[Am-info] Another factor that will hurt MickySoft.

[Fred A. Miller]

Fading Hopes Of Quick Recovery

Hope for a recovery, even a mild one, in the software market this
year appears to be fading. The latest indicator that better days
may not arrive until next year came this week when Lehman
Brothers lowered its stock ratings on all but three of its
software stocks, saying the September quarter is likely to be
seasonally weaker than usual because software buyers just aren't
ready to loosen the purse strings.

Ratings on PeopleSoft, Embarcadero, and Lawson were left
unchanged because their positions in the market remain strong.
Lehman believes PeopleSoft is gaining market share against
competitors and is poised to meet earnings and revenue estimates.
The investment firm remains confident of Lawson's vertical-market
strategy and gives Embarcadero credit for increasing revenue
sequentially in the last two quarters while preparing to launch a
slew of products that could boost sales.

Nevertheless, the overall software market is expected to remain
weak for the rest of this year. "We're still looking for the
recovery not to happen until 2003, and we're expecting it to be a
slow recovery," says Tom Topolinski, analyst for market research
firm Gartner. Sales are expected to be flat in most software
categories this year, slow in 2003 (less than 10%), with moderate
growth (10% to 15%) projected from 2004 to 2005. - Antone
Gonsalves

For the full story, go to:
http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eHZi0Bce7K0V20Bdog0A5

And for more, read:
Study Finds Growth In Enterprise Software Market
http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eHZi0Bce7K0V20Bdoh0A6

-- 
Fred A. Miller
Systems Administrator
Cornell Univ. Press Services
fm@cupserv.org, www.cupserv.org
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