Facebook Inc To Hit $10 Billion In Revenue By launching "want" button

Facebook Inc will launch a “want” button in 2013 to further their commercial ambitions according to a new report from Piper Jaffray. The move could bring the company $10 billion in revenues by 2015. The report places a twelve month price target of $38 on the company’s stock.

With Facebook Inc shares currently trading at just over $26, that price target means just under 50% return in twelve months, nice work if you can get it. Facebook shares debuted  in May, and were priced at $38.

That, of course, assumes the company will reach the price target assigned by Gene Munster, the Piper Jaffray analyst who authored the report. According to Munster, Facebook Inc will manage to boost its revenue by taking a chunk of online commerce.

The want button, which will allow users to directly pick out products that they are likely to buy. The move, according to the report, would boost advertiser spending on the social network, improving the quality of the advertising and the amount of advertisers seeking to use the platform.

The report cites a figure from Google Inc in order to estimate Facebook’s likely revenue from an increase in commercial prominence. In 2011, Google Inc said it impacted $80 billion worth of purchases with its online platform.

According to the report that number should be doubled to take into account the company’s worldwide impact. Google Inc revenue was $38 billion in 2011. That corresponds to a25% from the company’s assumed commercial impact of $160 billion.

Facebook Inc, according to the analysis, could take a 25% share in that market by 2015. $10 billion in commerce related revenue by 2015 would correspond to the dreams of many Facebook Inc investors.

The company has a substantial opportunity for growth in the commercial sector in the opinion of the Piper Jaffray, and the contribution of that sector will begin as early as next year.

Supplementing and complementing the want button and other commerce driven initiatives is the new partnership the firm has forged with Datalogix, an online information gathering service. The partnership will allow Facebook to track the effectiveness of advertising methods in generating offline trade.

The ability to present possible advertisers with data on offline purchases made by customers will help Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) seal those partnerships, particularly in dealing with purchases consumers are unwilling to complete online.

In the smartphone sector, many customers prefer to enter stores in order to get their hands on the product they are considering buying. Facebook now has a way to more effectively track these purchases and relate them to the social network’s influence.

According to the company, Samsung spent $10 million advertising its latest premium smart phone, the Galaxy S III. That investment generated $129 million in related sales. If the firm manages to collect data more efficiently than Google Inc, its major competitor, it will begin to steal advertising revenues away from the company.

Facebook Inc has an interesting but tough year ahead. The company needs to substantially boost revenue in order to meet the expectations of the market. If it does not, it could face a quick and harsh backlash from investors and advertisers alike.

Facebook can bring out 'Dark traits' in you

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) can bring out the dark traits in you, according to new studies from Lund and Gothenburg University in Sweden. Professor of Cognitive psychology at Lund University and co-founder to the study, Sverker Sikström, says competition for social status on Facebook (FB) has caused these dark traits.

Professor Sverker Sikström said that when people try to attract friends, they write theirselves better and then they suffer that Machiavellianism, these traits and narcissism. The researchers found that some users on the social network are developing interpersonally aversive personality traits, named as ‘The Dark Triad’ which is a group of three personality traits including narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy.

It is time to think about what we write on Facebook and perhaps be more moderate and humble in our expressions, professor said.

Krista K

Upcoming pop singer and Miss Philippines International 2010 talks to MSN Malaysia about her love for music and dance

Krista Kleiner is 23 year old upcoming pop singer with newly released debut single "Feels So Good." Krista kicked started her career in TV hosting, ventured into acting, singing, dancing and ended up taking home the Miss Philippines International 2010 title she competed for that year.

How did Miss Philippines International 2010 turn into upcoming pop singer-songwriter? After getting through auditions, Krista embarked on a worldwide tour with Julio Iglesias as his guest star; it was during this time that she realised that she wanted to pursue singing and performing full time.

"The tour was amazing...I got to see how he did it, got a lot of advice from him and he really encouraged me to go for it...he's so smart, he was able to really give me advice that made me decide this was something I wanted to pursue."

English (which included some poetry) may have been Krista's best subject in school but prior to her upcoming album, "Krista K," she has had no writing experience. Krista, however, has been very hands on with her music, "I didn't want a label or someone else to decide the type of music that I did, or dictate, so I went the independent route; I picked all the music myself, I wrote all the music, I didn't want to just buy the music from someone, I wanted it to be very personal which is why I pushed myself to write although I've never wrote before

Acer Unveils Windows 8 Devices

Acer Malaysia unveiled a range of Windows 8 devices yesterday, led by the highly anticipated Acer Aspire S7, together with the ICONIA W Series tablets and Aspire U Series All-in-One (AIO).

