Asia Pacific to benefit from seismic shift in software development
Asia Pacific to benefit from seismic shift in software development
Apr 22, 2005: A shift is occurring in the geographical make-up of software developers worldwide, with the Asia Pacific region to experience the highest growth in professional software developers through to 2008. China and India will be at the forefront of the increase, with compound annual growth rates (CAGR) of 25.6 percent and 24.5 percent respectively.
That is according to a new study by IDC, which also predicts that the Asia Pacific region will surpass North America in the overall number of professional developers by early next year. North America continues to lead all other regions of the world in the highest penetration of professional developers per capita by a wide margin.
"Given that China and India alone represent more than one-third of the world's population and with many vendors expecting Asia Pacific to pick up in terms of IT spending, the rise to dominance by Asia Pacific is expected," said Stephen Hendrick, group vice president of IDC's Application Development and Deployment Research. "For the large economy of North America, which has historically been the home of most developers, program development automation techniques, offshoring, and increasing productivity are all likely to put downward pressure on the rate at which the number of professional developers in North America increases."
IDC forecasts that the total number of professional developers worldwide will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 9.8 percent between now and 2008, reaching 14.9 million in 2008. This forecast is based on worldwide population statistics, changes in literacy, and growth in IT spending.
Hendrick added that while most vendors will continue to target the larger markets, the less-developed nations present an opportunity to make significant gains that would be impossible in the more hotly contested environments.
"Many developing countries will need additional training opportunities as well as software and documentation in their native languages. Those vendors that are willing to address these smaller markets can potentially garner a larger share of those markets than would be possible in the largest markets, which will be targeted by the majority of vendors."
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