Channel Best-Sellers: Peripherals That Matter

According to research from the NPD Group/Distributor Track, InFocus had a 23.3 percent share of dollar volume through certain distributors included in the Global Technology Distribution Council in the first half of 2007, but that was down 6.2 percent from the first half of 2006.

In contrast, Epson has been gaining steadily and, with its 3.7 percent jump in the survey, it now boasts an 18.9 percent share of the projector market by dollar volume.

NEC lost market share, falling 2.4 percent to capture 9.5 percent, and ViewSonic came in fourth with 6.2 percent of the market share. Panasonic broke the top five this year with 5.3 percent of the market, up 2.4 percent.

Gus Chiarello, PSG manager for Brooklyn, N.Y.-based solution provider Atlantic Business Products, has been selling InFocus projectors for more than 10 years and said that InFocus is still the market leader because the company has a reputation for selling the best projectors in the business.

What Hewlett-Packard is to the printer world, InFocus is to projectors.

"If you needed a good projector, you'd go to InFocus. They're synonymous with projection. It's the industry perception," Chiarello said. "They're known to be an industry leader in projection."

The fact that InFocus has been making projectors longer than some other vendors helps keep its sales high, too, he said.

-- Jennifer Lawinski

Projectors 1st half 2007 Market Share Market Share Change 1st half '07 vs. 1st half '06 In Focus 23.30% --6.2 Epson 18.90% +3.7 NEC 9.50% --2.4 Viewsonic 6.20% +1.7 Panasonic 5.30% +2.4 * Ranking based on 1st half 2007 share of sales dollar volume. Highlighted vendor gained greatest share from 1st half 2006 to 1st half 2007 Source: The NPD Group/Distribution Track (Incudes GTDC Data), www.npd.com/lps/distributortrack