Gartner Pads 2011 Spending Forecast with Media Tablets
April 4, 2011 Jenny Thomas
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Media tablets, such as the iPad, are all the rage in the marketplace right now, and after adding them into the computing hardware spending mix analysts at Gartner have increased their outlook for IT spending in 2011 from a previous forecast of 5.1 percent growth to a 5.6 percent bump. We previously reported that things were looking up for worldwide IT spending this year, but media tablets are clearly a game changer in 2011. This seemingly small increase of a half point created by the addition of media tablets and the falling exchange rate of the U.S. dollar actually totals a $192 billion dollar increase over 2010 worldwide IT spending, taking worldwide IT spending to $3.6 trillion in 2011, a gain from the $3.4 trillion spent in 2010. You can take a look at the breakdown of Gartner’s predictions in the following table:
It’s no wonder that including media tablets created a huge increase in Gartner’s computing hardware growth outlook from 7.5 percent to 9.5 percent for 2011. Worldwide media tablet spending is projected to reach $29.4 billion in 2011, up from $9.6 billion in 2010. And global spending on media tablets is forecast to increase at an annual average rate of 52 percent through 2015. In fact, media tablets are having such an impact on the economy that Gartner has created a special report titled iPad & Beyond: The Media Tablet in Business, which you can see here. “Absent the addition of media tablets, the forecast would have slightly declined in constant-dollar terms; however, with their addition, there’s virtually no change in underlying forecast growth at the level of overall IT,” explained Richard Gordon, research vice president at Gartner. Gartner analysts are not worried about any possible impact to their predictions as a result of political unrest in the Middle East, but do have concerns that the potential impact on IT markets after the recent natural disasters in Japan is yet to be fully understood. “The Middle East share of global IT spending is approximately 2 percent. While the political unrest affecting many countries in the region may well dent IT spending levels, any impact would be insignificant at the global level,” Gordon said. “We had largely completed our forecast by the time the recent natural disasters in Japan occurred, and we are still evaluating their likely impact on our forecast. On this point, we are looking at two potential effects on IT markets as a result of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan: consequences of disruptions in the global electronics supply chain and impacts on IT demand.” Gartner is planning a Webcast for tomorrow, April 5, at 11 a.m. EST to examine its 2011 spending predictions. The Webcast, titled IT Spending Forecast, 1Q11 Update, is free and you can register here. Additional information is available in the Gartner report Forecast Alert: IT Spending, Worldwide, 1Q11 Update, which provides more details on Gartner’s outlook for the IT industry through 2014. You can find that report here. RELATED STORIES A Happier IT Forecast from Gartner for the New Year Business Intelligence Biz to Grow But Cool Off a Bit
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