The concept of "hybrid work", which consists of online collaboration and offline work, can be traced back to Google Docs, an online collaborative document tool launched by Google in 2006. However, it has only been a matter of the past three or five years that this concept has gradually been recognized and accepted by the public. In 2021, "hybrid work" was named the Collins Dictionary's hot word of the year, and at the same time, it has gradually made this work model a daily routine.
Nowadays, when migrant workers who are thousands of miles away want to exchange information, the first thought in their minds is no longer "pack their luggage, book air tickets, book hotels", but "pull a video conference" and "find an empty conference room".
Chen Sijiong, Vice President of MAXHUB (Image source: Photographed by the author of Titanium Media APP)
"In my opinion, hybrid office has become a trend, and as everyone begins to pay attention to the quality and efficiency of online communication, the commercial display product track represented by conference tablets and LED all-in-one machines has also achieved rapid growth in recent years. CHEN SIJIONG, VICE PRESIDENT OF MAXHUB, TOLD TITANIUM MEDIA APP.
Entrants continue, and the online meeting scene is still leading to the "outlet"
According to the latest data from Lotu Technology, the global typical commercial display market will reach 240.8 billion yuan in 2023. Among them, the Chinese market is about 63.7 billion yuan, a slight decrease of 3.3% compared with 2022. Before 2022, the global commercial display market maintained a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7% for four consecutive years.
It can be seen that after the rapid catalysis of online applications by the epidemic, the commercial display industry has begun to enter a relatively stable state of development. In the next few years, the new demand of the market will mainly focus on the development of new or similar applications.
When it comes to commercial displays, especially the "online meeting" scenario that has played an important role in hybrid work in the past two years, it is estimated that the first brand that many people think of is: MAXHUB. According to public information, the MAXHUB brand of CVTE has entered the online conference solution track since 2017 and developed a new category of conference tablets.
According to the "Chinese Mainland IWB Market Quarterly Research Report - 2023" released by Ovi Cloud, MAXHUB's sales in the domestic conference tablet category accounted for 29.5%, and it has maintained a TOP1 market share for 7 consecutive years. Although the overall development of the commercial display field has experienced a slight oscillation in 2023, Chen Sijiong believes that in the context of hybrid work has become a model recognized by enterprises, the expectations for the industry are still very optimistic.
"Over the past few years, we have noticed two changes in the industry. One is that with the maturity of the industrial chain, the unit price of hardware products around the conference continues to fall, which makes the application penetration rate of online meetings in enterprise office scenarios continue to rise. On the other hand, there are still new players joining in hardware categories such as conference tablets and LED all-in-one machines, which shows that everyone is very optimistic about the market potential of commercial displays, especially conference scenarios. ”
LED all-in-one products used in the conference (Image source: Photographed by the author of Titanium Media APP)
In addition to the continuous influx of start-up brands, Titanium Media APP noticed that traditional technology manufacturers, including TCL, Hisense, Huawei, Xiaomi, etc., are also actively laying out online meeting scenarios. They either launch hardware terminals such as LED all-in-one machines and conference tablets to directly participate in the competition of the commercial display track, or they add "office" mode and camera hardware to the home display screen to take into account the conference scene.
From the perspective of functional implementation, it seems that a screen that can display content, a camera that can capture live images, and a microphone that can pick up sound can meet the needs of online meetings, but it is not so simple when examined carefully.
Chen Sijiong mentioned: "It is undeniable that the highest proportion of online meetings is currently used in mobile phones, computers and many ordinary TV products, because they have a low threshold for use and higher popularity. However, we found that the deployment of these consumer-level products in conference scenarios has many limitations, such as TVs and computers themselves rarely have the ability to touch and handwrite. For online collaboration, it is not enough to rely on voice and image communication, but also for things like system/signal stability, user data privacy, and conference software compatibility. ”
Riding on the AI ride, MAXHUB accelerates its penetration into the conference scene
Titanium media APP noticed that even though the penetration rate of domestic dedicated conference hardware is low, the scale of people participating in online meetings is expanding. According to the data released by Tencent Meeting in September 2023, the number of its users has exceeded 400 million, and since its launch, it has served more than 2.5 billion online collaborations, and the number of paying users has increased by 5 times year-on-year. In the face of such a large potential user base, it is not difficult to understand why many manufacturers choose to "occupy places" across tracks.
