Bits: Not Everyone Thinks Tech Spending Will Slow
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The big research houses have been trimming their forecasts for global technology spending, but one forecaster thinks foreign spending will make up for a domestic slowdown.
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Few people today are buying UMPCs, but a new chip and lower prices could help by early 2008.
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Forrester Research has revised projections for IT investment in 2008 down from previous research published in October, predicting the year ahead will be a slow one both in the U.S. and globally.In the report, &quot;U.S. And Global IT Spending And Purchases In 2008: Will The Grinch Of A Slowing US Economy Steal The Presents Of A Stronger 2008 IT Market?&quot; Forrester said it expects U.S. IT investment growth to slow slightly to 4.8 percent in 2008 from 5.3 percent in 2007. Previously, the research firm had predicted U.S. IT spending growth would be about 8 percent in 2008, led by software and network equipment.The areas hardest hit by the downturn will be computer and communications equipment and IT services, the latter being typically the first to get hit, said principal analyst Andrew Bartels. &quot;The first things CIOs cut are consultants and contractors,&quot; he said. &quot;They are readily delayable and cancellable items in the portfolio of spending.&quot;Despite this outlook, there is some good news for next year&#39;s U.S. IT market. According to Bartels, the slowdown in 2008 will happen mainly from the first quarter to the third quarter with growth in the fourth quarter of the year that will continue into 2009.In its year-end report, Forrester defines IT investment as spending in computer equipment, communications equipment and software. It adds spending in two other segments -- IT services and outsourcing and IT staff salary and benefits -- for its definition of IT spending.CIOs in the U.S. should plan conservative budgets because of the possibility that the economy will go into recession, Bartels said.However, there are technologies on the horizon that CIOs should prepare to implement in 2009, so they have the difficult task in 2008 of juggling conservatism and an eye to the future, Bartels said. Those emerging technologies include unified communications infrastructure and dynamic business applications. If they can, CIOs will increase spending and investments toward the end of 2008 and in 2009 to prepare for these technologies, he said.&quot;It&#39;s important CIOs ... don&#39;t get so cautious they&#39;re not ready for the next wave,&quot; Bartels said.Global IT purchases also are expected to slow slightly in 2008, from 12 percent in 2007 to 9 percent in 2008, but the U.S. market is expected to perform competitively despite the slowdown. The Asia-Pacific region, as it was in 2007, will remain an outstanding market in 2008, a year in which it may approach the U.S. in terms of size, Bartels said.&quot;Asia-Pacific is starting to become a factor in the market,&quot; he said. &quot;A year from now, we&#39;ll be able to say it&#39;s a stone&#39;s throw from the size of the U.S. market and may well pass it in 2009.&quot;In 2007, Asia-Pacific surpassed Europe in market size in terms of IT purchases, and that measure is expected to grow in Asia-Pacific by 15 percent in 2008, according to Forrester. IT purchases in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, and Europe will grow 5 percent to 7 percent next year, while in the Eastern Europe/Middle East/Africa region, purchases are expected to grow the same rate as in Asia-Pacific.The strength of Asia-Pacific is good news for U.S. technology vendors, as they&#39;ve &quot;been able to overcome a sluggish technology economy in U.S. with the Asian market,&quot; Bartels said.
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PC buying uptick won't last. Corporations are upgrading at a normal pace, while consumers who waited for Vista have now made the switch.
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Despite financial market volatility, U.S. technology companies had a strong 2007. The rising cost of energy, fears of recession, and forecasts of a slowdown in IT spending, however, point to a rocky 2008.
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LOS ANGELES (CBS.MW) -- US technology spending is projected to rise 7 percent next year and continue at about the same rate through 2008, according to results of a survey released Monday that also showed improved optimism on outlays in the sector.
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Many technologies may be a waste of time and money, researcher says.
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The net will be a thriving,  low-cost network of devices by 2020, says a major survey of technology thinkers.
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Montalvo Systems has a multi-core chip, but not all of the cores are the same. That in part explains why investors have put money into it.
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I donât like self-proclaimed prophets. So, you'll rarely see me quoting them. I guess my aversion originates in so many presentations where the next [insert application or company here] âkillerâ will emerge if we invest some money. And yes, I admit I sat on the side of the table talking about a couple  of those killer apps myself.
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U.S. consumers don't want to pay for low-power, high-performance chip.
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Twenty-three percent of respondents to a ChangeWave Research study said their companies will reduce or halt IT spending in the second quarter of this year, results that underscore recent&#160;concerns about a U.S. recession.ChangeWave, an investment advice firm in Rockville, Maryland, conducted a survey Feb. 11 to Feb. 15, garnering responses from 2,013 people involved with IT spending in their organizations. Most worked for U.S. companies, with 7 percent of respondents coming from Canada, as well as a small number from other nations.Only 15 percent of respondents said spending would increase in the second quarter, a nine-point drop from the company&#39;s previous survey in November. Just 10 percent reported that first-quarter spending has been greater than planned, a fall of seven points compared to the last survey. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said their companies have spent less than planned during the first quarter, a rise of three points.Meanwhile, 43 percent said their companies are giving a &quot;green light&quot; to second-quarter spending, meaning conditions are normal. But that represents a nine-point drop from the last study and the lowest level ChangeWave has seen in more than four years.The results are roughly similar across companies of all sizes, according to ChangeWave&#39;s data.&quot;This is pretty non-ambiguous stuff here,&quot; Paul Carton, director of research for ChangeWave, said of the results. &quot;But it&#39;s not the end of the world, either. ... We&#39;re having a tough quarter right now. Spending is down. That doesn&#39;t mean there aren&#39;t pockets where things are doing OK.&quot;In addition, strong consumer spending could prop up the economy even as corporations tighten their belts, he said. &quot;We find in our world of measuring change, the consumer spending is two-thirds and corporate spending is one-third.&quot;However, a ChangeWave study on consumer spending from January turned up similarly grim results.Also, respondents to the latest survey offered rather lukewarm forecasts for the rest of the year. Only 19 percent said they expected their IT budget to grow in the second half of 2008, and 20 percent predicted it will drop. However, 51 percent said they believe it will remain the same.
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Montalvo Systems has a multiple-core chip, but not all of the cores are the same. That in part explains why investors have put money into it.
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Analysis: Low flash memory prices could mean lower cost solid-state devices and bigger storage in gadgets.
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Anyone who's thinking of buying PC hardware in the next few months must keep an eye on the future.
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By George Chamberlin , Daily Transcript Financial Correspondent. A forecast that the personal computer industry could experience shrinkage over the next couple of years came as no big surprise.
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U.S. government spending on information technology is spiking this quarter, a study reports.