Smartphone Sales Surge within the Middle East and Africa

Middle East and Africa smartphone shipments will total 155 million units in 2015, according to IDC. Smartphones accounted for 63% of the handsets shipped in the Middle East during the quarter and 47% in Africa.

via IDC

Mobile Internet Use Dominates in the Middle East and Africa

There’s no doubt that the internet population in the Middle East and North Africa is a mobile-first one. According to study findings, 93% of internet users across Lebanon, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Egypt went online via mobile phone. Just 73% did so via a desktop or laptop computer.

via eMarketer

Line of Business Leaders Gain Growing Role in IT Procurement

Over 60% of Gulf-based CIOs now believe their IT functions are well aligned with the aims of the broader business, but there’s a shift in the procurement of cloud, mobile and big data analytics — with Line-of-Business heads increasingly becoming involved in the final decision.

via IDC

Cloud Infrastructure Investment Growth is Up by 28% in EMEA

According to IDC, IT infrastructure spending for public and private cloud computing in EMEA grew by 27% to reach $1.1 billion in revenue in 4Q14 and totaled around $4.1 billion for all 2014 — with 28% growth over 2013.

via IDC

Growing the Internet of Things Upside for Developing Nations

The Internet of Things (IoT) market in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (CEMA) region is taking off. In 2015, the IoT market in CEMA will soar, enabling business process innovation and driving the digital transformation. IDC expects the CEMA IoT market to exceed $50 billion by 2018.

via IDC

Hybrid Cloud Gains Momentum in Growing Middle East Market

IT services will see the fastest growth, with the year to be characterized by growing interest in hybrid cloud solutions as the flexibility of this cloud model begins to resonate with Saudi CIOs looking for a viable and effective halfway between on-premise technology and remotely delivered services.

via IDC

Middle East and Africa ICT Spend to Reach $270 Billion in 2015

Spending on ICT products and services in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) will cross the $270 billion mark in 2015 and the market is expected to grow 9% year on year, according to IDC. This makes MEA the second-fastest growing market worldwide, with the SaaS cloud segment set to perform particularly strongly, expanding 29% year on year.

via IDC

Mobile Cloud Opportunities in APAC and MEA Markets

Asia–Pacific (APAC) and the Middle East and Africa (MEA) are two of the most fertile regions for digital economy deployments. APAC dominates MEA in terms of the number of cloud-based services initiatives. This is stimulated by mobile internet and cloud service usage – smartphone penetration as a proportion of total active handset connections in APAC will reach 34% by the end of 2014, while it will be 16% in MEA.

via Analysys Mason

Smartphones Gain Momentum in the Middle East and Africa

The Middle East and Africa (MEA) handset market grew to its largest size in ten quarters in Q2 2014, expanding 27% year on year to total 64 million units. Smartphone share of the market jumped 13 percentage points year on year to reach 40% in Q2 2014, with that figure reaching as high as 75–80% in some of the region’s more developed countries.

via IDC

Mobile and Cloud Investment will Drive IT Spending Growth

IT spending by financial institutions in the big four markets of the Middle East and Africa is set for strong year-on-year growth of 10.8% in 2014. CIOs plan to invest in various new technologies over the next two years, with enterprise mobility, big data and private cloud computing proving the most popular. Total IT spending in this space is set to reach $4.3 billion in 2014.

via IDC