Insights into how technology and the outsourcing of R&D are changing the software industry

Here’s the best of the week that was…at least in my view.  I still can’t believe the Groupon guys turned down $6 billion. Oy.

1. By all accounts Black Friday was great for retailers. But what’s really interesting was the huge increases reported in mobile sales. EBay reported double the sales from last year on its apps. But even more spectacular are the results reported by EBay’s PayPal unit. While PayPal saw a 27% increase in total transaction volume, mobile purchases skyrocketed by 310%. That’s pretty significant given that PayPal processes 16.5% of US eCommerce purchases and 15% globally.
2. Groupon has created a series of clones both in the retail world and the travel industry. Rumors abounded for over a week that Google was going to buy them. And finally, Groupon turned down $6 Billion to stay independent.  Was this the right move? Well having worked for a few start-ups hoping for the IPO that never came, I would have taken the money.  Forrester’s Sucharita Mulpuru probably think that Google dodged a bullet by getting turned down (the first bullet is priceless).
3. Pretty interesting article in the WSJ about improvements that the airlines have made in their luggage handling systems that have greatly reduced the number of lost bags.  Which is kind of nice since of them to lose luggage more often as most are now charging you for the privilege. But the stats are pretty impressive with “mishandled” baggage rates reduced by half since 2007. And even more impressive as this is happening at the same time that airlines have tried to improve the efficiency of their flight operations, when the handoff between connecting flights are the leading culprit for “mishandled” baggage. But it’s just as important an investment for the airlines as lost baggage costs the airlines about $2.5 Billion…with a B…according to IATA.
4. Anchors aweigh, but not in a good way. This is worth reading just for the comedy factor.
5. Rearden Commerce a leader in eCommerce and travel expense management technology acquired Ketera. Spend Matter’s Jason Busch thinks it will be a very good marriage.
6. Using analogies out of context is almost always a mistake. Unfortunately, someone tried to compare cloud computing to the subprime mortgage crisis. Luckily ThinkStrategies’ Jeff Kaplan was there to set them straight.
7. Mary Meeker, the Morgan Stanley analyst whose projections have been used by countless firms to support the need for investment in mobile technologies has agreed to join VC powerhouse Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as a partner.
8. FCC Chief backs metered broadband…and I want to throw up. Just goes to show what a lot of money and good lobbyists can accomplish. Luckily the FCC has almost no real power and there is a fair amount of backlash from consumers and politicians.  Surprisingly Google is one of the companies who’s came out against the proposal. Didn’t they just support the same concept on wireless networks with Verizon? I guess it can be a question of degrees.  Some say that the issue is being overblown, I just get concerned when I see statements that the proposal would bar “unreasonable discrimination” of traffic. Can’t wait to see the definitions of unreasonable. Sigh.
9. Gartner forecasts are in: Tablets up and PC’s down. Not a shocker, as tablets (well for the most part just the iPad) are today’s new tech fashion accessory (with the new MacBook Air a close second…I drool over my wife’s MBA every day). But what’s a little shocking is that Gartner expects tablets to replace 10% of PC shipments by 2014. That’s a lot.  The one number I don’t quite believe is Citigroup’s forecast that 35 million tablets will be sold in 2011. I wonder if they have seen an Android 2.2 tablet when they were working on the forecast.
10. Will Apple redefine the travel market they way it did for mobile devices? Patently Apple shares some more patent submissions by Apple around travel…this time around the cruise sector. Tnooz’s Kevin May provides some context.