Desktops and mobiles feel cold draft of economic downturn

I've been collecting anecdotal evidence of how and where the economic downturn is affecting the tech sector. Last night Dell CFO Donald J. Carty says “U.S. business customers are holding back from spending on desktops". He added that "U.S. companies may continue to defer technology spending into this summer”.

Then this morning, from a note I picked up in the excellent StrategyEye (well, I am an angel investor!) - Handeset sales down 16.4% in Western Europe

This reads - Sales of mobile phones were down 16.4% in Western Europe in the first quarter of 2008, says Gartner. It is the first decline in the region since Gartner began tracking the mobile device market in 2001. However, global sales of mobile phones continued to grow, primarily driven by emerging markets. Gartner estimates that around 294.3m mobile phones were sold worldwide in Q1, a 13.6% increase over the same quarter in 2007.

"Mature markets felt the pressure of an uncertain economic environment," says Carolina Milanesi, research director for mobile devices at Gartner. "Sales of high-end devices, in particular, were lower as consumers turned to mid-tier devices when looking to upgrade their old phones."