Magiboards set to seize percentage of IWB area
Manufacturer claims its IP Board will appeal to schools that can't afford standard interactive whiteboards
A new contender has emerged in the interactive whiteboard (IWB) arena and has claimed it is offering resellers margins of 25 per cent to help it grab a slice of the IWB market.
Magiboards, a manufacturer of dry whiteboards, announced its foray into the IWB space at this year’s British Education Training Technology show where it unveiled its IP Board.
Erwin Van der Stap, managing director of Magiboards, told CRN: “Half of classrooms in the UK don’t have an IWB, largely due to budgetary restraints. This is where we feel our IP Board has a role to play. It is 30 to 40 per cent cheaper than rival boards and works just as well.
“We’ll market the 88in board at £795 plus VAT to end-users and will give a 25 per cent margin to resellers. We’d like a good regional spread of resellers, probably about 18 in total. We will sell direct in one region, probably Shropshire, but will not compete with resellers in other regions.”
Colin Messenger, senior consultant at Decision Tree Consulting, said: “The IWB market is pretty well established in the UK so it won’t be easy for Magiboards to establish itself, but it is still a big market. If it only took one per cent of the market that is still a massive number of whiteboard sales.”
Alex Goudge, marketing manager, Hitachi Interactive Media Solutions, said: “The whiteboard market is competitive in the UK, but although manufacturers are reducing their prices, schools still expect quality, especially from software. Magiboards may struggle to find resellers who are really prepared to push the product. They will have to offer some very good incentives to get the product moving.”
Nick Lumley, commercial manager at education VAR CDEC, said: “It’s a difficult market to approach from cold. Smart, Promethean and Hitachi have got their ground troops and the brands are well established.”
Magiboards claimed its IP Board is also well suited for the corporate market. “The corporate market has yet to open up for IWBs. Our board doesn’t come with education software so is better suited to corporate users,” Van der Stap added.