Interactive voting systems look set to grow across the globe, with more than eight million handsets forecast to be sold worldwide next year, according to a report from Futuresource Consulting.

Voting systems to hit $400m mark in 2010

Paul Milligan, 31 July 2009

Interactive voting systems look set to grow across the globe, with more than eight million handsets forecast to be sold worldwide next year, according to a report from Futuresource Consulting.

'This equates to a sales value of nearly $400m (£240.7m), 50 per cent more than last year,' said Colin Messenger, senior consultant, Futuresource Consulting. 'With the bulk of business coming from the education technology market - which is highly recession-resistant - we're going to see a lot of traction for these products.

'The US continues to lead the way, and we predict one in 12 of its classrooms will have a voting system by the end of 2009, followed by the UK, Australia and New Zealand. We're also seeing penetration rates closely correlating with those of interactive whiteboards, but on a four-year time lag.'

There are distinct regional variations in education models, with 40 per cent of US activity focused within higher education (17+ years), compared with five per cent in the UK. However, across the board, there are similarities in corporate and government applications, which account for around 10 per cent of the marketplace.