The 11.6-inch Acer ICONIA Tab W700 cradle combo is the only Intel Core tablet in the market, putting incredible power, true full HD instant productivity at users’ fingertips. The 10-point touch control, ultra-responsive and powerful tablet is flexible thanks to the multi-position dock that allows it to be positioned perfectly for landscape or portrait mode for easy browsing, sharing, control and keyboard productivitiy.

The 27-inch new Acer Aspire 7600U All-in-One (AIO) is of minimalist design running on Windows 8 and is powered by the 3^rd generation Intel Core processor. The 1920x1080 screen supports up to 10-point simultaneous touch which enables multiple users at one-go. It can be viewed at an angle from 0-90 degrees and swivels at four sides when it is flat on the table.

Apple Inc initiate 2.5 Billion Dividend Today

By Aman Jain

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shareholders will be receiving the second installment of the mega-rich company’s dividend program today, reports Apple Insider. The iPhone maker, which has 935 million outstanding share, will distribute a dividend of $2.65 per share to its shareholders, making the total payout around $2.5 billion.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) last paid a regular cash dividend in 1995, and today will be the second time in the last 17 years that the company will pay excesses to its shareholders. The iPhone maker has billions of cash in reserves and liquid assets; they carry no debt. One of the most lucrative companies in the world, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), in its most recent
earnings report, in October, showed that $121.4 billion in cash.

The Cupertino based firm announced its dividend program in March, which includes a regular quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share and a $10 billion share repurchase program, beginning on September 30, 2012. The dividend and repurchase programs are scheduled to take place over the next three years.

The company will be paying new quarterly dividends about a month and a half after the end of each subsequent quarter. A similar dividend will be paid to holders of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s restricted shares, although Cook refused to collect dividend payments for the 1.125 million shares of restricted stock he has been granted, which would otherwise be worth over $75 million.

Hinting on the dividend program, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook told in February, “we used some of our cash to make great investments in our business through increased research and development, acquisitions, new retail store openings, strategic prepayments and capital expenditures in our supply chain, and building out our infrastructure. You’ll see more of all of these in the future”.

“Even with these investments,” he added, “we can maintain a war chest for strategic opportunities and have plenty of cash to run our business. So we are going to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program”.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock reached an all time high of $705.07 per share when iPhone5 became commercially available, but has been declining since then. The iPhone makers $2.5 billion in quarterly dividend payments makes it one of the highest dividend payers in the U.S.

US to be the World biggest oil producer

The US will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest oil producer "by around 2020", an International Energy Agency (IEA) report has said.

The IEA said the reason for this was the big growth and development in the US of extracting oil from shale rock.
This has enabled the US to gain significantly more extractable oil resources.

As a result, the IEA predicts the US will become "all but self-sufficient" in its energy needs by around 2035.
The US shale oil industry has grown significantly in recent years.
It extracts oil from the ground using a method called fracking - pumping down a mixture of sand, water and chemicals at high pressure.

The industry says the method is safe, but critics say it could cause earthquakes and pollute water sources.

The IEA predicts that the US will be producing 11.1 million barrels per day by 2020, compared with 10.6 million from Saudi Arabia.

Is Qualcomm the New Intel?

By Evan Niu, CFA

In case you haven't noticed by now, smartphones are kind of popular right now. Wait, scratch that. Smartphone growth is exploding. Meanwhile, the PC market has become mature and somewhat saturated and simply isn't the poster child of growth that it used to be.

As the dominant supplier of PC chips, Intel (Nasdaq: INTC ) got rich providing processors during the rise of the PC. As the dominant supplier of smartphone chips and technology, Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM ) is getting rich providing the chips and IP during the rise of the smartphone. In many ways, these two heavyweights embody the growth prospects in the markets they dominate.

Pass the crown
This storyline has now culminated in the fact that Qualcomm has just now overtaken Intel in market cap for the first time ever, driven by its strong earnings report last night.

That's a major milestone that symbolizes where consumer demand is shifting. Qualcomm is now the largest semiconductor company in the world by market cap. We can even add in estimates on each of these markets for the third quarter to really drive the point home.

The shift in spending to smartphones isn't exactly a zero-sum game, though, since computers and smartphones are highly complementary. One big difference is that smartphones have shorter upgrade cycles, with consumers typically getting new phones every two years when their service contracts are up. PCs typically last a bit longer before consumers feel the itch to upgrade.

That's also not to say that Intel isn't benefiting at all from smartphone adoption, since smartphones tap into cloud infrastructure, and data center growth benefits Intel. However, there's less upside there for Intel, as its data center segment comprised just 20% of sales last quarter, vastly overshadowed by the 64% of sales that the PC client business brings in.

