Global IT spend hit $2tn in 2012

IDC claims IT industry remained strong despite changing landscape led by surge in mobile device uptake

Global IT spending reached $2tn (£1.32tn) in 2012, according to IDC, which claims that the industry has remained strong despite economic uncertainty.

Last year, worldwide IT spending grew 5.9 per cent annually in constant currency terms, slightly ahead of 2011's growth figure of 5.8 per cent. Total global IT spending on hardware, software and services reached $2tn, a figure that grows to $3.6tn when including telecoms services.

Global spending on smartphones exceeded that of PCs for the first time in 2012, according to the market watcher, which claims that the popularity of mobile devices is continuing to reshape the IT landscape.

In 2012, worldwide spending on smartphones hit the $300bn mark, while the amount spent on PCs only totalled $233bn globally, according to IDC's Worldwide Black Book Query Tool.

IDC claims that the figures show the "cannibalisation" of the IT industry, but added that despite the changing IT landscape and global economic uncertainty, spending still remained strong year on year.

Economic decline in Europe is set to have a continued impact on 2013's IT spend for the region, according to the analyst firm, which predicts that spending will increase by just two per cent this year. This figure is set to be bumped up by the surging popularity of mobile devices, added IDC, without which the growth figure would peak at just one per cent.

The firm's vice president for global technology and industry research organisation Stephen Minton said that businesses are adapting to the economic crisis, which is changing the role of IT.

He said: "Cannibalisation is happening across the industry. Smartphones have taken over from feature phones, tablet adoption is impacting PC spending and the cloud is affecting the traditional software, services and infrastructure markets.

"IT spending is still growing organically, but not at the same pace as before the financial crisis. Businesses are adopting IT solutions such as virtualisation, automation and SaaS as a means to reduce the annual increases in their overall IT spending at a time when economic uncertainty remains high."