Global IT Spending Pegged At $3.7 Trillion; Gadget Spending Forecast At $1.1 Trillion In 2013

While the hike in IT spending is likely to come from gains in the value of foreign currencies versus the dollar, uncertainties surrounding the prospects in global economic growth are likely to turn out as retardants for IT growth, Richard Gordon, managing vice president at Gartner, noted in a statement, TechCrunch has reported.

"The uncertainty has caused pessimistic business and consumer sentiment throughout the world. However, much of this uncertainty is nearing resolution as it does look for accelerated spending growth in 2013 compared to 2012," Gordon added.

However, the forecast for gadget spending seems to be accompanied with caveats as the European economy may wind up posting a lower growth thereby hurting sales of devices in the European countries, the Los Angeles Times has reported.

In contrast to the Consumer Electronic Association projection on gadget sales, the Gartner forecast for devices spending has been scaled down from $706 billion to $666 billion in 2013. This includes forecast for PCs, tablets, mobile phones and printers. The worldwide spending on devices has been reduced with annual growth expected to average at 4.5 percent.

Even the impact of the recent agreement on averting the fiscal cliff in the U.S. and how it affects the consumer spending are being keenly monitored.

According to Steve Koenig, senior director of market research for CEA, the emerging market are likely the major contributors for growth in device sales while numbers from the mature markets such as Japan and Western Europe are likely to be flat or slightly down in the coming years.

The emerging markets are likely to account for 9% of sale while the mature markets are expected to account for 1% growth in 2013. Tablets and smartphones are likely to account for 40% of global spend on gadgets. This also represents innovation and cannibalizations of products such as TVs, gaming consoles and laptops.

Tablet growth in the U.S. will be such that by the end of 2013, 44% households will possess one making it the fastest growing device.

Meanwhile, research firm Forrester has forecast 5.4 percent growth in IT spending for 2013 and describes this year as a transition year as economic instability impacting the markets recedes, according to TechCrunch.