Regarding the cross-border layout of traditional brands in the field of commercial display, Chen Sijiong also expressed his views: "The entry of more brands will undoubtedly intensify the competition in the industry, but in my opinion, this is a good thing." Compared with Europe and the United States, the proportion of employees working online in China and the overall penetration rate are still low, and the addition of more brands will not only expand the influence of the industry, but also make enterprises pay more and more attention to the value that online meetings can generate, the actual experience of online meetings, and recognize their trends. ”
The conference scene pickup solution displayed by MAXHUB (Image source: Photographed by the author of Titanium Media APP)
With the increase in the demand for online meeting applications by domestic enterprises, a series of more subdivided scenario needs have also begun to emerge. According to Chen Sijiong, MAXHUB's latest efficient conference solution uses Lingxiao Nebula as the digital base, which can freely combine 9 subsystems such as display, video conference, and speech, so as to cover more specific conference scenario solutions such as video conference, training, and exhibition hall.
In the solutions for different conference scenarios, the display terminal is often the easiest place to be concerned, and MAXHUB has recently launched its new generation of conference tablet and the third generation of LED all-in-one machine. Among them, the new generation of conference tablets has been iterated around the three core scenarios of writing, display, and video conferencing and their underlying technologies. In terms of writing, it has brought two new functions: "pen to write" and "global handwriting input", and at the same time, it has upgraded the projection connection, multi-modal audio and video perception, and AI capabilities.
The third-generation LED all-in-one machine supports SVC, AVC, and BYOM conference systems at the same time, and adopts Android+Windows dual system architecture, and the two systems operate independently and are networked.
According to Chen Sijiong, MAXHUB is also exploring the application of AI large models. "In the short term, some AI-powered functions will be launched, such as speech recognition of multiple people in meetings, real-time generation of subtitles/translations, and sorting of meeting minutes. In terms of long-term R&D direction, MAXHUB hopes to use AI large models to create a 'smart assistant' for meeting scenarios to provide a more anthropomorphic and personalized experience." He said.
Training scenario solution (Image source: Titanium Media APP author shooting)
In addition to a large number of display terminals such as conference tablets and LED all-in-one machines, there are also many applications in the conference scene, such as pickup microphones and camera components for image interaction, which provide sound transmission and image interaction, and all of them use MAXHUB's own products, and the brand itself is different from other "solution providers" that focus on the identity of "integrators" in a single category.
For example, video conferencing convergence platform, 4K split video conferencing terminal, and audio pickup and amplification all-in-one machine are all technologies and product categories involved in MAXHUB.
Chen Sijiong pointed out: "In my opinion, with the mature domestic supply chain system, it is not difficult to save a conference terminal, which is not enough to become a barrier to the brand, our core competitiveness lies in providing perfect solutions for the conference scene from image display to sound pickup, software adaptation and even customized private meetings, as well as the ability to understand the needs of online meeting users, which is equivalent to establishing two moats." ”
Entering 2024, the competition in the commercial display field in which MAXHUB is located is not low, and it can be seen from the just-concluded Beijing InfoComm China exhibition that the number of exhibitors and visitors have exceeded expectations. Even when it comes to meeting scenarios, whether it is audio, display equipment, camera brands or solution providers like MAXHUB, they are all making continuous efforts.
It is foreseeable that in the future, with the continuous expansion of the number of participants in online meetings, conference equipment, as the hardware basis for determining the quality of communication, will also be valued by more companies, and there is still room for breakthroughs in the ceiling of commercial displays. (This article was first published on Titanium Media APP, author by Deng Jianyun, editor by Zhong Yi)