Gartner upgrades 2013 IT spend to $3.7T

Gartner has increased its global IT spending forecast for 2013 to US$3.73 trillion, up 4.2 percent from US$3.58 trillion in 2012, with enterprise software and device spending to grow highest.

In a statement Thursday, the research firm said it revised the 2013 forecast from the previous prediction of 3.8 percent which it made in the third quarter of 2012.

The increased forecast was due to projected gains in the value of foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar, as spending growth for 2013 was forecast to be 3.9 percent when measured in constant dollars.

Worldwide enterprise software spending was forecasted to reach US$296 billion in 2013, up 6.4 percent from 2012. Gartner said the segment will be driven by key markets such as security, storage management and customer relationship management.

Devices spending, including PCs, tablets, mobile phones and printers, was predicted to reach US$666 billion in 2013, up 6.3 percent from 2012. The research firm said this was a "significant reduction" when compared to its previous forecast of US$706 billion.

The decrease in predicted spending in devices was due to a "sharp reduction" in forecasted growth of spending on PCs and tablets but was partially offset by marginal increases in forecasted growth in spending on mobile phones and printers.

Telecom services remains the largest portion of worldwide IT spending and is predicted to grow to reach US$1.7 trillion but at a slower rate of 2.4 percent. Gartner said growth of spending for this segment will be predominantly flat for the segment as revenue from mobile data services compensates for decline in total spending for both fixed and mobile voice services.