German IT market grows stronger than rest of economy

Deutsche Welle, 18 october 2012

Germany's information technology and telecommunications market looks set to perform better this year than most other sectors of the economy. Experts speak of unexpectedly high demand for new devices and services.

IT businesses in Germany are doing much better in 2012 than expected at the beginning of the year, the country's umbrella organization for the information technology and telecommunications industries, Bitkom, reported on Thursday.

It expected domestic companies in the sector to log revenues of 152 billion euros ($199 billion) throughout 2012, up 2.8 percent from 2011 levels and far more than the 1.6 percent penciled in by Bitkom earlier this year.

"Private households and industry are currently investing more in new devices and IT solutions," Bitkom Chief Dieter Kemp said in a statement.

Smart gadgets a hit

Kemp said tablet PCs and intelligent network solutions had been the market's shooting stars this year. He noted that tablet devices for instance would most likely see a rise in revenues by no less than 41 percent year-on-year to total 1.6 billion euros.

Bitkom added that smartphone sales in the country would even post a 43-percent jump, with an estimated 23 million units expected to find new owners.

The umbrella organization said the IT markets would be able to at least partially offset slumps in other sectors by posting growth far above the forecast 0.8 percent for the whole economy in 2012.

"IT and telecommunications companies in Germany will create some 10,000 new jobs," Kemp said. The good news came at a time of disappointing earnings reports from a number of global IT leaders. Chip maker Intel for instance announced low quarterly earnings on Tuesday, partly as a result of its products rarely being used so far in tablets and smartphones.

hg/pfd (Reuters, dpa)