Software sales are expected to reach $276 billion in 2014.
This is a result of the increasing number of people using smartphones and tablets for work and play, as well as the continued growth in home computer use.
The top three countries for software sales are United States ($70B), Japan ($34B) and Germany (25B).
A major factor influencing this trend is that many companies store data on servers located outside their borders but with local offices within those territories. As a result, they do not have to pay any taxes or tariffs when transporting or importing goods from other nations into these markets all while avoiding compliance costs by establishing subsidiaries inside tax havens like Bermuda.
The most successful persons in the world, Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett all owe a great deal of their success to software sales.
The global market for new computer hardware is worth $56 billion annually, with the US accounting for 45% of that figure in 2013.
Software developers have traditionally been younger than typical office workers because they need less experience and training. This is changing as more companies require programmers who are graduates from top universities or colleges. However, these positions usually pay quite well so it’s often a trade off between money and time commitment when choosing this career path over others.
In general, small businesses rely on low-cost free/open-source alternatives like WordPress instead of paying expensive licensing fees for enterprise solutions designed for large corporations.
The total cost of developing and maintaining a new software product is typically about $200 million, which includes everything from programming to marketing to public relations. This doesn’t include the time spent by developers working on upgrades for existing products that are in service.
Software development teams implement three main types of practices:
Agile (short-term goal setting), Scrum (teamwork) or waterfall (sequential phases with deep analysis).
There’s no one right answer but it has been shown that more people prefer agile methods than others as they don’t require extensive documentation upfront, have less risk associated with changes due to the short term nature, and address risks earlier when possible before an issue becomes severe enough to cause significant.