EMEA software market growth to stall

IDC figures show market's growth spurt is set to be stymied by regional softness

After posting nigh on double-digit expansion last year, the growth of the software market is forecast to slow to a gentler pace as the EMEA region struggles to show any growth.

According to IDC, 35 vendors sold more than $1bn (£644m) worth of software last year. Between them, they accounted for 62 per cent of the global market, with the remainder shared out between 1,129 smaller players.

Entering the $1bn club for the first time in 2011 were Attachmate and Cadence Design Systems, the latter of which was one of only three in the 35 to achieve 20 per cent-plus annual growth, the others being VMware and Salesforce.com.

Microsoft remains the globe's leading software player, holding 17.8 per cent of the market, more than double that of nearest rival IBM. Oracle and SAP placed third and fourth respectively.

Patrick Melgarejo, director of worldwide software trackers at IDC, said: "2011 delivered nearly double-digit growth in the worldwide software market, the highest annual growth rate in the years since the 2008 financial crisis.

However, IDC expects the overall software market to return to more conservative growth in the years to come. The major driver behind this decelerating growth is the forecast for close to flat performance in EMEA, due to the economic difficulties in that region."