A tale of three markets
The chip giants are going to increasingly cross swords in the future. Intel continues to try to work its way into smartphones with its mobile Atom processor. It's partnered with Google (Nasdaq: GOOG ) to optimize Android for its chips, even as many popular Android devices run Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. In the market for smartphone processors, Qualcomm boasts a 48% revenue share, while Intel has just a 0.2% unit share.

As much as Intel is trying to crack into smartphones, Qualcomm is also now set to crack into PCs. With Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT ) decision to support ARM-based (Nasdaq: ARMH ) architecture in Windows RT, Qualcomm has an opening to power some of the next generation of Windows tablets and convertibles. The company has less of a presence in tablets, with NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA ) showing particular strength in that form factor, but Windows RT represents a lot of key opportunities for Qualcomm.

Microsoft is also an important partner on the smartphone side, since its Windows Phone platform runs exclusively on Snapdragon chips. Intel and NVIDIA can't get in there, although that's currently not a high-volume platform.

Intel has a much stronger position in the cellular baseband modem market than in mobile applications processors. Intel completed its acquisition of Infineon's wireless unit early last year, in order to bolster its cellular offerings. Intel now ranks as the No. 3 player in the baseband market, grabbing 12% revenue share in the second quarter, according to estimates by Strategy Analytics.

As top dog, Qualcomm took home a 50% slice. Intel's figures were boosted by 2G and 3G shipments, while Qualcomm benefited from 3G and 4G basebands. NVIDIA also wants in on basebands, acquiring Icera last year, and plans to integrate cellular connectivity into its chips just like Qualcomm.

Between mobile processors, PC processors, and cellular baseband modems, Qualcomm and Intel will continue to find themselves competing for key design wins.

The new Intel
The PC's growth days are now in the rearview mirror. The smartphone's growth days are just now beginning, and Qualcomm dominates two out of the three aforementioned markets where it will see increasing competition from Intel and NVIDIA.

Qualcomm is the Intel of the smartphone era.

When it comes to dominating markets, it doesn't get much better than Intel's position in the PC microprocessor arena. However, that market is maturing, and Intel finds itself in a precarious situation longer term if it doesn't find new avenues for growth. In this premium research report on Intel, our analyst runs through all of the key topics investors should understand about the chip giant. Better yet, you'll continue to receive updates as news develops for an entire year.

Rumor: Office For Android And iOS On The Way

Microsoft Corporation is supposed to release Office app for Android, iPhone and iPad sometime in early 2013, according to the reports of The Verge. The software, Dubbed Office Mobile is expected to take the form of free apps that will allow users to view Office documents. Users will need an account with Microsoft, like apps such as SkyDrive and OneNote.

It is being speculated that in order to have the capability of editing documents, users would need an Office 365 subscription. Users will be able to purchase one through the applications itself, or enter a code, a move that must allow larger organizations to set up their workforces. Options for editing may be relatively restricted, not projected to replace the desktop Office versions.

The push toward subscriptions fits in with Microsoft’s strategy for Office. The centerpiece of the New Office is the move to subscription packages and pricing. There will be payment versions of Office for small businesses and home users that would offer a year of Office usage on five PCs and Macs in total.

Sources reveal that Office Mobile for iOS may be launched first in late February or early March. The Android version is predicted to be launched sometime in May. Microsoft has denied commenting on the matter, but it has said that the Office will work on iOS, Android and Windows Phone. There was no divulgence regarding the date when the Windows Phone apps may release.

Office is a part of the Business Division that is the biggest producer of Microsoft’s revenue. Having Office available on Android and iOS devices will undoubtedly help in increasing revenue of Microsoft. It will also help in making sure that users continue using Office instead of Google Apps or Google Docs. That is more crucial than the comparatively small incremental market share that Microsoft may gain by not releasing a version of Office for Android or iOS.

Windows Live Messenger will end soon?

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is reportedly preparing to replace its Windows Live Messenger client with Voice over IP (VoIP) and chat service Skype. According to sources close to The Verge, the company’s Windows Live Messenger will be moved into Skype and then killed as a separate service in the coming months. If the rumor holds true, this news is expected to be declared soon, perhaps even as quickly as this week.

The software giant has not yet commented on the rumors. It seems possible that Microsoft will replace Windows Live Messenger with Skype, particularly when taking into account the release of Skype 6.0 for Windows and Mac OS X last month, which enables users of services such as Hotmail, Outlook.com and Windows Live Messenger to be in touch with other subscribers of those services all in one place.

