A student receives training in the baby medical service curriculum with the use of interactive whiteboard technology at a hospital in Jiaxing, in East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo / China Daily]

SANYA, Hainan - DYMO/Mimio, the world's third-largest interactive whiteboard (IWB) supplier by market share, announced ambitious plans to tap into the Chinese education market to share in the economy's rapid growth.

Laurence Huntley, general manager of the company, told China Daily that it aims to double revenue in China this year although it currently has very limited market penetration.

The company would set up a resale network covering 20 cities with populations of more than 1 million this year before expanding to smaller cities.

It unveiled the seventh generation of its IWB products in Sanya, Hainan province, on Feb 24 and licensed about 200 sales agencies to promote the brand nationwide.

"We started only a year ago so our market share compared with anybody else's is probably small. That is why we have taken the decision with a new product range and with investment from our parent company to grow our resources in China for sales and marketing," said Huntley.

Laurence Huntley, general manager of DYMO/Mimio

Mimio's technology products are focused around computer whiteboard capture devices. When used in conjunction with a video projector it turns the ordinary whiteboard surface into an interactive whiteboard. The devices also allow users to capture ink strokes that are written on the whiteboard.

Only about 5 percent of classrooms in China are equipped with IWBs, Huntley said, citing data from Futuresource Consulting. This compares with a penetration ratio of 70 percent in the United Kingdom, 25 to 30 percent in North America and 10 percent in the Middle East.

"But there is a major opportunity. China is probably the one country in the world which has more classrooms than anybody else because of the size of the population," Huntley said, adding the market is growing rapidly at a pace of 25 to 30 percent every year.

According to a survey conducted by www.3see.com, in 2009, the sales volume of IWBs in China exceeded 67,000, up by 109 percent year-on-year. The education market accounted for 91 percent of the sales.

Chinese brand TRACEBoard tops the list domestically, occupying 36 percent of the market, while another Chinese player, HiteVision, has 20 percent.

DYMO/Mimio's main rivals in the global arena, Smart and Promethean, have only a small slice of the pie. Smart, globally the biggest company in the sector by sales, has 11 percent of the world market, while Promethean, its closest rival, has 6 percent.

China is the third most important market to DYMO/Mimio, after the United States and Europe, said Huntley. The company is introducing a new product line with Chinese language support and will increase investment in marketing, research and development, operations and human resources in China.

One constant focus will be after-sales service and training programs for teachers, although they usually are not direct purchasing decision makers in China, Huntley said.

"The form of teaching may change in the future, but there will always be teachers and students. We want our products to be used by the teachers, therefore training is very important," he added.

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The company pledged to provide teachers with easily accessible training, both online and face-to-face, and localized instructional resources, to allow teachers simply to teach.

Huntley's confidence in the China market is not only inspired by the fast-growing demand, but also from the advantages of having huge financial resources compared with other major global players, with about $700 million in revenue every year.

"We have the backing of one of the largest business groups in the world. They (rivals) are standing alone, but we have a corporation with nearly $6 billion behind us."

Mimio received most investment from its parent group among all the subsidiaries and is among those growing fastest, said Huntley.

In October 2006, Newell Rubbermaid Inc, an S&P 500 company with sales of $5.8 billion in 2010, brought the mimio IWB product line into the group and later integrated the brand into its wholly-owned subsidiary DYMO Corporation in 2010.

Newell Rubbermaid provides consumer and commercial products globally. Its brand portfolio includes Rubbermaid, Sharpie, Graco, Calphalon, Irwin, Lenox, Levolor, Paper Mate, Waterman, Parker, Goody, Rubbermaid Commercial Products and Aprica.