Open season on classroom displays
Interactive projectors and flat-panel display technologies are on the way in, according to analyst Futuresource
Mike Fisher: IWBs have been dominant, but now a few things are changing
Changes are afoot in the classroom displays technology market that will affect the player line-up as well as which technology is chosen, according to market watcher Futuresource.
Mike Fisher, senior research consultant at Futuresource, said changes have become noticeable in the vendor and technology landscape over the past six months. Mainstream multinationals, for example, are poised to take an interest in the education market, and VARs should begin to think about how best to adapt.
“Interactive whiteboards (IWBs) have been dominant, and people have added peripherals to them, such as tablets and voting systems. Now a few things are changing,” said Fisher.
“Interactive projectors and flat-panel display technologies are coming in. There are only three or four interactive projectors, but Texas Instruments is offering a solution to all its partners. By year-end, we will have 10 major brands.”
Last year saw IWBs become a $1bn (£641m) industry globally, with Smart and Promethean enjoying a 70 per cent market share. Yet classrooms will soon have more choice, and many will start choosing different combinations of technology – such as a fully networked interactive flat-panel hooked up to a projector, instead of an IWB.
“Perhaps creating a ‘touch wall’ and going down a high-end route,” Fisher suggested. “Also, we will see more segmentation, where people are targeting, say, K-12 new builds only, higher education, or special needs.”
VARs must start to ask themselves how all the technology is going to fit together to best suit the customer and look at where they best fit, building their portfolio to suit.
Promethean has recently bought learning response software firm SynapticMash. Its LearningQube software will be fully integrated with learning-response devices and teaching software, according to Promethean.