Recent results confirm global leadership of interactive whiteboard product category
CALGARY, Alberta --- June 4, 2008 --- SMART Technologies announces its continued global leadership of the interactive whiteboard product category with a 56.8 percent share. The data comes from a recently released first quarter 2008 report from Decision Tree Consulting (DTC), an industry-leading global research company that has tracked interactive whiteboard sales for the past eight years. The report indicates that SMART’s global product category share of 56.8 percent is more than three times that of its closest competitor. Virtually all other interactive whiteboard manufacturers were reported to have lost category share. SMART increased its product category share for the fourth consecutive quarter in the United States, reaching 59.4 percent. In the United Kingdom, SMART’s category share also increased to 59.4 percent. The global results reflect a 32 percent volume increase compared to the final quarter of 2007.
DTC noted that 110,000 interactive whiteboards were sold in Q1 of 2008 – a 12 percent increase over the same quarter in 2007. Quarterly unit sales in the United States set a record with 51,000 interactive whiteboards sold – an 81 percent increase over Q1 of 2007. The worldwide interactive whiteboard category continues to exhibit rapid growth, and DTC forecasts a 200 percent sales increase over the next five years, which means one in six classrooms globally will have an interactive whiteboard by 2011.
“The most recent DTC results clearly confirm SMART’s continued global leadership of the interactive whiteboard product category,” says Nancy Knowlton, SMART’s CEO. “These results reflect the value that our education customers in particular place on the intuitive user experience delivered by our products, combined with our comprehensive service and support.”
A brief history of the SMART Board interactive whiteboard
Seventeen years ago, SMART’s executive chairman and co-founder, David Martin, conceptualized the SMART Board interactive whiteboard – the first and most widely installed interactive whiteboard in the world. In 1991, the first generation of the SMART Board interactive whiteboard was introduced. Currently in its sixth generation, the SMART Board interactive whiteboard line has expanded to include a range of sizes and models integrated with projectors and other interactive tools. SMART’s focus has widened to include a variety of supporting hardware, software and content to create complete classroom and meeting room solutions.
