Another record quarter for interactive displays:

Another record quarter for interactive displays

The global interactive displays market has grown 7% Year on Year, making it the largest Q2 ever with 300,000 displays sold globally, according to a report by industry analysts Futuresource.  Quarter 2 has seen a shift to higher priced interactive flat panels, which accounted for 57% of the market.

Despite this success, the picture isn't too healthy for western-based providers, as the Chinese market makes up more than 50% of global demand and is serviced almost entirely by local providers.

The major FATIH tender in Turkey (a total of 350,000 displays) also has a big impact on market volumes with 60,000 units shipped in Q2.

If you exclude China and Turkey from the analysis, market volumes were down 17% Year on Year as many markets increasingly focus on investments in one-to-one learning systems, such as PCs, software and digital content, highlighting the challenge for many of the leading providers to significantly penetrate these growth countries. This issue has been emphasised this quarter by the purchase of Promethean for £84 million by Net Dragon.

"As the surge of IFPDs from IWBs continues, half of the 67 countries which we track, IFPDs now make up 20% of sales, 17 countries had well over 50% and in the UK, one of the most advanced countries, this grows to 80%," says to Colin Messenger, senior market analyst at Futuresource.

Interest in interactivity within corporate meeting rooms is building and the introduction of Microsoft Surface Hub in January 2016 is expected to create a significant boost by driving awareness of the benefits of meeting room interactivity, and at the same time providing a simple to use intuitive platform for collaboration. Futuresource has increased corporate forecasts from 2016 in the USA, UK and major western European countries. Futuresource estimates that current penetration is negligible at 1.6% (with market volumes in 2014 reaching just over 100,000 units), compared to the 20% penetration in classrooms.

Asia continued to post strong volume sales in 2015 Q2, while China continued its ascent, with almost half of all world sales.

In the US, sales once again decreased. However, going forward the market value is forecast to increase strongly with a 31% 'CAGR' (2014 to 2019) driven by the increased IFPD sales into corporate business.

Q2 sales in EMEA increased 75% Year on Year, with major input from the second phase of the FATIH project in Turkey. 2015 is forecast to continue strongly with 44% volume increase before volumes drop in 2016 with the end of FATIH.


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