Gianluigi Cuccureddu

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• Google Signs Global Advertising Deal with Yahoo!

  By Gianluigi Cuccureddu - February 14, 2013 | Tickers: GOOG, MSFT, YHOO

  Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) have hooked up in a global deal that results in Google ads appearing on some of Yahoo!’s websites. The global, non-exclusive agreement will put Google’s Adsense ads on Yahoo!’s network with the ultimate purpose of showing better targeted and relevant ads for the Yahoo! visitors. In exchange, Google acquires extra visibility with this new deal.

  On the corporate blog of more »

• How Can Google and Others Monetize Mobile and Keep Revenue Levels

  By Gianluigi Cuccureddu - January 31, 2013 | Tickers: FB, GOOG, LNKD

  Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) stock rose 5% shortly after the company reported consolidated revenue of $14.4 billion, up approximately 36% year-over-year. However, Google’s core revenue (revenue ex-Motorola) only grew to $13 billion, indicating growth of 21% year-over-year.

  Paid search

  Google’s paid clicks business also posted solid growth increasing 24% YoY and 9% quarter-over-quarter. This led to a 20% increase in advertising revenue.

  The ‘cost per click’ (CPC more »

• Why It Still Means Not Much That Google+ Is Now Second Largest Social Network

  By Gianluigi Cuccureddu - January 29, 2013 | Tickers: FB, GOOG, LNKD

  According to the UK market research firm Trendstream’s Global Web Index (GWI), Google+ has surpassed Twitter and Youtube, and is now behind Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) in terms of active users. Personally I was surprised by these figures, as Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is not know for its ‘social’ successes in the past; think for instance of Google Wave, Google Buzz and Orkut, although the latter social network is popular in more »

• Facebook’s New Graph Search Has Huge Potential: The Ultimate Discovery Engine?

  By Gianluigi Cuccureddu - January 26, 2013 | Tickers: FB, GOOG, LNKD

  Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Facebook Graph Search last January 15th. So what is it? It’s a social search feature that will enable users to search more targetedly, more contextually. Example, if users search for “who of my friends have been in Amsterdam”, Graph Search will return the user their friends that have been to Amsterdam alongside relevant content. The second, impressive, aspect of Graph Search is more »

• Businesses Must Focus On Being Faster, Better, and Cheaper

  By Gianluigi Cuccureddu - January 12, 2013 | Tickers: AAPL, ELOQ, GOOG, INTC, ORCL, CRM

  I'm writing this article in response of Benioff’s (CEO of Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) ) keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Last Vegas. I didn’t attend the show, but VentureBeat summarized his keynote, and based on the contents I have to agree that the keynote seems “a little cheesy."  Why? Because he said, above all, that technology is getting cheaper and easier to use every year more »

• Nike Brings Social Media In-House

  By Gianluigi Cuccureddu - January 9, 2013 | Tickers: ADDYY, NKE, TSCO

  MarketingWeek reports that Nike (NYSE: NKE) has taken its social media marketing management in-house and is responsible for all online communities. Nike has dropped its digital advertising agencies (such as AKQA, Wieden & Kennedy, Mindshare, and R/GA) in an effort to better understand and to get closer to its fans.

  This decision by Nike is part of a broader change in order to gain a deeper understanding on how their more »

• Upcoming Salesforce.com Release Focuses on New Analytics and Chatter Capabilities

  By Gianluigi Cuccureddu - January 8, 2013 | Tickers: ELOQ, LNKD, ORCL, CRM

  On January 11, a sandbox preview for the Spring '13 update is scheduled. In the Salesforce.com Spring ’13 Release Notes posted on salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) website, the company shows much focus on enhancing its core CRM application with new capabilities, which in light of previous developments is needed.

  The Updates

  The four most important updates as distilled by InfoWorld are:

  1. Salesforce will enhance largely their social collaboration more »

• Will Intel’s New IPTV Service Kill the Cable Industry As We Know?

