GEC NEWS WIREAnalysts Examine Key Trends and Issues Facing the IT Industry At Gartner Symposium/ITxpo Dubai, April 1- 3, 2014
Middle East (ME) IT spending is projected to total $211 billion in 2014, an 8 percent increase from 2013, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc.
Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president and global head of research at Gartner, provided the latest outlook for the IT industry t to an audience of more than 500 CIOs and IT leaders at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, which is taking place here through April 3.
“The Middle East is projected to reach US$243 billion by 2018, which will represent 5.6 percent of worldwide IT spending,” said Sondergaard. Areas of emerging expansion such as mobility, smart government, big data and Internet of Things (IoT), will prove to be critical in the ongoing transformation and modernization process of the region. In addition, large IT investments by verticals such as communications, media and services, banking and securities, government, manufacturing and natural resources, offer strong opportunities for technology and service providers.”
There is a great opportunity with the UAE’s Vision 2021 initiative, and the grants that support it, as it will serve as a major catalyst for IT initiatives in education, manufacturing and government services. ME spending on devices is forecast to reach US$37 billion in 2014, up 24 percent from 2013 (see Table 1). Devices are represented by mobile phones, media tablets, PCs, and printers, with mobile phones excelling with 30 percent spending growth in 2014. Mobile phone spending is forecast to surpass US$39 billion in 2018.”
The telecom services market continues to be the largest spending market, representing 74 percent of total IT spending in the region in 2014. Gartner’s analysis shows that telecom services will achieve almost 5 percent growth in 2014, with mobile voice services reaching US$93 billion and mobile data services US$27 billion.
