Gartner lowers global IT spend estimates for 2013 to $3.7 trillion

Exchange rate movements account for the bulk of the downward revision

Research firm Gartner on Tuesday lowered its projections for global IT spending for 2013 to $3.7 trillion due to fluctuation in dollar exchange rates.

Gartner, in its previous forecast in the last quarter, had projected a growth rate of 4.1 per cent in overall IT spending in 2013 from $3.6 trillion in 2012.

The 2.1 percentage point reduction mainly reflects the impact of recent fluctuations in US dollar exchange rates; growth in constant currency is forecast at 3.5 per cent for 2013, down only slightly from last quarter, Gartner said in a statement.

“Exchange rate movements, and a reduction in our 2013 forecast for devices, account for the bulk of the downward revision of the 2013 growth,” Gartner Managing Vice-President Richard Gordon said.

Regionally, 2013 constant-currency spending growth in most regions has been lowered. “However, Western Europe’s constant currency growth has been inched up slightly as strategic IT initiatives in the region will continue despite a poor economic outlook,” Mr. Gordon said.

IT services are expected now to grow at 2.2 per cent in 2013 to reach $926 billion.

The forecast for spending on devices in 2013 has been revised down from 7.9 per cent growth in Gartner’s previous forecast, to 2.8 per cent to total $ 695 billion.

The decline in PC sales, recorded in the first quarter of 2013, continued in the second quarter with little recovery expected during the second half of 2013.

While new devices are set to hit the market in the second half of 2013, they may fail to compensate for the underlying weakness of the traditional PC market, Gartner said.

Tablet revenue for 2013 is expected to grow by 38.9 per cent, while mobile phone revenue is projected to increase by 9.3 per cent this year.

Enterprise software spending is on pace to grow 6.4 per cent to touch $304 billion, while telecom services spending is forecast to grow 0.9 per cent to $1.65 trillion in 2013.

Gartner said it expects the worldwide IT spending to grow by 4.1 per cent in 2014 to $3.87 trillion.

Of this, devices are expected to account for $740 billion, while spending on data centre systems is expected to touch $149 billion, enterprise software ($324 billion), IT services ($968 billion) and telecom services ($1.69 trillion).