  By Gianluigi Cuccureddu - January 8, 2013 | Tickers: AAPL, GOOG, INTC, MSFT

  Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) has been working on a set-top-box (STB) which will be available to limited beta customers in March. Intel's STB looks to focus on convenience while making the experience simpler for consumers. It will offer cable channels over the Internet regardless of provider. It will offer consumers the ability to subscribe to content per channel and per show. This not only fits convenience, it's also a more »

• The Mobile Monetization Conundrum: Google, Apple, Facebook Or… Who Will It Be?

  By Gianluigi Cuccureddu - January 3, 2013 | Tickers: AAPL, FB, GOOG

  I came across this opinion on Forbes where the writer proposes a little theory for the New Year, namely that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is being eaten away inside by Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). by writing the apps for various Google services they’re managing to take control of some to much of the iOS traffic on the Web. So, is this an advantage for Google’s mobile monetization?

  The answer is more »

• Mobile Industry: 10 Predictions for 2013

  By Gianluigi Cuccureddu - December 31, 2012 | Tickers: AAPL, T, BBRY, GOOG

  If nothing else, 2012 has shown that the mobile industry is a pretty tough business to be in. Many handset manufacturers, wireless carriers, and component suppliers felt the pressures of mobile business sink in, and as a result, there were a lot of shake-ups this year. The following predictions are from CNET’s Executive Editor Roger Cheng, based on conversations with industry sources over the last few months, market trends more »

• Apple Working on Smart TV Set: Competition Set to Increase

  By Gianluigi Cuccureddu - December 31, 2012 | Tickers: AAPL, GOOG

  Gartner estimates that the worldwide unit production of smart TVs will grow from 69 million in 2012 to 198 million in 2016, and this amount will account for 85% of all produced TVs in 2016 as forecasted by Gartner. According to this new report by Gartner, amid increasing speculation that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is working on an Internet-connected television set, other television manufacturers are making the move to the Web more »

• Twitter and Nielsen Partner on New Social TV Rating

  By Gianluigi Cuccureddu - December 28, 2012 | Tickers: CBS, NLSN |

  Twitter and Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN) struck an agreement to create a "Nielsen Twitter TV Rating" that will measure the total audience for social TV activity on Twitter. This new rating includes both people who comment and people who are exposed to their comments.

  Networks and marketers have indeed been closely scrutinizing and encouraging social-media activity around TV shows. It has remained unclear how much benefit social chatter ultimately provides for more »

• Nike+ Accelerator Program to Drive Digital Business Innovation in Sports

  By Gianluigi Cuccureddu - December 27, 2012 | Tickers: GRMN, NKE

  Nike (NYSE: NKE) announced its first Nike+ Accelerator program that aims to leverage the success of the Nike+ platform to support digital innovation by connecting with companies that share Nike’s commitment to help people live more active lives. It will host ten companies for a three-month immersive, mentor-driven startup accelerator powered by TechStars.

  TechStars’ mentoring model has attracted more than $275 million worth of venture capital for the companies more »

• Oracle Buys Eloqua: Providing a Comprehensive Customer Experience Cloud

  By Gianluigi Cuccureddu - December 26, 2012 | Tickers: ELOQ, MSFT, ORCL

  Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Eloqua (NASDAQ: ELOQ), a leading provider of cloud-based marketing automation and revenue performance management software for $23.50 per share or approximately $871 million, net of Eloqua’s cash. That's about a 30% premium off of Eloqua's closing price on the Nasdaq on December 19.

  Companies like Oracle and SAP keep gobbling up cloud-based software more »

• Salesforce Integrates Zendesk: Solving the Challenge with Customer Service

  By Gianluigi Cuccureddu - December 19, 2012 | Tickers: CRM

  Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) has integrated the helpdesk software provider Zendesk, to help their clients improve the customer service experience. Zendesk’s tool tracks how support teams interact with customers to enable businesses to generate a better picture of their customer base and improves the relationship between sales and support teams. Why is this important?

  As organizations are offering their customers more and more channels for interaction, including telephone, Web more »