Menlo Park, California, USA – June 9, 2011. Pacific Media Associates (PMA), the worldwide market information experts on front projectors, have just released their latest forecast, which takes into account in full detail the impact of the March 11 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, predicting that total worldwide unit shipments will grow 24% from the 8.5 million units in 2010 to 10.5 million units in 2011. Because of the March 11 disasters, this forecast is about 300,000 units less than their post-Q1 forecast update, with most of the impact coming in Q2 and Q3. Unlike industries such as automobiles, most projectors are not made in Japan itself, although some components are heavily though not exclusively sourced from Japan.

By 2015 PMA expects total unit shipments to reach 39.7 million units, a figure that is actually slightly higher than their post-Q1 forecast update. But the totals don’t tell the whole story, as there are important developments in the three brightness ranges, each of which has its own set of buyer types and applications: New Era (under 500 lumens), Mainstream (500 to 4999 lumens), and High-End (5000 or more lumens).

The New Era range comprises a wide variety of configurations, from tiny modules embedded in mobile or large host devices, to stand-alone pico projectors and toy/gaming models, to larger and brighter personal projector models. All of the products (including the tiny optical engines used in embedded devices) are small and low-priced, and a large fraction of the buyers are individual consumers. Because it is the newest, and the rate of innovation is highest, the New Era range is expected to grow from about 1 million units in 2010 to about 27 million units in 2015, a compound annual growth rate of 90%. There are myriad important technological and business developments in this range, from the emergence of a whole new technology for green lasers to whole new classes of applications enabled by the small size and low cost of the optical engines.

The Mainstream range comprises models of types that have been used for many years in classrooms and corporations. These projectors range in size from ones small enough to be carried by road warriors to ones that are mounted on a ceiling or a wall. This range also includes the fast-growing interactive projectors and ultra-short-throw projectors 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%. Although this is by far the slowest-growing range, PMA expects that it, too, will adopt new laser and LED illumination technology, and significantly expand its interactivity, 3D-ready, and PC-free capabilities.

The High-End range comprises models intended for showing giant-sized images to large audiences in auditoriums, theaters, and other large spaces as well as for simulation and visualization applications. The High-End range is expected to grow from about 165,000 units in 2010 to about 425,000 units in 2015, a compound annual growth rate of 21%. 3D is already a big hit in Digital Cinema, and laser and LED illumination promise to compete hard to displace xenon lamps for the highest brightness levels.

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