Next Gen Tech Markets

With affluent markets maturing, tech's next 1 billion customers will be Chinese, Indian, Brazilian, Thailand, etc. In reaching them, the industry will be deeply transformed.

Tech companies are scrambling to cash in on what they hope will be the next great growth wave. Led by China, India, Russia, and Brazil, emerging markets are expected to see tech sales surge 11% per year over the next half decade, to $230 billion, according to IDC. What makes these markets so appealing is not just the poor, but also the growing ranks of the middle-class consumers.

Already, there are 60 million in China and 200 million in India, and their numbers are growing fast. These newly wealthy consumers are showing a taste for fashionable brands and for products every bit as capable as those available to Americans, Japanese, and Germans.

That tantalizing opportunity is drawing all of tech's big players. Microsoft is hawking software in Malaysia, Intel is pushing its chips in India, Cisco Systems is in Sri Lanka, and on and on. IBM says emerging markets are now a top priority. "We'll be even more aggressive," says IBM Chief Executive Samuel J. Palmisano. In Brazil, where IBM's revenues just zoomed past $1 billion, Big Blue plans on hiring 2,000 people and spending an additional $100 million on market development.

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