Stamford, Connecticut - Worldwide spending on devices such as mobile phones, tablets, printers and PCs will reach 666 billion dollars in 2013, according to market research firm Gartner.
The increase is 50 billion dollars less than previously estimated, but is still a 6.3 percent increase on the 2012 figure. The move to tablets from desktop or laptop computers is playing a role in the rise.
“The transition from PC to tablet is running faster than we thought,” said Richard Gordon, managing vice president at Gartner. “The tablet market has seen greater price competition from Android devices as well as smaller, low-priced devices in emerging markets.”
Long-term, the forecast for worldwide device spending has been reduced as well, with growth from 2012 through 2016 now expected to average 4.5 percent, down from the previous estimate of 6.4 percent.
Worldwide IT spending in 2013 is projected to be 3.7 trillion dollars, a 4.2 percent increase on 2012. The lion's share, 1.7 trillion dollars, will be spent on telecommunications services. - Sapa-dpa