A new report from Futuresource says that 1 million Interactive Flat Panel Displays were sold in 2016 globally, a 14% increase. The long-anticipated demand from the corporate sector is starting to impact, boosted by new market entrants Microsoft, Google and Cisco.
“IFPDs continued to be a considerable success in 2016 in the education and corporate markets. By Q4, 68% of all interactive display sales were IFPDs. The growth has been prodigious, with a CAGR of 59% from 2013 to 2016 and growth is forecast to continue. The interactive whiteboard (IWB), the original technology, is in decline. However, combined the two technologies contributed to 1.6 million display sales in 2016. While the US had 24% annual volume growth, value grew by 36% with rapid transition to larger size IFPDs. Half of sales are now over 70”.”
With an almost untapped market of 32 million corporate meeting rooms globally and well under one million displays installed to date, the opportunity is significant. The entrance to the market of global tech giants, Microsoft, Google and Cisco is changing the industry dynamic. These providers are leveraging their existing infrastructure and collaboration solutions, to bring a completely new value proposition to market.
The new entrants are promoting simple ‘all-in-one’ meeting room solutions. They can easily create, using touch-interactivity, share content amongst attendees (both remotely and in-room) and call via voice or video. Embedded cameras, speakers and sophisticated microphones promote a high-quality interaction as well as easy set-up and continuous workflow. These displays have innovative features such as automatic switch-on when someone approaches or one-touch switch-on. The corporate market is expected to reach 500,000 annual sales by 2021.
Many IFPDs for the corporate sector will have embedded PCs so they become stand-alone devices, such as the Microsoft Surface Hub.
