Whiteboards tough it out

The next two years will see the UK interactive whiteboard market remain flat in volume, with a second-wave of growth not due until 2012. A report on the interactive whiteboard sector in 2009, by consultant Futuresource, reveals more than 55,000 were sold last year, at a total value of £71m.

The whiteboard market peaked in 2005, with annual sales passing the 100,000 mark (£108m in value). Since then, sales have declined by around 10,000 a year. This year and next are predicted to be the worst for whiteboard sales -dropping to nearly half (54,000 units) of the sector at its peak.

According to the report, growth in 2012 is set be driven not by new purchases but by the replacement of old whiteboards, many of which will be 10 years old by then and in need of updating. By 2013, more than half of all whiteboards sales will be replacements, which could see it hit pre-recession sales levels of 75,000.

Education is key

Education has always been the primary market for interactive whiteboards, and this shows no signs of changing in the next three years. Primary and secondary education have historically made up the vast majority of sales – 87 per cent combined in 2009 – and will continue to do so (a predicted 79 per cent in 2013). The gap between primary and secondary share of the market is closing. In 2006, 49 per cent of all whiteboards sold were to primary schools, with secondary schools at 35 per cent. Now the gap is three per cent, with primary schools making up 41 per cent and secondary schools 38 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) initiative has pumped money back into the struggling whiteboards arena. With corporate av having fallen dramatically due to the recession, the BSF’s funding has certainly helped those companies in the past 18 months selling into both corporate and education sectors. However, a change of government is looking likely in May, and the threat of even more budget cuts (regardless of the winner), could halt the BSF’s funding for new classroom technology.

Predicted higher education whiteboard sales for 2013 will rise only slightly – from six per cent of total sales to eight per cent. Classroom penetration for whiteboards is predicted to be as high as 88 per cent in 2012 (up from 78 per cent in 2009).

The sector is, however, still attracting investment interest. The BETT exhibition in London in January saw Korean electronics giant Samsung enter the market. Its 650TS product is a 65in 1920 x 1080 resolution LCD touchscreen that offers a screen synchronisation feature which allows content to be broadcast to classroom PCs and vice-versa.

The product gained a lot of interest at the show. However, at around £6,000, the 650TS is six times the cost of a standard whiteboard, and therefore beyond the budget of nearly every school/university. In fact, Samsung was forced to admit as much at ISE, agreeing that at the current price, it was out of reach for education.

It will be interesting to see if 650TS remains a high-end, corporate-only product, or if the price reduces enough to compete with Smart and Promethean’s offerings. If the LCD/plasma TV market is anything to go by, the price of screens did fall pretty quickly after the launch, so it’s likely that these products will follow suit.

Meanwhile, Futuresource expects whiteboard sales to the corporate sector to grow in the next few years (up three per cent from 2009 to 2013). Currently, the corporate sector makes up around 10 per cent of whiteboards market, with government making up the rest, around the 1-2 per cent mark. Futuresource suggests that to fuel growth in these markets, the emphasis from manufacturers and resellers needs to be on promoting the products as efficient, money- saving devices.

Where the technology may gain some traction in the corporate world is by linking whiteboards with video-conferencing, which has come a long way from the jittery, jerky systems of 10 years ago. Where videoconferencing is lacking now is the ability to actually collaborate on work, and move it from one end point to the other. And that is where whiteboards may have some success.

Areas of growth

If, as Futuresource predicts, the UK market is to remain flat for the next two to three years, then it’s the European market where whiteboard manufacturers will see some growth.

As reported in AV, Promethean has signed distribution deals with Charmex in Spain, Esprinet in Italy and Maverick/Tech Data in France, Germany and Portugal. While the funding may not be on the same scale as the investment made by Becta in the UK in the past decade, there are positive signs that Europe is waking up to the benefits of classroom technology.

In France, the government’s Ecole Numerique Rurale programme is designed to enable the adoption of ICT in more remote parts of the country, while Consip in Italy and Escuela 2.0 in Spain provide wider funding packages to facilitate the implementation of classroom technology. It seems that the next goldrush for the interactive whiteboard is set take place in continental Europe and beyond.