Microsoft's Windows 8 'strong'

Microsoft (MSFT) launched Windows 8 with much fanfare. Estimated to be at a $1.5 billion budget, Microsoft wants consumers to look at the company in a fresh new face. Creating a new branding message against an established reputation is a challenge, but it is not impossible. Leading the fresh new marketing messages are a number of updates: the Surface tablet release, Windows Phone 8, music and movie services, software updates for the Xbox, and an upgrade to Skype.

Reinvigorating the growth of a company is possible. Starbucks (SBUX) found itself drifting, before its founder returned to bring new, original ideas that made the company what it is today. Microsoft’s rebirth is more complex. Despite a pricing strategy that may hurt initial sales for Surface RT, Microsoft built RT without partnering with hardware makers. Microsoft chose instead to use Qualcomm (QCOM), NVIDIA (NVDA), and ARM Holdings (ARMH) to supply parts for RT.

Building on its aggressive marketing strategy, Microsoft lowered developer registrations for 8 days, from $99 USD to $8, to grow its developer base. At its Build 2012 conference, Microsoft will be giving away a Nokia (NOK) Lumia 920, a Surface RT, and 100 GB of SkyDrive storage. The conference is being held in Belfast, Ireland on November 12 -16.

Windows 8 Sales Strong

Critics pointed to Windows 8 being far too different for consumers to embrace, but a 3 minute video shows how easy it is to use. Still, there is clearly a benefit in using a touch-enabled device to greater ease of use. Over the weekend, Microsoft sold 4 million upgrade copies of Windows 8. This would add between $60 and $160 million in revenue for Microsoft alone.

16GB iPad Mini is Top Choice, Survey Says

By DAVID WOODBURN

Apple Inc . (NASDAQ:AAPL) launched its new iPad Mini this past weekend, and it appears that the entry-level model was the one that sold the best - to the point that the majority of retail stores had run out of the 16-gigabyte model that has a retail price of $329 - about $130 more than the entry level Nexus 7 from Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Kindle Fire by Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).

Topeka Capital Markets, one of the top firms tracking all things Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), took a survey of retail stores to gauge the business in terms of iPad Mini sales. And in the results of the survey, Topeka found that 60 percent of all U.S. retail stores ran out of iPad Mini devices, and specifically every retail store ran out of the 16GB model. Also, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) retail stores saw 90 percent of the 32GB models in black and slate were sold, while 76 percent of white and silver models were off the shelves.

Of the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) retailers that had inventory left (about 40 percent), less than 15 percent had sold out of any of the high-end 64GB models, with 14 percent selling out of the 64 in black and slate, with 10 percent sold out of white and silver. And Topeka analyst Brian White noted in the exit survey that nearly half of those who bought an iPad Mini had never owned a tablet computer before, which he says indicates that the device may be a good opportunity for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to reach out to a new market of customers. This survey, however, does not indicate numbers of iPad Minis that were sold, nor how many remained in stock as of Sunday night.

Apple Will Give Google The OK For Google Maps For iOS

By Anna Peel

There was a recent cause of concern over a report from The Guardian that indicated Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) may have a hard time approving Google Maps for iOS.

The report read, “Sources at Google, familiar with its mapping plans say they are ‘not optimistic’ that Apple will ever approve a dedicated Google Maps iOS app. Though the app is reportedly in development and should be ready to ship by the end of the year, the sources say their plans are only proceeding in ‘the unlikely event’ that Apple will choose to approve the app.”

Last summer, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) ditched Google Maps in favor of their own iOS maps program, but that turned out to be quite a disaster.

IntoMobile responded to the rumor, “This screams of shadiness on Apple’s part, if the report is true.”  

Business Insider had similar feelings, “It might be a long time before we see a native Google Maps app on iOS.”

The Guardian’s report proved false. It does make a  little sense that Google fans are concerned over the report, especially considering that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has some ever-changing requirements regarding their apps. It’s not uncommon for Apple to remove an app that’s been in their store for several years for arbitrary reasons .

Facebook Employees, Including Sheryl Sandberg, Dump FB Shares

By Vikas Shukla

As soon as “lock up” period expired, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) top management, including COO Sheryl Sandberg, have started dumping the company shares. It resulted into a 3 percent decline in

Facebook share prices, the biggest drop in the last two months. According to an SEC filing, Sandberg sold approximately 353,000 Facebook shares on Wednesday for about $7.44 million. Sheryl Sandberg still owns about 20 million vested Facebook shares, some of them held in her trust.

General counsel Theodore Ullyot, who once worked for AOL, Inc. (NYSE:AOL), sold 149,000 shares on Wednesday and Thursday for $3.13 million. Chief Accounting Officer David Spillane sold 256,000 shares, collecting $5.4 million. Now he holds just 160,479 shares.

It’s the first time that the senior management is selling Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) shares after its disastrous IPO in May.