Activision Blizzard gets the candy

The acquisition of Candy Crush creator King Digital Entertainment, and several other small acquisitions involving companies such as Google, IBM and Microsoft, created the main news of the international ICT market last week.

At home, the ongoing saga involving MTN in Nigeria was the main local story.

* Satisfactory interim numbers from MiX Telematics, with revenue up 4.8% but profit up 70.5%.
* Mediocre Q1 numbers from Net 1 UEPS Technologies, with revenue down 1.2% and profit down 2.1%.
* A positive trading update from MICROmega Holdings.
* A negative trading update from Reunert.
* A mixed trading update from Telkom SA.
* iSmart, one of SA's latest entrants into the mobile virtual network operator space with the SmartMobile offering, acquired Jabba Connect, a provider of contact centre solutions.
* Silvertree Internet Holdings and PriceCheck's original founder, Kevin Tucker, bought Naspers' online price comparison service PriceCheck.
* Paradigm Group, an ICT solutions provider, made an investment (20%) in mobile emergency application provider, Rapid Response.
* MTN Zakhele, one of MTN's initiatives for previously disadvantaged South Africans, started trading on the JSE.
* Renewed JSE cautionaries by Altron and MTN.
* The appointments of Zahir Khan as CEO of as Project Isizwe; and Duncan Simpson-Craib as group CEO of Multisource, the owner of WBS, the parent company of iBurst and Broadlink.
* The resignation of Alan Knott-Craig Jr, CEO of Project Isizwe.

* Good half-year numbers from Safaricom, with revenue up 23% and profit up 23.1%.
* MTN has renewed its operating licence in Nigeria for $92.4 million.
* The appointments of Darren Grasby as AMD's president of EMEA region; and Brian Jakins as Intelsat SA's regional VP of Sales in Africa.

Former head of Russian mobile phone operator VimpelCom, Jo Lunder, has been arrested in Oslo.

