SMART holds 53.3 percent product category share for first half of 2008
CALGARY, Alberta --- August 15, 2008 --- SMART Technologies announces its continued global leadership of the interactive whiteboard product category with another strong share result in the second quarter of 2008. The data comes from a recently released report from Futuresource (formerly Decision Tree Consulting), an industry-leading global research company that has tracked interactive whiteboard sales for the past eight years. The report indicates that SMART sold more interactive whiteboards than all other competitors combined for the second straight quarter in 2008. Not only did SMART invent the world’s first interactive whiteboard, it has led global sales in every quarter since product introduction. In recent years, with competition in the market, SMART has sold about 70 percent more interactive whiteboards than its closest competitor. Today, according to first-half data for calendar 2008 on the interactive whiteboard product category, SMART has a 53.3 percent global category share, up from 45.5 percent in the first half of 2007. In addition, 64.2 percent of interactive whiteboard system sales (whiteboard plus short-throw projector) in the second quarter of 2008 went to SMART for its SMART Board™ 600i interactive whiteboard system.
Futuresource noted that 134,000 interactive whiteboards were sold in Q2 of 2008, a 41 percent increase over the same quarter in 2007. Quarterly unit sales in the United States set a record with 69,000 interactive whiteboards sold, a 70 percent increase over Q2 in 2007. The worldwide interactive whiteboard category continues to exhibit rapid growth, and Futuresource forecasts that annual unit sales will double over the next three to four years, which means one in six classrooms globally will have an interactive whiteboard by 2012.
“Futuresource data confirm SMART’s significant global leadership in the interactive whiteboard product category,” says Nancy Knowlton, SMART’s CEO. “This leadership reflects the value that our education customers in particular place on durable, easy-to-use products that come with comprehensive service and support options.”