No 90's growth rates in 21st century.

The computer market is experiencing a 'change of gear' as the industry enters a mature phase, according to Key Note, a UK market intelligence provider. The market was worth an estimated P 36.96 bn in 2002, a marginal decline on the previous year and only reached an estimated P37.11bn in 2003. All three sectors--hardware, software and services--experienced a sharp reduction in annual sales growth between 2001 and 2003. Hardware was hit especially hard, seeing a decline in value in both 2002 and 2003. The report predicts that conditions will improve after 2004, but there will be no return to the double-digit annual growth rates seen in the 1990s. The computer services sector is expected to perform best and is forecast to be worth P 26.99bn by 2008, compared with P 18.53bn in 2003, an average annual increase of 9.14%. By contrast, over the same period, software is forecast to grow from P 7.42bn to P 9.56bn (5.78% average annual growth) and hardware from P11.17 bn to P13.29 bn, an average annual increase of only 3.82%. www.keynote.co.uk