Prim-Ed are selling Interactive Whiteboards again. In a call to Anseo.net, marketing manager Jessica Murphy, revealed that Prim-Ed will be distributing two different kinds of Interactive Whiteboard aimed at different users.
Up until recently, Prim-Ed were the exclusive distributors of Promethean Interactive Whiteboards. Earlier in the year, Clarity bought over these rights and Prim-Ed no longer supported or sold Promethean boards. In September, Anseo.net broke the news that unless people has bought their board from a reseller, they would have to ring a UK phone number for support. I spoke to the marketing heads of Prim-Ed at the time and they said they were looking into distributing a new IWB.
Today I received a call from the marketing team at Prim-Ed with a preview of their new boards.
Prim-Ed will now sell two different types of boards. One will be familiar to many of this web site’s readers and the other is a new name for me.
The first board is the Hitachi Starboard. I have been pioneering these boards as the best quality on the market for a long time. Apart from this web site, Prim-Ed researched a number of schools who have purchased this board, and feedback is overwhelmingly positive. Prim-Ed will now be able to offer an IWB that offers a touch-based interface, unlike the Promethean board, which relies on a pen for input. Another advantage of the Hitachi board is that it doubles up as a normal dry-wipe board so teachers can use whiteboard markers on them. The software that comes with the Hitachi board is quite good and it also comes with some decent software. There’s a few other neat tricks with the Hitachi board, such as multiple users and dual touch – (I call it the Minority Report effect).
The other board is their “budget” option. It’s called the Genee Board and it reminds me very much of an eBeam style IWB. It uses the same technology and you’ll find a lot of similar boards like it, e.g. Vosa board, 3M board and Rainbow IWB. I haven’t seen the software that comes with it but my guess is that it will be slightly better than the norm.
Pricewise, the Genee Board is coming in at €2,500 for a long-throw projector solution and €3,000 for a short-throw projector. The Hitachi Starboard comes in at €3,600 for a short-throw solution and €4,000 for a fully motorised, height-adjustable system.
It’s great to see Prim-Ed back in the IWB race and it will be interesting to see how successful they are with a new board considering the reputation they built up with the Promethean Boards. What they have now in the Hitachi board is one of the best quality IWBs on the market. Will they be able to convert their previous customers? I hope so.
I work as a consultant into schools and am surprised by you liking for the Hitachi board. This system struggled to be accepted in schools I worked with as compared to the Promethean teaching software and Promethean Planet offering of a teachers sharing free resources (also open to non Promethean users), it was fairly underdeveloped. In addtion the supposed benefit of using dry wipe markers in really a red herring as even dry wipe boards that are designed solely for this use absorb inks over time reducing the quality of the surface / image. Not something you want for your projection surface. By the way, the Genee board is cheaper and for very good reasons, and too many to list here. I suggest those chosing between systems get a demo into their school or visit others (don’t just look at one system).
Hi Stephen
Thanks for your comments. It’s interesting that you don’t mention the actual Promethean board as the reason teachers bought into them more easily than Hitachi. It is the software and the Planet Promethean resource that is really the key. The great thing is that one doesn’t need a Promethean board to access the software or the web site. So, if you can get a better board and still use the software and web resources, I see no point in buying an inferior board. The Hitachi board (along with many others) fulfils three of my “essentials” for any board.
1. One can use a finger or hand to drag and drop items
2. One can use a “magic” pen or other pointy object to “write” on the board
3. The board should double-up as a normal dry-wipe board to get rid of the need of having two separate whiteboards in the classroom.
I disagree that the ink from dry wipe markers has any effect on the board. Enamel-based boards are incredibly strudy and white spirit has no negative impact on the surface even if there is some tricky red residue left. I have never heard any complaints about dry wipe boards.
I haven’t seen the Genee board in action but it reminds me very much of the Vosa Board, which is a similar price and specification. If this is the case, I would imagine that it’s a perfectly decent option for schools but will have to look into it more. Perhaps you could clarify some of your reasons for disliking it.
Hi Simon,
Contrary to what you might expect, I am delighted to see Prim-Ed back in the interactive whiteboard market. We spoke to them shortly after Promethean moved to Clarity to express our sympathy with the way that they had been treated by a company that now seems more focused on its IPO than its customers. Although they have been passionate advocates of pen driven boards and have repeatedly questioned the value of SMARTs unique touch control, I always admired their focus on the teacher. While Clarity boasts an impressive IT pedigree, what teachers need is suppliers that are willing and able to discuss and evidence the educational impact of the technology, explain how this can be achieved within the Irish curriculum and provide the ongoing CPD and support to ensure the promise of technology is realised in Irish classrooms. It is good to have a passionate advocate for interactive technology back in schools. I am also delighted that, albeit belatedly, they now recognise the value of touch in making a truly interactive experience.
However, despite some slick marketing the Hitachi product has failed to gain traction in markets around the world with less than 5% global share as compared to SMART’s 52.8% because it fails to offer teachers the necessary simplicity for every day use. It demos well as a product, but the software and user interface are well below strength. In a recent UK study of over 1700 educators by Classroom Voice, Hitachi actually scored a negative 75% using the F Reicheld Net Promoter Score to evaluate how likely customers are to recommend an Interactive Whiteboard to their peers. SMART scored a positive 29.3%, more than fifty times higher than Promethean’s positive 0.5%. SMART is now expanding the Showcase Schools network (http://www.education.smarttech.com/smarttechioedu/Template/Forms/UserControlPage.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID=%7b0F0ADB15-C4DC-43A1-8ABE-F84DF97620AF%7d&NRORIGINALURL=%2fste%2fen-US%2fClassroom%2bsolutions%2fAdvantages%2fShowcase%2bSchools%2ehtm&NRCACHEHINT=Guest) to enable teachers to share their experience and reference best practice. We are hoping to add a number of Irish schools to this network over the course of this year as part of a growth programme for Ireland that has seen us recruit a further Educational Development Consultant over the summer.
The Classroom Voice research also established what teachers in the UK look for in their interactive whiteboard technology and asked them to identify which brand they feel best meets this need. The top 3 criteria given were
1. Is one with which children can interact – over 70% of those who expressed a preference identified SMART as the brand to best meet this need
2. Is intuitive and easy to use – over 70% of those who expressed a preference identified SMART as the brand to best meet this need
3. Is robust and less likely to get damaged – over 60% of those who expressed a preference identified SMART as the brand to best meet this need.
Lastly, in the fast growing US market where SMART achieved 64.9% market share in Q2 they asked US teachers why they choose SMART – videos of their answers can be found at http://smarttech.com/insights/index.html?WT.ac=HPinsights_smarttech_banner and make interesting viewing for those still considering the value of this technology in the classroom.
What also may be of interest to your readers is a beta version of Notebook Express web application that makes SMART notebook files avalable to all to use and manipulate on any PC or Interactive display. It can be downloaded at http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Notebook+Express/default.htm
Interesting post Simon, keep up the good work..
Best,
Greg
Greg Tierney
Market Development Manager
Steljes Ltd ( Representing SMART technologys in Ireland )
Great comment Greg. I think my work is done. 😉