ComputerWorld today reports a Gartner projection for 2012: the spending amout for IT, consumer electronics, mobile phones, digital media and services will reach $2.1 trillion by the end of the year.
That’s $114 billion more than 2011 (roughly +5%) which is good news considering we’re in the middle of a worldwide economic downturn.
Projections for 2016 report of a grand total $2.7 trillion, where the largest segments will be mobile-related.
Consumer spending on mobile apps stores and e-text content is expected to triple by 2016 — from $18 billion in 2012 to $61 billion, Sabia added. Spending on e-text content (e-books, online news, magazines and information services) will rise from $5 billion in 2012 to $16 billion by 2016.
Moreover mobile phones will account for 10% or $222 billion of the total consumer tech market in 2012. The total is expected to climb to almost $300 billion by 2016.
Which business model will drive multimedia content selling and delivery?
Entertainment services, including cable, satellite, IPTV and online gaming is expected to grow from $210 billion this year to almost $290 billion in 2016, according to Gartner.
“Our research consistently shows that consumers are willing to pay for content they deem ‘worth it’,” said Gartner analyst Amanda Sabia.
“However, our research has also found that consumers are willing to tolerate an ad-supported business model in exchange for free functions and content such as personal cloud storage, social networking, information searching, email, IM, person-to-person (P2P) voice (Skype and mobile voice over IP [VoIP]), streaming/downloading video and musical content when accessing the Internet,” she added.
So is the dreaded freemium or ad-supported business model still a winning choice (considering consumers’ sentiment)?
Looks like it is…
[Via Gartner and ComputerWorld]
