During 2008, over 600,000 interactive whiteboards were installed at locations around the world. Multiply this number by the typical selling price and sales were in excess of $1 billion - big enough to get the attention of larger corporations. And, according to Futuresource Consulting, this product category should continue to experience explosive growth.

Art Berman
Insight Media Consultant

Whiteboards hook up to computers and projectors to create large touch-sensitive displays which can be used to integrate audio visual, graphics and text into the lesson structure. This in turn, offers the potential to improve learning by illustrating new concepts more clearly and effectively, increasing pupil motivation and aiding in lesson flow. Whiteboard technology is ideal for classrooms because the teacher no longer has to arrange large groups around a single computer screen.

Recognition of this potential has translated into record-breaking sales of whiteboards during the last quarter. As a result, it may turn out that the old saying "there is no money in education" is becoming less true - at least regarding whiteboards.

More specifically, it has been found that Governments can find the money to supply thousands of whiteboards. Consider the Enciclomedia project in Mexico. As part of this project, textbooks are provided free by the federal government and lessons are complemented with videos, text, virtual visits, sounds and images. This project, launched by President Fox, equipped 200,000+ classrooms with technology worth $1.8 billion, making it the largest educational information and communications technologies project anywhere in the world.

Here are a few figures that describe the shape of the current marketplace. In Q2′08, 134K interactive whiteboards were sold worldwide. This represents a 41% increase over Q2′07 - the largest reported increase in the seven years that this product category has been tracked. Q2′08 unit sales in the United States also set a record with 69K interactive whiteboards sold, a 70% increase over Q2′07. To put this into context, during the last quarter, volume sales in the US were more than four times the number of whiteboards sold in the UK, the country that ranked second. Moreover, the combined markets of the US, UK and Mexico accounted for more than 70% of the worldwide interactive whiteboard installed base, with the remainder spread across more than 60 different countries.

In as much as there are an estimated 37 million classrooms in these 60 countries, the market potential is huge for companies operating within this sector. The manufacturer who is first to these markets has the potential to become the long-term winner by establishing itself in government education departments. Countries with few interactive whiteboards have no legacy to follow and can decide on any technology, configuration or brand. And, by the way, there are at least another 80 second-tier countries that are also potential customers for whiteboards.

Looking towards the near future, 80% classroom penetration is predicted in the UK, with volumes for Europe, the Middle East and Africa six times greater than in the UK. Looking to Asia, the region has yet to fulfill its enormous potential, though more than 150% growth is forecast for 2008, with the majority coming from China and India. Australia and New Zealand also have their success stories. Add all this up and one in six classrooms worldwide will utilize whiteboard technology by 2012.

History has shown that adoption of technology into classrooms can be fast-tracked, often driven by a desire from governments to kick-start their education system or a desire to leave a lasting legacy.

Other historical examples are somewhat less aggressive. Adoption can also be a step-by-step process, taking perhaps five years. The process would start with installation of PCs, followed by projectors and culminate in interactive whiteboards. Looking somewhat further into the future, voting systems and visualisers may be the next logical steps towards completely interactive and collaborative classrooms. Ready to go back to school?