Good week/Bad week
Who is on a high and who is bumping along the bottom this week?
GOOD WEEK
SecureData
Management at security integrator SecureData UK - formerly MIS - are feeling young, free and single again after performing a management buyout from their South African parent. Just four years after buying MIS, SecureData decided it wanted shot of a business that had become a distraction to its core activities in Africa. Director Etienne Greeff told ChannelWeb that management had actually wanted to go it alone four years ago. "From our point of view, it is a really exciting time," he enthused. "We have a pool of funds available and our vision is to grow to a £50m organisation." Expect cash to be splashed shortly.
Samsung
Apple had better be quaking in its boots after Samsung launched its latest Galaxy SIII smartphone. Mooted by market watchers everywhere as being the true challenger to iPhone market dominance, the phone was launched in the same week that research from Canalys revealed Samsung is now the number one phone supplier to China, which overtook the US recently as the biggest consumer of smartphones globally. According to the Galaxy SIII bumpf, the phone has a range of functions including voice recognition, where the phone moulds itself to a voice imprint of its owner. Better not give it to any pre-adolescent boys, then.
Azzurri
The comms integrator was in a chipper mood this week after claiming the second half of its 2012 fiscal year will be "the best six months we've had in three years". Chief exec Vim Vithaldas also claimed the firm's new banking owners are pleasingly hands-off, allowing him to run and grow the business as he sees fit. The recently appointed boss man added that, with 80 per cent of revenue being of the recurring variety, the firm is financially stable and predictable. "The boot is now on the other foot" for competitors who have always denigrated Azzurri's hair-raising debt levels when competing for customers, said Vithaldas. A few of us on the CRN newsdesk could do with a bank manager who took a more hands-off approach; perhaps the Azzurri man could put in a good word for us?
BAD WEEK
UK Microsoft customers
We all knew a rise of some sort was coming, but not even the biggest pessimists among us were expecting Microsoft to hoist UK volume licensing prices by an average of a whopping 29 per cent. Microsoft customers will be scrambling to assess their estates before the increases - which have been driven by Microsoft's decision to harmonise pricing across the EU - kick in on 1 July. Although we're sure the vendor meant well, with the UK having just lurched into a double-dip recession, Microsoft's timing is as lousy as a Lembit Öpik stand-up routine.
The European channel
Quarterly numbers from four of the channel's biggest fish provided cause for consternation this week as European sales proved a drag on the top lines of Avnet, Ingram, Arrow and Insight. Avnet and Arrow both endured sales declines of about six per cent, fuelled primarily by EMEA softness, particularly in the components space. Ingram cashed in on its HDD inventory stockpile during Q1, but Europe again marred an otherwise robust set of figures and the broadliner posted a one per cent annual revenue decline. Insight saw its EMEA profitability erode as hardware sales grew while software declined. An underwhelmed Wall Street investment community quickly wiped more than $3 (£1.86) off the firm's $20 share price.
Tablets
Despite soaring smartphone shipments, it appears the road is not so smooth for the poor old Android-based tablet, which suffered from sliding shipments in Q1, number cruncher IDC revealed. But all is not lost, as demand for Apple tablets is still as strong as ever thanks to the launch of the new iPad. But those pesky competitors will keep trying to take a bite out of the market leader with a slew of new tablets set to hit the shops very soon. Still, it raises the question, is the tablet bubble on the verge of bursting? How very dare we even suggest it?