Corporate IT spending has driven off a cliff. No one should be surprised. The recession has cut into corporate revenue. Many companies are faced with cutting society or upgrading hardware and other services.

Most firms will elect to keep personnel, whether they can, and dump plan for new electronics

According to ChangeWave, 45% of companies it surveyed said they will cut IT spending in Q1 of next year. That is up from about 30% when the poll was taken three months ago. Those firms which plan to increase IT spending for the same period is down to 10%.

The only bright spot in that cloudy sky is purchases of smartphones. Corporations planning

to build that investment rose modestly to 35% when they looked at the quarter ahead.

The biggest beneficiary of the modest trend in smartphone buying is RIM (RIMM) and its ubiquitous Blackberry. Seventy-eight percent of companies planning to pick up that kind of hardware are going with RIMM. Only 22% will buy Apple (AAPL) iPhones.

But, Apple is gaining. In the final survey, only 17% favored its device. For the moment being, it is still a toy for consumers.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Original post by 24/7 Wall St.

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