 2.75% cut of transactions which it splits with Visa, Mastercard and the banks.)

Square has 330 employees and grew by 20% in the last two months. Where will the company be in a year’s time?  A crude linear progression suggests it could top $10billion in payments by mid 2013.

Even if it does not raise any more money.  Watch this space.

 

 

 

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UN: Japan, not America, is world’s richest country

June 19, 2012

Japan is the world’s richest country, says a report by the UN published to coincide with the Rio+20 conference.

The “Inclusive Wealth Index” is a comprehensive look at a country’s wealth that takes things like forests and rivers into account (which GDP does not).

Comprised of human, natural and produced capital, the index covers 20 countries between 1990 and 2008.

Between them they account for 58% of the world’s population and 73% of its GDP.

As GDP does not consider natural-resource depletion or environmental degradation, the UN’s index records lower annual average growth in wealth compared with GDP, of 1.7 percentage points.

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It’s official: Google rules mobile search

June 18, 2012

Ever wondered why Google gave away its Android operating system to smart phone manufacturers for free?

Google is now the default search engine on 80% of the global smartphone market. And that has had a pleasant knock on effect.

Google also owns 96.9 % of the mobile search market. The company has effectively monopolized the market. And guess what? The majority of mobile ad revenues come from search.

Ta-da!

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Is “Peak Oil” a fiction?

June 15, 2012

New figures from BP’s annual Statistical Energy Review pokes a hole in the concept of “peak oil.”

 It trashes the idea that we are imminently in danger of exhausting the world’s hydrocarbon supply. Here’s what it says:
“The world is not structurally short of hydrocarbon resources but long lead times and various forms of access constraints in some regions continue to create challenges for the ability of supply to meet demand growth at reasonable prices.”
These charts show the increase in proved reserves decade by decade. Who do you believe?
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