* Akamai Technologies acquired Bloxx, a provider of Secure Web Gateway technology for protecting enterprises and their employees from Internet threats.
* Activision Blizzard bought Candy Crush Saga creator King Digital Entertainment for $5.9 billion, in a move designed to strengthen the former's mobile games portfolio.
* Cellcom Israel, Israel's largest mobile phone provider, purchased competitor Golan Telecom for $301 million.
* EFI acquired Shuttleworth Business Systems, a UK-based privately held print software provider.
* Endurance International Group Holdings bought e-mail marketer Constant Contact for $1.1 billion.
* Hong-Kong-based Godin Holdings purchased Vertu, the UK-based maker of handcrafted luxury smartphones that feature precious metals, leather casings and sapphire screens. The latter was sold by Swedish private equity group EQT, which bought Vertu from Nokia for more than EUR200 million in 2012.
* Google acquired Fly Labs, the creator of image editing technology that will be rolled into Google Photos.
* IBM bought Gravitant, a privately held company that develops cloud-based software to enable organisations to easily plan, buy and manage, or 'broker' software and computing services from multiple suppliers across hybrid clouds.
* Microsoft purchased Mobile Data Labs, a start-up best known for its mileage tracking app MileIQ.
* Neustar, an ad tech company that provides data and analytics to marketers, acquired MarketShare Partners, a marketing analytics company, for $450 million.
* SK Telecom bought South Korean cable company CJ Hellovision, with a view to merging it with its fixed-line division SK Broadband.
* TDK Corporation purchased Hutchinson Technology.
* Zeta Marketing, an analytics company, acquired eBay Enterprise's customer relations management division for $80 million.
* Reliance Communications (India) merged with Sistema Shyam Teleservices (India), which trades under the Russian MTS brand name. Following the merger, Sistema Shyam Teleservices will own 10% of the former.
* China's state-owned Tsinghua Unigroup made a $598 million investment in Powertech Technology.
* The maker of Polaroid cameras is suing wearable camera maker GoPro for allegedly infringing on its patent for cube-shaped cameras.
* HP and HP Enterprise (HPE) have started their own 'lives' as separate companies, each of which is still rated in the Fortune 100.
* The former head of Russian mobile phone operator VimpelCom, Jo Lunder, has been arrested in Oslo. The arrest is linked to US and Dutch investigations into the company's alleged bribery in Uzbekistan, according to the Norwegian prosecutor.
* Excellent quarterly results from Axcelis Technologies (back in the black) and Take Two Interactive Software (back in the black).
* Very good quarterly figures from Arista Networks, CyberArk, Qualys and Rudolph (back in the black).
* Good quarterly numbers from AMC Networks, Brooks Automation, Cognizant Technology Solutions, ePlus, Facebook, Harris, j2 Global, Ixia (back in the black), Nvidia, Orbotech, Skyworks Solutions, Telefonica and Zynga (back in the black).
* Satisfactory quarterly results from Acxiom (back in the black), BCE, CenturyLink, Deutsche Telekom, GCI, Genpact, Liberty Global, Plantronics and Telus.
* Mediocre quarterly results from Alaska Communications Systems Group, Cablevision Systems, Diodes, Microchip Technology, Motorola Solutions, Newport, Qualcomm, Symantec, Telecom Italia and Teradata.
* Mixed quarterly figures from AVG, with revenue up but profit down; CDK, with revenue down but profit up; Cincinnati Bell, with revenue down but back in the black; Cognex, with revenue down but profit well up; Convergys, with revenue down but profit up; CSC, with revenue down but profit up; Engility, with revenue up but profit down; Fair Isaac, with revenue up but profit down; FIS, with revenue down but profit up; Fitbit, with revenue up but profit down; Gartner, with revenue up but profit down; Inovalon, with revenue up but profit down; Kratos, with revenue down but back in the black; Qorvo, with revenue up over 100% but profit down; Sanmina, with revenue down but profit up; Sykes Enterprises, with revenue up but profit down; TDC, with revenue up but profit down; and Vonage, with revenue up but profit down.
* Quarterly losses from 3D Systems, Alcatel-Lucent, Applied Micro Circuits, CDI, Checkpoint Systems, EarthLink, Epiq Systems, Etsy, Exar, FireEye, GoDaddy, Groupon, Guidance Software, Harte-Hanks, Hutchinson Technology, Imation, Interactive Intelligence, Limelight Networks, NII Holdings, Novatel Wireless, Oclaro, SBA Communications, Sprint, Stratasys, Systemax, Tableau Software, TPK, Varonis, Vishay Intertechnology and Windstream.
* The appointments of Eaman Al Roudhan as CEO of Zain Kuwait; Peter Shen as chairman of Inotera; and Rich Williams as CEO of Groupon.
* The resignations of Omar Al Omar, CEO of Zain Kuwait; Charles Kau, chairman of Inotera; Eric Lefkofsky, CEO of Groupon (stays on as chairman); and Massimiliano Pogliani, CEO of Vertu.

EMEA/Africa:
* MENA spending on information security technology and services is on pace to reach $1.1 billion in 2015, an increase of 3.3% over 2014, according to Gartner. US dollar appreciation caused lowered year-on-year growth, but overall security spending is on the rise in the region; in constant currency terms, the security market in MENA is projected to grow 15% in 2015.

Worldwide:
* Worldwide tablet shipments reached only 50.64 million units in Q315, up 9% from Q2, but still down sharply by 18% year on year, according to Digitimes Research.
* There will be 58.7 million tablets, including two-in-one and screen-detachable hybrid models, shipped globally in Q415, an increase of 15.9% on quarter, but a decrease of 22.6% year on year, according to Digitimes Research. Shipments will consist of 14 million iPads, 24.5 million non-iPads and 20.2 million white-box units. Apple will account for 23.9% of shipments, followed by Samsung Electronics at 14.5%, Lenovo at 5.3%, Amazon at 4.8%, Asustek Computer at 3%, Microsoft at 2.3%, TCL at 2.2%, Huawei Device at 2%, LG Electronics at 2% and Acer at 1.3%.

* JSE All share index: Down 1.5%
* Nasdaq: Up 1.8%
* NYSE (Dow): Up 1.4%
* S&P 500: Up 1%
* FTSE100: Down 0.1%
* Nikkei225: Up 1%
* Hang Seng: Up 1%
* Shanghai: Up 0.2%

International:
* A $1 billion investment by Tencent Holdings in Dianping Holdings, China's biggest online provider of on-demand services.

South Africa:
* Further developments regarding the MTN Nigeria saga.

The latest Gartner forecast (Q315) regarding worldwide ICT spend is as follows:

IT spending forecast by sector ($bn)