IDC's PREDICTIONS FOR 2010
The worldwide IT Spending will grow by 3.2% returning the industry to 2008 spending levels of about $1.5 trillion. In
broad terms, HW, SW and services spending will each grow in the 2-4% range, with HW experiencing the most notable
gains after a particularly difficult 2009. Emerging markets will drive more than half the new IT industry growth in 2010, with
IT spending up 8-13% in the BRIC countries Telecommunications spending will experience respectable growth of 3%,
driven by a rebound in the IP and data segments in mature markets and strong growth in the mobility sector in emerging
economies. The most important transformational force in the IT market will be the continuing build-out and maturing of the
cloud services and consumption model. The emergence of "enterprise-grade" cloud services will be a unifying theme in
this area, with a battle unfolding in cloud application platforms – the most strategic real estate in the cloud for the next 20
years. Significant opportunities will also unfold for public IT cloud services, private clouds, cloud appliances, and hybrid
cloud management tools, while cloud APIs will emerge as the new determinant of the cloud partner/solution ecosystem.
Mobile devices will also exert a powerful transformational force on the industry as they increasingly compete with PCs as
the primary client platform for developers and users alike. IDC expects more than 1 B mobile devices will be accessing
the Internet, boosted by the growing popularity of smartphones and the arrival of Apple's iPad tablet computer. And the
growth in mobile devices will ignite an explosion in mobile applications, with the number of iPhone apps tripling to 300,000
and Android apps surging by a factor of 5 or more. Other IDC predictions for 2010 include:
· A new, mashed-up generation of business applications will emerge that leverages social and collaborative
networks and derives insights from them. These "socialytic" apps will not only bring new capabilities to customers
and new growth to suppliers, but also new competition and threats to traditional leaders.
· A renewed focus on reducing CO2 emissions, at both the national and international levels, will present
opportunities for IT solutions to help reduce greenhouse gases while challenging the industry's energy use and
disposal costs.
· Other industries will emerge from the recession with their own transformation agendas, and will look to IT as an
increasingly important means for achieving the new objectives.
· Finally, the transformation agenda will drive a fresh round of mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships as vendors
pursue profitable IT and business solutions and power positions in the cloud.