Gartner: Global IT spend to top $3.7tn in 2013

published 3 January 2013

Global IT spending will reach $3.7 trillion (2.28 trillion) in 2013, according to analysts at Gartner.

This represents a year-on-year increase of 4.2 per cent on 2012.

Spending on devices - including PCs, tablets, printers and mobile phones - is expected to reach $666 billion (411.6 billion) by the end of this year, which is up 6.3 per cent on 2012.

However, this growth is expected to slow to 4.2 per cent in 2014 and is down on Gartner's previous forecast of $706 billion (463.3 billion) for 2013.

The analyst house attributes this decline to "a sharp reduction in the forecast spending on PCs and tablets that is only partially offset by marginal increases in...mobile phones and printers."

Richard Gordon, managing vice president at Gartner, said: "The tablet market has seen greater price competition from android devices as well as smaller, low-priced devices in emerging markets.

"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."

Meanwhile, enterprise software spend is forecast to grow by 6.4 per cent in 2013 and by a further 6.8 per cent in 2014.

This growth will be driven by demand for security management, storage and customer relationship management products, Gartner claims.

However, in 2014, the market watcher expects big data and information management to be the primary drivers of the segment's continued growth.

Telecom services is still the sector with the highest spend, and is predicted to reach $1.7 trillion (1.05 trillion) by the end of 2013, rising to $1.74 trillion (1.07 trillion) in 2014.

By 2016, Gartner expects mobile data to represent 33 per cent of the total telecom services market, up from 22 per cent in 2012.

Jane McCallion is Managing Editor of ITPro and ChannelPro, specializing in data centers, enterprise IT infrastructure, and cybersecurity. Before becoming Managing Editor, she held the role of Deputy Editor and, prior to that, Features Editor, managing a pool of freelance and internal writers, while continuing to specialize in enterprise IT infrastructure, and business strategy.

Prior to joining ITPro, Jane was a freelance business journalist writing as both Jane McCallion and Jane Bordenave for titles such as European CEO, World Finance, and Business Excellence Magazine.