IT Growth Up, But Hiring Stalled: A KPMG survey of 102 C-Level executives found that IT hardware and software companies expect to see most of their revenue come from the U.S. market this year, a reversal from the last two years when China and India led. But at the same time, the respondents aren’t as bullish on hiring as they were a year ago. In 2010, 72 percent anticipated an increase in their companies' headcounts. But this year, they were less optimistic, with 49 percent predicting a headcount increase this year. Overall, 27 perccent said headcount had reached or exceeded pre-recession levels, and 42 percent said headcount would return to pre-recession levels over the next 18 months. Just 21 percent said it would never return to those levels. Computerworld Developer Defections May Hurt RIM: Research In Motion has a problem: Developers who have been creating apps for the BlackBerry OS are starting to walk away, seeking the growth potential of Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android OS. “You have to put your resources where the growth is,” says Seesmic Chief Executive Officer Loic Le Meur. “It’s coming down to the explosive growth of the iPhone and the Android operating systems.” RIM’s share of global smartphone sales is down from 19.7 percent for Q1 a year ago to 12.9 percent this year. It’s app store has about 35,000 apps, less than 10 percent of the number at Apple’s AppStore. Bloomberg After Myspace Sale, Layoffs: Now that Myspace has been sold for the fire sale price of $35 million, layoffs will be following. Some reports say 150 of its around 400 employees are rumored to be set for pink slips immediately, and another 150 will be phased out later. (Others estimate a lower toll.) All this comes just six months after the company cut 47 percent of its staff. One new employee: Justin Timberlake, who is being brought on to try to add some sizzle to what’s left of the once popular social network. The Washington Post Google’s Facebook Competitor May Have Appeal for Enterprises: Who would be crazy enough to try to unseat Facebook from the top of the social media mountain? Google. It’s upcoming Google+, pre-released this week, is Facebook-like but adds the ability to segregate friends into groups of any type or size. This gives users the chance to split their personal and professional contacts and update each one in the most appropriate way. Such a feature could help Google+ make its way into businesses, where concerns about social media “oversharing” have been commonplace. CNN IT Spending Will Rise 5.6 Percent This Year: Spending on information technology by companies and governments in the U.S. will grow 5.6 percent this year, according to a survey by International Data Corp. That’s about double the estimated increase for the U.S. gross domestic product. Top spending categories should include security initiatives, business analytics and smart monitoring technologies to help run more efficient organizations. The 5.6 percent figure is about the same as 2010's figure. Bloomberg At Home and At Work, Smartphones Rule: According to Nielsen’s May survey of U.S. mobile consumers, 38 percent own smartphones, and just over half of those who purchased a new handset in the past three months bought a smartphone instead of a more retro phone. That's up from 34 percent a year ago. iPhone users may be surprised to learn that Android continues to be the most popular smartphone operating system, at 38 percent market share. Nielsen Upcoming Tech Events Excellence in Government: Managing in a Cutback Climate July 11—Washington, D.C. In an era of pay freezes and severe budget cuts, federal managers need to be more creative and efficient in their efforts to retain talented employees, compete with the private sector and execute on high-importance performance initiatives. Hear from experts in workforce planning and human resources organizations about the most effective practices in hiring, training, collaboration, and leadership development. E-Mail Management for Today's Business Needs July 13, 2:00 PM ET—Online Join this AIIM webinar to examine e-mail management from a current ROI perspective. Learn practical steps to get your email under control and be integrated into your business processes so seamlessly that it is easy and second-nature for staff to maintain your email management plans. IT Leadership Strategies July 14—Chicago How do you define IT Leadership? Does it consist of aligning IT with the business? Driving business efforts forward? Increasing quality of IT services? What skills does it take to be an effective IT Leader? How do you lead IT during challenging economic times? Learn about all these topics and more at this day-long event. FOSE 2011 July 19-21—Washington, D.C. The FOSE Conference serves the federal, state and local government technology market as well as the broader international and commercial technology community as a forum for bridging ideas and innovations between the public and private sector—and provides forward-looking view of upcoming federal IT initiat Weekly Roundup: U.S. IT Revenue Leads the World, But What About Jobs?
