Gartner lowers growth forecast in global IT spend to 2.4%

NEW DELHI: Research firm Gartner today said global IT spending this year is expected to grow by just 2.4 per cent, from the earlier projection of 3.9 per cent, due to strengthening US dollar among others factors.

"Worldwide IT spending is on pace to total $3.8 trillion in 2015, a 2.4 per cent increase from 2014. However, this growth rate is down from earlier projections of 3.9 per cent," Gartner said in a statement.

The slower outlook for 2015 is largely attributed to the rising US dollar and a modest reduction in growth expectations for devices, IT services and telecom services, it added.

The US dollar spending growth rate on devices (including PCs, ultramobiles, mobile phones, tablets and printers) for 2015 was decreased, it said.

Besides, the smartphone market is becoming polarised between the high and low-end market price points.

"On one hand, growth in premium phones with an average selling price of $478 in 2014 was dominated by iOS. At the other end of the spectrum, growth in Android and other open OS phones is in the basic phone segment, where in 2014 the average phone cost less than $100.

As a result, market opportunity is becoming increasingly limited for midrange smartphones," Gartner said.

Breaking down the components in IT spending, Data Centre systems spending is projected to reach $143 billion in 2015, a 1.8 per cent increase from 2014.

In the enterprise software market, spending is on pace to total $335 billion, a 5.5 per cent increase from 2014, it added.

The outlook for IT services in 2015 has been reduced to 2.5 per cent growth, down from 4.1 per cent growth forecast in the previous quarter.