Apparently David Cameron isn't the only one keen on investing in IT. According to figures published by the European Information Technology Observatory (EITO), the UK is leading the Union in IT spending, with investment increasing in the double-digits compared to last year.
The numbers suggest that total sales of computers, printers and peripherals in Britain added up to around €19 billion in the past 12 months, or just over 16 billion of her majesty's finest pounds. This marks an 11 per cent increase over last year, with PC sales alone increasing by 13 per cent to 16 million units. According to project manager Frank Früh, "especially strong demand by private consumers is breathing new life into the PC market," resulting in the above average growth.
While it won't be quite as drastic as it was this year, IT spending in 2011 is expected to continue to grow by a still-solid 2.6 per cent. The digital consumer-electronics market in the UK is also expected to start to grow by a small amount after several years of double-digit decline.
These numbers mean that Britain will stay above the Europe-wide average in CE, IT and overall ICT spending as we move through next year.
The news shows that the UK is finally starting to move past the turmoil of the financial crisis. It's clear that, with a little more cash in their pockets, consumers are starting to feel comfortable spending more on computers which they may have been putting off while the future was less certain.
