Oracle looking to chase down mobile software opportunities

The Latin American division of Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) is looking to capture mobile software business opportunities in the banking, retail, government and telecommunications industries, Oracle's manufacturing and distribution VP for the region, André Papaleo, told BNamericas. Those four industries are driving interest across the region, but Papaleo also underscored disparities in countries like Chile. "In Chile, there's very high demand in relation to natural resources," he told a gathering of journalists. "An example would be the complete control of a mine from a control room located 200 meters away. Another example would be the food export market, which is very important for Chile." Papaleo described mobile software growth as "impressive" and attributed increases to companies' greater reliance on fieldwork. For example, government workers are seeking such solutions to have remote access to citizen information such as tax returns, while retail workers want mobile software to submit orders while on the go. The executive was unable to provide concrete figures related to Oracle's Latin American mobile software business. Meanwhile, overall IT market drivers in Latin America include a wave of IPOs and M&A activity, a boom in commodity exports and also upcoming events such as the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. Latin American companies will be investing in technology as overall regional B2C activity spikes 39% this year to US$21.8bn. During a presentation, Papaleo underscored Oracle's commitment to providing clients with integrated solutions, but he also underscored individual products, such as Oracle Exadata Storage Servers, which have been adopted by regional companies such as the Brazilian division of Spain's Santander (NYSE: STD) and compatriot food producer Piraquê. Globally, Oracle's net profits rose 28% year-over-year to US$1.87bn during its fiscal second quarter, ended November 30, while revenues during the same period increased 47% to US$8.58bn. The company will release fiscal Q3 results on March 24.