SAP reported a 26% increase in software revenue for the second quarter on Tuesday, with strong application sales besting Oracle's organic license growth and driving an overall increase of 14% in software and software-related service revenues at the company.

SAP's total revenue for the three-month period ended June 30 was 3.3 billion Euros ($4.76 billion), up 14% from the same period last year, according to international financial reporting standards (IFRS). The figures were even more impressive in constant currencies, with non-IRFS software sales increasing 35%, support revenues up 15%, and total software and software-related service revenues up 20%.

Reuters reported Wednesday that SAP's performance helped it gain market share against rival Oracle for the first time in 18 months. Based on analysis by Matrix Research and excluding results from Sybase, which was acquired last year, SAP's applications software license growth increased 18%, versus 16% reported by Oracle in its most recent quarter.

SAP's profit outlook was also strong, and the company confirmed yesterday that it will finish the year at the high end of its projected non-IFRS operating profit range of 4.45 billion to 4.65 billion Euros ($6.42 to $6.71 billion), up 10% to 14% over last year in constant currencies.

SAP executives told analysts that the company's four-pillar strategy of driving core applications sales together with the enhancements of in-memory computing (Hana appliance), mobile applications, and on-demand (Business ByDesign) services. But it appears that conventional on-premises apps were the real story, as the enhancement offerings have yet to make their biggest impact on the bottom line.

"We are witnessing a structural change in the IT market: Customers are shifting more of their investments toward software as it continues to become a larger and more important component of the overall technology stack," said Jim Hagemann Snabe, co-CEO of SAP, in statement on Tuesday's earnings release.

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