Global, Mideast IT spending to see modest growth in 2013

Worldwide IT spending could total $3.7 trillion in 2013, predicts Gartner, though analysts say increased spending mostly results from the value of other currencies against the dollar. A constant dollar measurement shows spending growing 3.9%.

"Uncertainties surrounding prospects for an upturn in global economic growth are the major retardants to IT growth," says Richard Gordon, Managing Vice President at Gartner.

"This uncertainty has caused the pessimistic business and consumer sentiment throughout the world. However, much of this uncertainty is nearing resolution, and as it does, we look for accelerated spending growth in 2013 compared to 2012," he says.

Spending on PCs, tablets, phones and other devices will reach $666bn this year, which is a 6.3% rise on 2012. This forecast was lowered from a previous estimate of $706bn, reflecting a sharp reduction in spending on PCs and tablets, only slightly offset by modest increases on mobile phones and printers.

"The tablet market has seen greater price competition from android devices as well as smaller, low-priced devices in emerging markets," Gordon says. "It is ultimately this shift toward relatively lower-priced tablets that lowers our average selling prices forecast for 2012 through 2016, which in turn is responsible for slowing device spending growth in general, and PC and tablet spending growth in particular."

Gartner had predicted in February last year that 'four forces' of technology; cloud, social media, mobile and information would equally impact IT organisations and technology providers in the Middle East, though the IT research firm still sees the lack of skills to deal with big data and cloud services limiting change for businesses in the region.

Spending in EMEA could see even more restrained growth in the year ahead with a mere 1.4% year-on-year rise, seen reaching $1.54 trillion, based on the increasing popularity of mobile devices. The region should continue to see growth through to 2016, according to Gartner, who estimated spending on mobile would amount to $136bn last year.

In Eastern Europe and the Middle East and Africa, mobile phone sales will dominate the market, followed by increased tablet adoption, while Western Europe will see a 5% decline for mobile devices. "That segment is growing by 40-50% per year and we see that continuing going forward," says Leif-Olof Wallin, Gartner's Vice President of Research.

The telecom services market continues to be the largest IT spending market worldwide. Growth will be predominately flat for a few years as mobile revenues from data services compensates for the declines in total spending for fixed and mobile voice services markets and by 2016, mobile data could represent 33% of the total telecom services market, up from 22% in 2012.