Record-breaking Q3 Sales for Interactive Whiteboards and Flat Panel Displays

Online, November 21, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Sales of interactive whiteboards and interactive flat panel displays in the education and corporate sectors achieved close to 400,000 displays in Q3 2013, up 3% on last year and making it the largest Q3 on record, according to the latest quarterly research from Futuresource Consulting.

"The interactive whiteboard market has grown at a tremendous pace over the last decade. Initially finding a foothold in the UK, Mexico and the USA, the technology is now used across the globe," says Colin Messenger, Senior Market Analyst at Futuresource Consulting.

"Though as the technology has evolved over the last few years, interactive flat panels are moving centre stage and becoming the dominant future purchase in the overall interactive display market. Initially we're only seeing a handful of countries use this technology, but this is accelerating and will encourage additional vendors into the marketplace."

Asia Dominating, USA Subsiding
Asia still dominates the market with sales of over 250,000, representing 38% YoY growth and accounting for 2/3 of the global share. Asia is also forecast to remain the largest region for the next five years with 40% share in 2017, with China being the driving force. With sales of 230k and 88% of the sales across the Asia region, China is the largest world country market representing 58%.

In contrast, the American market is experiencing a decrease of 15% YoY. Volumes are forecast to remain flat over the next three years before growth, spurred on by corporate sales, which are currently 18% and forecast to be 43% of the market in 2017.

"The US market continues to be hit by the perfect storm of severe budgetary pressures and the persistence of the iPad craze," says Messenger. "Over half of classrooms already have interactive displays, and interactive projectors will have penetration levels of 55% by the end of 2013, on track to reach 69% by 2017."

EMEA on Track
EMEA performed above target in the quarter, spurred on by strong performances from Russia and the UK.

"Phase 2 of FATIH (Turkey's National Education Project) is expected to start in 2014 and Futuresource projections show that this will account for over half of all sales in EMEA", says Messenger. "Without this tender the market would be level.

"However, FATIH could be a huge loss-making deal for any vendor. There are high risks with signs of instability in the country. The tender specs are very complicated, the investment is huge and the deal is priced in Turkish Lira which has recently devalued and the expected prices are extremely low."

In the UK, interactive flat panel displays are starting to take market share from interactive whiteboards, and some of the first replacement boards are now being purchased. Twice as many IFPDs were sold this quarter than Q3 last year and by 2016 more IFPDs will be sold than IWBs, which in turn will create the faster value growth.

The Global Perspective
Futuresource forecasts show that the total display technologies market of interactive whiteboards, interactive flat panels and interactive projectors will exceed 1 million devices by 2017. However, the adoption rates of the three products are very different by country and even by region (Futuresource has compared all three technologies in 67 countries).

"In 2012, over three million tablets were purchased by schools across the globe and this has definitely contributed to increased competition for education budgets.

"The scale of the corporate space presents a number of alternative opportunities, as there are over twice the number of meeting rooms than school classrooms. As a result, moving forward we see the corporate market as the fastest growing sector, increasing to 24% by 2017, with the growth coming from more developed markets like the USA, UK, Germany and Sweden."

Notes
Futuresource Consulting is a specialist research and knowledge-based consulting company, providing organisations with insight into consumer electronics, digital imaging, entertainment media, broadcast, storage media, education technology and IT. With a heritage stretching back to the 1980s, the company delivers in-depth analysis and forecasts on a global scale, advising on strategic positioning, market trends, competitive forces and technological developments.

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