28
Connected TV BK KANG A graduate of Hongik University in Seoul, Korea in electronic engineering, BK Kang joined Samsung in 1987. He has served in a variety of roles, including manufacturing, global sales, global marketing, and product planning and development. PRODUCT update With web-connected apps on your Samsung smart TV, you can stream movies from Netflix or Blockbuster, TV shows from Hulu, videos from YouTube, Next Level sports information from ESPN and music from Pandora, while viewing updates on your Facebook or Twitter accounts. 3D TVs play conventional programming, just as any other TV would, and many of them come with a feature that converts 2D images to 3D. If you have a Samsung 3DTV, all you have to do is hit the 3D button on the remote, put on your Samsung 3D Active Glasses — and enjoy 3D thrills from a 2D source. Smart Leadership Enabling consumers to watch whatever they want, whenever they want Our aim with our range of connected and smart TVs is to make consumers cleverer in their everyday lives. In fact, 3D sets form just one part of our definition of the smart-TV category, which is why we are preparing our own applications for a 3D streaming service. There are now many kinds of connected and internet TVs on the US and European markets, so we believe it’s vital to grow the apps market, as well as to launch a content-sharing service. We don’t think of TVs with internet browsing or even an ethernet connection as being smart TVs. Our definition of a smart TV is one that can support any kind of content whatsoever, enabling consumers to enjoy whatever they want to watch, whenever they want to watch it, in the comfort of their living room. You are working towards seamless connectivity with all your devices. How is that progressing? The standard connectivity of DLNA [Digital Living Network Alliance] allows consumers to connect to a host of devices, including cameras, PCs and smartphones. In addition, our TVs can share any kind of content and each device has its own library, thanks to our AllShare service. The SmartView function, meanwhile, is already installed on our TV applications, allowing Galaxy phones and Galaxy tablets to be used as remote controls. SmartView will ultimately be installed on all our devices, enabling them to be connected through wi-fi so that content can be shared easily and in real time. We call this the AnyScreen concept and we will be rolling it out in the US as from August. At IFA, we are demonstrating all the devices working together in order to show consumers how they can watch the start of a film, for example, on a Galaxy tablet, before moving to another device to watch the ending. What differentiates Samsung’s TV offer? From 2005, our basic strategy has been to d i s t i n g u i s h o u r s e l v e s through technology. In 2007, when other m a n u f a c t u r e r s w e r e focusing on 50Hz TVs, we were offering 100Hz — and, by 2008, 100HZ had become the standard specification. By 2009, we were leading the LED market and, in 2010, we turned our focus to the 3D market, where we now have a 16%-17% market share — a statistic that again proves our technological leadership. We are continuing to build on that leadership this year through our smart TVs, where we are differentiating ourselves by offering our own apps. Our target is to have 1,000 apps available by the end of the year. We always seek to use technology as a differentiator. Often, our standards become the market norm after one or two years Interview by Richard Barnes Samsung’s share of the global TV market continues to remain strong, despite the economic climate. To bolster this leadership, the company is now focusing on applications, content sharing and crossplatform connectivity, explains BK Kang, Vice-President of Product Strategy Team, Visual Display Business, Samsung Electronics. Hall 20 Stand 101 “We always seek to use technology as a differentiator” BK Kang Vice-President of Product Strategy Team, Visual Display Business, Samsung Electronics www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Monday 5 th September 2011 29
