While Hungary’s hardware market shrank around 30pc in the first nine months of this year, demand for IT services fell only slightly or stagnated, Hewlett Packard Hungary CEO Gabor Hegedus said on Wednesday.
Mr Hegedus said there is great uncertainty on the market and corporate IT investments are not expected to increase in 2010. However, he said he expected retail demand to start growing slowly next year.
Answering questions, he said the last quarter will be stronger than the other quarters, just as earlier. However, he said he expected demand to be down by a rate similar rate as in the first three quarters of the year.
Mr Hegedus said companies still had money to spend at the end of 2008, however, they have had to perform several cost cuts since then due to the crisis, which influences their intent to make purchase. He said the cost cuts are not over yet, companies will still have to implement austerity measures next year, which will affect demand for IT products.