Futuresource consulting is predicting that worldwide interactive whiteboard sales will top 1,000,000 in 2010, in a new strategic report.
In 2009 the figure was 750,000 units. “All regions experienced major growth last year, spread across multiple countries rather than localised hotspots,” said Colin Messenger, senior consultant at Futuresource.
He continued: “Back in 2005, only three countries sold more than 10,000 units; last year we saw 12 countries hit this level. Driven by continued technological developments, our projections show that one in six classrooms will have an interactive whiteboard by 2012. There is a justifiably strong mood of optimism amongst manufacturers.”
In the 66 countries covered in the report, Messenger calculates that there are in excess of 31 million classrooms, a massive potential market.
“Our research has shown that there have been no real signs of recession in education technology,” he continued. “Few markets hold the promise of education, where we’ll see very strong sales growth for the next five years.”