kicked off a strong tech earnings season in January, reporting that net income for the fourth quarter rose 9 percent year over year to $5.3 billion, while revenue increased by 7 percent to $29 billion. It was the strongest quarterly sales increase for IBM in almost 10 years, and in line with predictions that enterprise sales, particularly software, will be a key driver of growth for IT for the foreseeable future.

Mobile devices including tablets will also fuel growth for tech, according to a slew of recent reports. For example, 10.1 million media tablets were shipped in the fourth quarter of 2010, more than double the 4.5 million shipped in the third quarter, .

The report also said that the eReader market jumped up in the fourth quarter. Strong sales of Amazon's Kindle and gains from Pandigital, Barnes & Noble, Hanvon, and Sony also contributed to market growth, IDC said. The eReader market in the fourth quarter more than doubled in volume from the previous quarter, with more than 6 million units shipped, IDC said.

"Strong holiday sales of media tablets were in line with IDC projections and strong consumer interest in the category while device vendors scrambled to offer products competitive with Apple's iPad and now iPad 2," said Loren Loverde, an IDC vice president, in the report.

Apple, which has more than 90 percent of the tablet market at this point, is releasing the iPad 2 Friday and is basking in the glow of its latest hit product. Apple shares were up by $4.89 to $351.52 in late afternoon trading.