Menlo Park, California, USA – June 10, 2011. Pacific Media Associates (PMA), the worldwide market information experts on front projectors, have just released their comprehensive analysis of projector interactivity results of their first quarter census of all front projectors, finding that worldwide shipments of projectors somehow equipped for interactivity will grow from about 1.1 million in 2010 to about 2.9 million in 2015.

PMA divides the front projector market into three brightness ranges, each of which has its own set of vertical markets and applications: New Era (under 500 lumens), Mainstream (500 to 4999 lumens), and High-End (5000 or more lumens). Overall, the Mainstream range is expected to grow from about 7 million units in 2010 to about 11.9 million units in 2015, a compound annual growth rate of 11%. The fastest growing vertical market for Mainstream models is education, which in recent years has resulted in rapid growth of interactive whiteboards and short-throw models, and has propelled the growth of Promethean and SMART Technologies.

“But new technology is emerging that offers a broader range of less-expensive alternatives that we expect will enlarge the overall market for interactivity”, says Dr. William Coggshall, PMA’s president. “Promethean and SMART have increasingly saturated the markets in developed countries and wealthier school districts. While these market leaders add entry-level products for education, and look to expand their presence in other vertical markets, a host of new alternatives have emerged that seek to offer similar functionality at lower prices, and we believe they will succeed in considerably expanding the total market.”

PMA has identified two fast-growing groups of products that offer interactivity. The first, Interactive Projectors/Add-Ons, comprises projectors with built-in interactivity from a range of manufacturers using both 3LCD and DLP technologies and projector add-ons such as 3M Simply Interactive, Luidia eBeam Edge IWB, and the new Chief/Luidia interactive mounts. This group is forecast to grow from 160,000 units in 2010 to 720,000 units in 2015, a compound annual growth rate of 35%.

The second group, Interactive Devices, comprises interactive tablets such as the iPad-based Doceri from SP Controls that control the classroom PC and replace the interactive whiteboard, and interactive tablet PCs such as the Windows-based RM Slate that actually replaces both the classroom PC and the interactive whiteboard. This group is forecast to grow from about 60,000 units in 2010 to slightly over 1 million units in 2015, a compound annual growth rate of 75%.

These new alternatives fuel debates over whether teachers and trainers will be comfortable with moving away from the projected image at the front of the room, how vulnerable the systems are to losing or breaking vital pieces, and other issues. And some of these new alternatives can use normal-throw projectors, which are much cheaper–and less profitable to their makers-than short-throw models. But the lower prices make them attractive to cash-strapped school districts and developing countries, which could dramatically boost total projector volume.

About Pacific Media Associates

Pacific Media specializes in worldwide front projector market information, including New Era (sub-500 lumens), Mainstream (500-4999 lumens), and High-End (5000+ lumens) categories. Their Industry Service family of publications provides detailed worldwide quarterly updates (sell-in data and forecasts) on front projector markets, newsletters on new products and other key industry developments, and biennial Web surveys of North American dealers and end users (including organizations and individual consumers). Their Tracking Service family of monthly reports offers timely sell-through data and analysis on unit sales, true volume-weighted street prices, and inventories of front projectors sold by leading North American retailers, resellers, and distributors. Pacific Media Associates was established- by Dr. William Coggshall, who was a co-founder of Dataquest (now part of Gartner) and helped start the syndicated high-tech market information business. The company headquarters is at 1060 Siskiyou Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025. Telephone +1 650-561-9020 www.pacificmediaassociates.com