Pacifica Media Partners reports that pico projector sales doubled in Q4 2010

Pacific Media Partners has announced the numbers for the pico projector market for Q4 2010. The numbers look pretty good for the small projectors with the shipments of the little devices doubling compared to Q4 2009. PMA's numbers show that in Q5 2009 there were 134,000 units shipped.

In Q4 2010, the number of pico projectors sold was 268,000. These numbers are only for pico projectors, which are classified as small battery powered projectors of fewer than 500 lumens in brightness. The numbers do include standalone projectors like the little AAXA L1 v2 we reviewed and those that are inside mobile devices like smartphones.

The thing that is holding this market back more than anything is the lack of brightness. Most of the pico projectors on the market simply lack the brightness they need to be truly useful in your average room. "Pico companion products dominated annual shipments in 2009 and 2010," said Dr. William Coggshall, President of Pacific Media Associates. "And by any measure, these products took quantum leaps in performance and features between Q4 of 2009 and Q4 of 2010. The portion of VGA or higher resolution models went from 52% to 84%. The portion of 25 lumen or higher models went from 4% to over 48%. And most models now offer a selection of ports that enable a broad range of content-containing devices to connect to them."