LIVING ROOM LIFESTYLE [
LIVING ROOM LIFESTYLE [ SMART TV & UHD TV ] Value for Money and Android Make the Difference Haier introduces Android-based TVs, OLED, tablets and smartphones at IFA Christophe Chancenest Haier’s TV Marketing and Sales Director, Europe “(…) we are bringing the Android experience to the living room.” Haier's ambition in 2011 was to break into the top five of the European TV market. We asked Christophe Chancenest, Haier’s TV Marketing and Sales Director, Europe, how the plan is progressing… [ Interview by Richard Barnes ] We have been consolidating our position since 2011, with currently around 1.5% market share in Europe. We have entered the top-five in Italy, which is our strongest market. We are the numberfive brand there in the LED and LCD TV in terms of market share. What are your greatest challenges? The first is to develop our market share in a sector that has been declining for the last two years. We need to sell TVs with added value. Up until 2011 we sold TVs up to 32 inches; now we sell 55-inch models and plan to sell larger ones featuring new technologies. We are centring our TV marketing on the Android system, and even have an HDMI dongle that can transform any TV into a giant Android tablet. As this system currently equips around 80% of the tablet market, we are bringing the Android experience to the living room. At IFA we are taking this further, introducing a totally integrated model, with the Android world directly included in the TV interface. The user can access this using the TV remote control. engineers. Around 4% of our turnover is invested in R&D, and that’s quite a high figure for the sector. This year sees an evolution of eye-control technology, which allows the user to pilot a TV using his or her eyes. This year it includes a highly developed interface, virtually integrated into the screen, and which is more intuitive than before. But we think our star this year is our 55-inch OLED TV. What are the key trends in the market and how is Haier also driving these trends? The main trend is size – inspired by the onset of 4K. The second trend is the coming together of mobile and TV. The main innovations are coming from the mobile sector – both smartphone and tablet – and this is why we decided to include Android in our TV offering. This has spurred us to offer tablets as well. We are presenting seven tablet models at IFA, from seven to 10 inches, as well as smartphones from 3.5 inches to 5.7 inches. The television is thus evolving in two directions: very big for the family; and very small for personal use … and all with a smart interface. bigger name brands for a lower price point. Secondly, we are differentiated by using Android, a system people know and which is user friendly. Hall 3.2 Stand 101 30 Last year you unveiled transparent and eyecontrolled TVs. What are your key innovations at IFA 2013? Part of our stand each year is dedicated to the technologies of the future being developed by our What differentiates Haier in the TV market today? Value for money. We are responsible for all our own designs and we assemble products in Europe. This allows us to propose the same characteristics as the
ADVERTORIAL LIVING ROOM LIFESTYLE [ SMART TV & UHD TV ] UHD TV at an Affordable Price Forging a strategy of price positioning to drive UHD into the market Tak Hung Lam President, TongFang Global, Ltd. Mr. Tak Hung Lam is an expert in the consumer electronic market and has over twenty years’ working experience for TVs. He’s now the president of Tongfang Global Ltd. “Instead of dropping the price, I would say that we are making affordable TVs for our target customers” COMPANY PROFILE Tongfang Global is an international company that focuses on consumer electronics. Tongfang was the first one to launch affordable UHD TVs in US market and accelerated the typical time required to be in the conversation with tier-one brands. In America, the SEIKI brand is making big headlines by dropping UHD TV prices to affordable levels. Usually a brand starts off at higher prices for the new technology and gradually steps the price down. Here they decided to go straight to the base line. We asked T.H. Lam, president, TongFang Global, Ltd. – Seiki’s mother company – what the basis of this policy is. We are always following what our customers think. Instead of dropping the price, I would say that we are making affordable TVs for our target customers. And so far, the U.S. market reaction to the Seiki brand in the Ultra HD TV space has been incredibly positive. No doubt your competitors have been unsettled by your policies. Are you worried what they think? No. Our principle is to be ourselves, and we believe that we are doing the right things, to fulfil the demands of today’s TV buyers looking for a simple, straightforward product with great picture quality and value. Will you follow that strategy in Europe as well? Yes, we are planning to launch Ultra HD TVs in Europe market and also keep our business strategy of providing affordable 4K TV to our customers. The industry stumbled with 3D TV and now many dealers have concerns about UHD TV. Are you confident about this direction? We are confident that Ultra HD will quickly become the next TV standard instead of 3D TV. We are insisting on the improvements of picture quality and sound quality to meet higher expectations from customers. Other than physical design and size, how does one UHD TV distinguish itself from others? That is, what technology inside the UHD TV can make a difference in performance? Ultra HD offers more than four times the resolution of Full HD TVs. What that means is simply a sharper image and more detail than ever seen before on a TV. Ultra HD ultimately heightens the entertainment experience for movies, sports and even computing. From an Ultra HD performance standpoint, Seiki Ultra HD technology stands toe-to-toe with competitors offering the same eight million plus pixel count to deliver outstanding picture quality, but at an attainable price. "Smart" TVs are the fashion. How will THTF further develop the mobile and streaming aspects that make a "smart TV?" We are exploring simple, cost-effective and great smart TVs, which will be launched in America and Europe market on 2013 Q4. Visitors to IFA will get a chance to see all the features of our new generation TVs. What new products do you have at IFA and how do they reflect market trends? We are launching an innovative TV using special material — paper – implying the trend of environmentally friendly ideas, and we are also going to show a 55” OLED TV. Hall 25 Stand 131 www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Friday 6 th September 2013 31
