2009's edition

Future outlooks from 2008’s lessons

This time round, the crisis has not been caused by excessive exuberance in the Internet and mobile sectors. DigiWorld markets are nevertheless affected by the financial andeconomic downturn, albeit not all to the same extent. Applications and services based on recurring revenue seem to be faring better than hardware markets and services that depend directly on advertising expenditures except for the top Internet players preserved by the sector’s dynamics. Added to the crisis are cyclical effects in some segments suchas Europe’s telecom services market which, despite maintaining healthy margins, is onthe lookout for new growth outlets.

The DigiWorld will emerge from this recession considerably alte-red. Mergers have largely been frozen for now, yet technical innovation, the development of new services, the search for new business models and radical changes in user behaviour patterns have apparently not been put on hold. What better argument for inclu-ding digital industries in economic stimulus packages?

This 9th edition of the DigiWorld Yearbook provides data on the different markets that make up the digital world, rarely assembled in a single volume, combined with analyses from IDATE’s experts and an examination of the major events of the year gone by.