Part of the problem is AWS: the thing is growing ridiculous fast and the margins are, if not Apple-like (nobody else gets away with 50-60% margins) certainly Microsoft- and IBM-like.
Here:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/aws-mar...ud-juggernaut/
Quote:
Simply put, AWS Marketplace takes Amazon's e-commerce knowhow and applies it to cloud applications. In the AWS cloud, you can buy applications by the hour and in some cases smaller increments. The general idea is that enterprises can try before buying more easily and generate revenue for software vendors sans the shelfware.
Last year at re:Invent I got a briefing on AWS Marketplace, which was just starting to get noticed. Amazon launched the AWS Marketplace, but took its time so it could get the metered billing approach correct.
Now analysts are on the bandwagon. Pachter noted:
Amazon introduced AWS Marketplace in November 2014, and expanded the Marketplace in April 2015 to include Desktop Apps and WorkSpaces Applications Manager (WAM). Stated in simple English, these products allow third parties to sell desktop and productivity software and SaaS through an Amazon Marketplace, similar to entertainment applications sold through the Apple App Store. The takeaway is that AWS Marketplace is positioned to see dramatic revenue growth at 30% contribution margin over the next several months, as an increasing number of AWS customers take advantage of the streamlined marketplace provided for their software and SaaS applications.
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Figure $8B a year at 30% margin.
And it's still growing.
Gonna be hard to spend all that.