http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1432430/the-worst-tech-industry
The worst may be over for the tech industry
Forrester says people are buying again
THE WORST might be over for the technology market, according to the prophecy division at Forrester Research.
After staring for some days into a pool of ink, the analysts see better days ahead for the technology industry, despite some of the worst first quarter figures on record.
After receiving confirmation from the coffee grounds, the research firm revised its forecast for 2009. It now expects the US technology market to shrink by five percent this year.
Ironically this is worse than what it was telling us in March when it predicted a three per cent decline in spending on technology products and services, but that might have been due to a dirty coffee cup.
Forrester says that the recession and the big drops in business investments are the reasons for the decline. But it thinks that businesses and governments overreacted to last year's credit crunch and the ensuing global recession.
It says that buyers had cut back too much on spending in the past nine months and when they realise that the recession is not as deep, or as long-lasting, as they had feared, they will resume technology spending.
The research outfit expects the US tech sector will hit bottom in the third quarter and begin to recover in the fourth. It predicts that growth will resume in 2010, when it expects telecom spending to grow by about 7 per cent.
Spending on computer products is also expected to decline by 10 per cent this year, though it will increase by nearly 12 percent next year.
Even so, 2010 spending will still be lower than 2007, Forrester said.