Monday 15 September 2008

Jeremy

Egypt powers towards IT sophistication with "up to 80%" counterfeit software

PR-Inside reports on the latest account from companiesandmarkets.com on the rapid advance of Egypt towards a higher degree of IT sophistication. Key findings of the report include the following:

* while computers remain a luxury item for many Egyptians, a large, young population and increasing affordability should underpin growth.

* the overall IT market size is expected to increase from US$889 million in 2007 to around US$1.3 billion in 2012.

* following the government’s plan to make Egypt an outsourcing and call-centre hub, IT services should grow rapidly over the next forecast period.

* the ‘Computer for Every Home’ programme in 2006, with more than 1.4m sales, was followed up in 2007 by the launch of ‘Nation Online’.

* in the past year or so, an increasing number of tech firms have taken advantage of lower costs to set up in Egypt.
However, overall spending on software remains low, amounting to an estimated US$137m in 2007. One explanation for the low spending on software is piracy, with up to 80% of some IT goods being counterfeit.

Jeremy

Jeremy

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