IBM will face trouble in 2010...
IBM painting a rosy outlook based on the fact that they've cut expenses like expensive employees in the states and then pushed their jobs to lower cost centers like India, VietNam, Brazil, China, etc ...
But what happens when they win a deal in the US? Do they hire a US subcontractor or do they bring in a body from overseas? (On shoring).
What does the customer think when it comes time to renew their contracts?
IBM has let the cat out of the bag and is relatively overcharging the customer. That's right. When the first outsourcing deal was done, it was based on US employee pricing metrics. Now that IBM's sub'd to offshore resources, the next time the contract is negotiated, the customer will argue that their price should drop to reflect the lower cost/skilled worker.
In short, IBM cuts margin, customers demand steeper discounts. Its a death spiral because sooner or later the margins and the quality will suffer to a point that customer looks elsewhere, willing to pay more for better service.
There's more to this, but you get the idea.