MENLO PARK, CA-–Pacific Media Associates forecasts that the worldwide market for short-throw and ultra short-throw projectors will grow to 844,000 units by 2012, up from 80,000 units in 2007, a compound growth rate of 60 percent per year. Short- and ultra-short throw projectors may be placed quite close to a screen or projection surface compared with conventional, standard-throw projectors. The rapid growth of this emerging category has generated considerable excitement in the projector business.
This forecast is part of Pacific Media Associates' quarterly Market Outlook, which includes quarterly by-model manufacturer censuses of 60+ countries, and detailed updated forecasts. Provided in pivot table and pivot chart form, these market information reports are used by all leading projector manufacturers to support their product planning, sales, and marketing decisions.
"Current demand for short-throw projectors is being driven by their use with interactive whiteboards in the education market, particularly government-funded projects in Europe," according to Michael Abramson, vice president of projector research at Pacific Media Associates. "However, they are also finding other uses in situations where space is at a premium or there are other constraints that would prevent conventional projectors or flat-panel displays from being used."
Pioneered by 3M and NEC, this market segment has experienced a recent boom in interest. There is already a lot of manufacturer activity with a dozen brands in the market or with announced intentions to enter the market. With this breadth of announced or intended products has come a commensurate breadth of product specifications, primarily resolutions of XGA or Wide XGA, and brightnesses ranging from 1500 to 3500 lumens.