IT Growth Up, But Hiring Stalled: A KPMG survey of 102 C-Level executives found that IT hardware and software companies expect to see most of their revenue come from the U.S. market this year, a reversal from the last two years when China and India led. But at the same time, the respondents aren’t as bullish on hiring as they were a year ago. In 2010, 72 percent anticipated an increase in their companies' headcounts. But this year, they were less optimistic, with 49 percent predicting a headcount increase this year. Overall, 27 perccent said headcount had reached or exceeded pre-recession levels, and 42 percent said headcount would return to pre-recession levels over the next 18 months. Just 21 percent said it would never return to those levels. Computerworld Developer Defections May Hurt RIM: Research In Motion has a problem: Developers who have been creating apps for the BlackBerry OS are starting to walk away, seeking the growth potential of Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android OS. “You have to put your resources where the growth is,” says Seesmic Chief Executive Officer Loic Le Meur. “It’s coming down to the explosive growth of the iPhone and the Android operating systems.” RIM’s share of global smartphone sales is down from 19.7 percent for Q1 a year ago to 12.9 percent this year. It’s app store has about 35,000 apps, less than 10 percent of the number at Apple’s AppStore. Bloomberg After Myspace Sale, Layoffs: Now that Myspace has been sold for the fire sale price of $35 million, layoffs will be following. Some reports say 150 of its around 400 employees are rumored to be set for pink slips immediately, and another 150 will be phased out later. (Others estimate a lower toll.) All this comes just six months after the company cut 47 percent of its staff. One new employee: Justin Timberlake, who is being brought on to try to add some sizzle to what’s left of the once popular social network. The Washington Post Google’s Facebook Competitor May Have Appeal for Enterprises: Who would be crazy enough to try to unseat Facebook from the top of the social media mountain? Google. It’s upcoming Google+, pre-released this week, is Facebook-like but adds the ability to segregate friends into groups of any type or size. This gives users the chance to split their personal and professional contacts and update each one in the most appropriate way. Such a feature could help Google+ make its way into businesses, where concerns about social media “oversharing” have been commonplace. CNN IT Spending Will Rise 5.6 Percent This Year: Spending on information technology by companies and governments in the U.S. will grow 5.6 percent this year, according to a survey by International Data Corp. That’s about double the estimated increase for the U.S. gross domestic product. Top spending categories should include security initiatives, business analytics and smart monitoring technologies to help run more efficient organizations. The 5.6 percent figure is about the same as 2010's figure. Bloomberg At Home and At Work, Smartphones Rule: According to Nielsen’s May survey of U.S. mobile consumers, 38 percent own smartphones, and just over half of those who purchased a new handset in the past three months bought a smartphone instead of a more retro phone. That's up from 34 percent a year ago. iPhone users may be surprised to learn that Android continues to be the most popular smartphone operating system, at 38 percent market share. Nielsen Upcoming Tech Events Excellence in Government: Managing in a Cutback Climate July 11—Washington, D.C. In an era of pay freezes and severe budget cuts, federal managers need to be more creative and efficient in their efforts to retain talented employees, compete with the private sector and execute on high-importance performance initiatives. Hear from experts in workforce planning and human resources organizations about the most effective practices in hiring, training, collaboration, and leadership development. E-Mail Management for Today's Business Needs July 13, 2:00 PM ET—Online Join this AIIM webinar to examine e-mail management from a current ROI perspective. Learn practical steps to get your email under control and be integrated into your business processes so seamlessly that it is easy and second-nature for staff to maintain your email management plans. IT Leadership Strategies July 14—Chicago How do you define IT Leadership? Does it consist of aligning IT with the business? Driving business efforts forward? Increasing quality of IT services? What skills does it take to be an effective IT Leader? How do you lead IT during challenging economic times? Learn about all these topics and more at this day-long event. FOSE 2011 July 19-21—Washington, D.C. The FOSE Conference serves the federal, state and local government technology market as well as the broader international and commercial technology community as a forum for bridging ideas and innovations between the public and private sector—and provides forward-looking view of upcoming federal IT initiat 
