DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/8d8d7b/argentina_informat) has announced the addition of the "Argentina Information Technology Report Q1 2011" report to their offering.
The Argentina Information Technology Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, information technology associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Argentina's information technology industry.
Argentina's IT spending is forecast by BMI to grow at a CAGR of 16% over 2011-2015, with spending bouncing back in 2010 from a sharp contraction in 2009. The IT market is expected to grow by around 13% in 2011, faster than domestic GDP growth. In H110 there was a sharp rise in imports of computers, which were up 76.8% year-on-year (y-o-y), according to figures from customs.
The Argentine IT market is the second largest in Latin America. Per capita IT spend is seen as rising from US$104 in 2011 to US$182 in 2015. The market is dominated by the capital Buenos Aires, which accounts for 26% of household appliance sales, including computer hardware.
New cloud computing offerings and increased competition in this segment should fuel further demand from end-users to utilise this technology. Educational tenders will be another area of opportunity, with a tender to deliver 3mn PCs to public schools announced in April. Key prospects for enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations and systems upgrades will include companies focused on regional expansion and export-oriented industries.
Industry Developments
In November 2010, Argentina's congress delayed a bill which proposed changes to the software promotion law. Under the proposed bill, supported by Argentina's president Cristina Fernandez, software export firms would have received tax benefits. The bill proposed a concession of up to 70% in corporate tax, and a rebate of up to 60% of income tax.
In April 2010, the Argentine government launched a tender to provide 3mn PCs to public schools nationwide. The programme, called Conectar Ingualdad, was announced by President Cristina Fernndez. The tender will be run through state social security agency ANSES, with the 3mn PCs due to be distributed in early 2011.
The announcement of the government tender for 3mn notebooks computers for schools again raised questions about the domestic computer industry's production capacity. The government has ruled that half of the PCs must be manufactured in Argentina, which over three years would add at least another 500,000 computers to annual production. The most likely approach to achieve this is through joint ventures between local and multinational manufacturers.
Competitive Landscape
2010 saw the emergence in the Argentinean market of tablet notebooks, spearheaded by Apple's iPad. Initial sales of Apple's iPad were strong and other vendors have followed Apple in releasing net tablet devices. In December 2010, Argentinean operator Movistar launched Samsung's Android-based Galaxy Tab device, which was available for ARS3,999 with a Movistar package.
In July 2010, Microsoft estimated that around 500,000 Windows 7 licenses had been sold in Argentina since the October 2009 launch of the operating system on the local market. Microsoft forecast that sales would rise 20% in the second half of 2010, with business demand growing 30%.
HP accounted for the largest share of PCs imported in H110, with 27% according to customs data, followed by Dell with 17% and 15.3% for Lenovo. These figures did not include locally assembled PCs, which typically account for around 60% of the total. In mid-2010, Intel, which won another recent government education PC tender, was among those companies expected to bid for the newly announced education sector tender.
A major area of opportunity for IT services vendors will be public and private sector organisation demand for help to utilise cloud computing solutions. In November 2010, telco Telefonica Argentina announced plans to invest ARS50mn in cloud computing services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by the end of 2011. Meanwhile in June 2010, Japanese giant NEC announced the launch of a cloud computing-base general education system for the Ministry of Education in Argentina's San Juan province.
Computer Sales
BMI projects that Argentina's computer and accessories market will have a CAGR of around 14% over 2011-2015, reaching around US$3.9bn by 2015. Argentine sales of computer hardware are projected to grow again in 2011, consolidating a strong bounce-back in 2010.
With PC penetration only around 25%, there is still plenty of growth potential and penetration is expected to rise above 30% by 2015. Going forward, drivers include affordable PC programmes for households and schools, as well as growing broadband penetration, retail channel expansion and the popularity of notebooks and netbooks.
Software
Argentina's software market is projected to be worth US$745mn in 2011 and software CAGR for 2011- 2015 is forecast at around 17%. Software piracy is still above 70% and higher than in Brazil and some other Latin American countries, although law enforcement agencies have mounted periodic crackdowns against illegal software.
Demand from SMEs for ERP applications should continue to grow, particularly in relatively untapped provincial areas. The main functional category currently remains ERP solutions, estimated to account for more than 80% of the enterprise software total. However, vendors will increasingly look to applications such as customer relationship management (CRM) and business intelligence, where faster growth is projected.
IT Services
Argentina's IT services market is forecast at around US$1.2bn in 2011, following a return to double-digit growth in 2010 after a sharp deceleration because of the economic contraction. For a developing market, the percentage of Argentine IT market revenues generated by services is fairly typical at around 25%, although lower than some other countries in the region where the services share is already above 30%. IT services revenues are expected to grow faster than the market as a whole, with organisations looking for help to utilise efficiencies from cloud computing. Led by the financial, telecoms and public sectors, there is a trend towards bigger managed service and outsourcing deals in key sectors of the local market. However, traditional services such as desktop support are still the mainstay.
E-Readiness
Argentina has one of the most dynamic telecoms markets in the region, with a dramatic expansion in the number of mobile subscribers in the past few years. Fixed-line penetration is among the highest in Latin America, providing a good platform for strong growth in broadband services adoption.
Companies Mentioned:
- Microsoft
- Dell (Argentina)
- Sicsa
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/8d8d7b/argentina_informat