East-West Digital News 5 April 2012
After spending three years in a post-crisis mire, IT sales in Russia reached an all-time high in 2011, IDC reported to Vedomosti and CNews.ru. According to IDC analysts, the Russian IT sector posted double-digit gains last year, growing at a CAGR of 25% to $30 billion, staging a spectacular comeback from 2009’s 40% year-on-year sag.
Russia’s IT slump was the most painful among IT markets worldwide, and the recent growth surpassed IDC’s more conservative growth forecasts for 2011, released last November, by more than ten percentage points.
Hardware purchases reportedly accounted for the lion’s share of IT sales last year. In IDC’s estimation, the sector sold $18 billion worth of all types of PCs, as well as monitors, feature phones, and smartphones.
According to IDC Quarterly PC Tracker, in 2011, Russia imported about 12.9 million desktop and portable computers, up 13.4% from 2010 and more than any other single national market in Europe, the Middle East, or Africa (the EMEA area).