Global IT spending to reach $3.7 trillion in 2013: Gartner

Worldwide IT spending is projected to reach $3.73 trillion in 2013, a 4.2 percent increase from $3.58 trillion in 2012, research firm Gartner Thursday said.

The 2013 outlook for IT spending growth in US dollars has been revised upward from 3.8 percent in the Q3 2012 forecast, Gartner said in a statement.

Much of this spending increase is the result from projected gains in the value of foreign currencies versus the dollar, it said adding that in constant currency, spending growth in 2013 is expected to be 3.9 percent.

"Uncertainties surrounding prospects for an upturn in global economic growth are the major retardants to IT growth.

This uncertainty has caused the pessimistic business and consumer sentiment throughout the world," Gartner Managing Vice President Richard Gordon said.

However, much of this uncertainty is nearing resolution, and as it does, Gartner expects accelerated spending growth in 2013 compared to 2012, he added.

Worldwide devices spending which includes PCs, tablets, mobile phones and printers, is forecast to reach USD 666 billion in 2013, up 6.3 percent from 2012.

However, this is a significant reduction in the outlook for 2013 compared with Gartner's previous forecast of USD 706 billion in worldwide devices and 7.9 percent growth.

The long-term forecast for global spending on devices has been reduced as well, with growth from 2012 through 2016 now expected to average 4.5 percent annually (from 6.4 percent).

These reductions reflect a sharp reduction in the forecast growth in spending on PCs and tablets that is only partially offset by marginal increases in forecast growth in spending on mobile phones and printers, Gartner said.

"The tablet market has seen greater price competition from Android devices as well as smaller, low-priced devices in emerging markets," Gordon said.

Worldwide enterprise software spending is forecast to total USD 296 billion in 2013, 6.4 percent up from 2012. This segment will be driven by key markets like security, storage management and customer relationship management.

Beginning 2014, markets aligned to big data and other information management initiatives, like enterprise content management, data integration tools, and data quality tools will see increased levels of investment, Gartner said.

The global telecom services market continues to be the largest IT spending market. From USD 1.66 trillion in 2012, this segment is estimated to grow 2.4 percent to USD 1.7 trillion in 2013.

Gartner said growth is expected to be predominately flat over the next several years as revenue from mobile data services compensates for the declines in total spending for both the fixed and mobile voice services markets.