Pacific Media Associates (PMA) has released its findings on the current use and future purchase intentions of organizational projector users.

This is the final set of important results from PMA’s sixth biennial large-scale (1000 responses) and statistically-representative survey of United States users and intenders of front projectors, both individual consumers and organizations. The survey focused on topics of timely interest, including requests for additional or modified questions from PMA’s extensive client base of front projector manufacturers. This set of findings focuses on organizations (business, government and higher-education) that own or intend to buy front projectors.

Among projector manufacturers today, probably the most important technology topic is SSI (Solid State Illumination, which comprises lasers, LEDs, and laser + LED hybrids). PMA’s end user survey show that users are in sync with this. Nearly 70 percent of intenders say an environmentally-friendly projector is an absolute must or very important for their next projector. So laser or LED or hybrid illumination is very important in helping future buyers meet their “greenness” needs.

“The most-desired features and functionality of front projectors has changed from our previous survey, conducted in 2009,” says Dr. William Coggshall, president of PMA. “Respondents showed a high interest in short-throw projection, and 40 percent of future fixed projector purchases are expected to include mounting for a short-throw projector.”

In addition, more than half of the intenders surveyed consider connecting wirelessly to smart phones and tablets as an absolute must or very important. This figure is up from the 2009 survey.

PMA’s End User Survey also found that penetration remains relatively low for a mature industry and the installed base remains relatively young. More than 60 percent of organizations own a front projector. This figure is up only slightly from the figures reported in PMA’s 2009 End User Survey. However, projector penetration is expected to increase in meeting rooms during the next 12 months. This penetration is likely to be in dual-display settings (flat panel and projector) as these types of configurations represented less than 20 percent of meeting rooms in 2009 and about 25 percent in 2011.