News
IDC: Software Market to Slow
Now that the recession is official, gloomy news aboutthe computer industry doesn’t seem so shocking. Adding a little more gray tothe gloom, research firm IDC said today itexpects the software market to slow.
Unlike some market segments, software is expected toslow, not shrink. There will still be more money spent on software this yearthan last, but the rate of growth is expected to decrease.
IDC says the software market will grow by only 6.8percentage points, a departure from its projection of 12% growth for this year.It attributes the slowdown to the global recession, and, specifically, theterrorist attacks of September 11.
Next year should be better for software companies. IDCprojects the market will grow by 11.8% - less than the 15% it originallyprojected – but better than the 6.8% this year.
Drilling down into market segments, IDC believesapplication development and deployment software will take the biggest hit. The segmentwill grow only 4.7% this year. IDC’s originally projected 15.2% growth.
Applications are slightly less affected. It will grow9.4%, rather than 12.7%. In 2002, applications sales are expected to grow by9.1%.
IDC believes growth in system infrastructure softwaregrowth should approach its original projections next year. It says systeminfrastructure tools will grow by 11.8% next year, only down 1.2%. – Chris McConnell