Top 10 Technology Predictions For 2014

Top 10 Technology Predictions For 2014 “will be about pitched battles” and a coming IT industry consolidation around a small number of big “winners.” The industry landscape will change as “incumbents will no longer be foolish enough to say we don’t compete with Amazon.”

Overall IT spending to grow 5.1% to $2.14 trillion, PC revenues to decline 6%

Worldwide sales of smartphones (12% growth) and tablets (18%) will continue at a “torrid pace” (accounting for over 60% of total IT market growth) at the expense of PC sales which will continue to decline. Spending on servers, storage, networks, software, and services will “fare better” than in 2013.

Android vs Apple,

The Samsung-led Android community “will maintain its volume advantage over Apple,” but Apple will continue to enjoy “higher average selling prices and an established ecosystem of apps.” Google Play (Android) app downloads and revenues, however, “are making dramatic gains.” IDC advises Microsoft to “quickly double mobile developer interest in Windows.” Or else?

Amazon (and possibly Google) to take on traditional IT suppliers

In 2014, the number of smart connected devices shipped
in emerging markets will be almost double that shipped in developed markets and emerging markets will be a hotbed of Internet of Things market development.

There’s a $100 billion cloud in our futureCloud service providers will increasingly drive the IT marketThe incumbent IT hardware vendors will be forced to adopt a “cloud-first” strategy, 25–30% of server shipments will go to datacenters managed by service providers, growing to 43% by 2017.

Bigger big data spending

Spending of more than $14 billion on big data technologies and services or 30% growth year-over-year, “as demand for big data analytics skills continues to outstrip supply.” The cloud will play a bigger role predicting a race to develop cloud-based platforms capable of streaming data in real time. There will be increased use by enterprises of externally-sourced data and applications and “data brokers will proliferate.” Explosive growth in big data analytics services, with the number of providers to triple in three years. 2014 spending on these services will exceed $4.5 billion, growing by 21%.