At least one third of spending on business application software will be through service subscriptions by 2012, according to analyst Gartner.

Mainstream SaaS use will increase steadily over four years as organisations choose to pay service fees in proportion to use, rather than the fixed price of a licence.

During the same year, half of travelling workers will favour small portable devices over notebooks.

By 2011, Apple's US and Western Europe unit market share in computers is predicted to double, while companies wishing to remain preferred suppliers to large global organisations will have to satisfy an audited process to prove their green credentials the analyst said.

And within two years, 50 per cent of software, hardware and service purchasing will be decided by end user preferences.