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A Video Vision

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DQI Bureau
New Update

The world's tallest tower, the fastest airplane, the longest road, are all

coveted titles today, with not just companies but also nations vying to beat

each other at them. Now, Samsung has entered the fray, but in the

digital-convergence space.

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At its recently held Global Roadshow in Shanghai, it showcased over a hundred

digital products in the mobile communication, mobile entertainment, office,

components (NAND Flash memory) and home spaces, many of which with grandeur

titles-the SCH-S250, with text-to-speech conversion capability and an TFT-LCD

capable of 262,000 color resolution is the world's first 5 Megapixel camera

phone, while the 80 inch Plasma Display Panel (PDP) TV with 1920x1080 resolution

and a viewing area of 1766mmx1128mm is the world's largest PDP, and the

SCX-4100 is the world's smallest personal printer.

The company itself has been the world's fastest growing brands in the last

three years, with a current brand equity of $30 bn and a ranking of 21

(according to Interbrand).

The

parent company's sales last year amounted to $36.4 bn, while in the first

three quarters of this year, it has touched $38.1 bn. Samsung India, according

to Mr Kwang-Soo Kim, president and CEO, Samsung South West Asia, "is

expecting a 25-30% increase in turnover over last year." Last year's

turnover for India was Rs 1,409 crore (according to Dataquest Top 20, 2004). And

it is the mobile phone market that is expected to lead Samsung's growth in

India. According to Mr Kim, "In this segment India is 5-6 years behind

China, though by 2010 the India mobile phone market can reach the current levels

of China's." Incidentally, the current market size of China's mobile

phone market is $80 mn.

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Samsung's plans for China, which currently contributes 18% of the company's

sales, are ambitious. Sales in China are expected to be $25 bn by 2010, more

than double 2004's estimates of $12 bn. The plans are to take the Chinese

market's contribution up to 25-30%. According to Sang-hyun Lee, President and

CEO, Samsung, China, "China has recently emerged as the largest consumer

market in the world and the future is still very bright".

Samsung

has the technology and products in place to meet its ambitious plans. Digital

convergence (data, voice, video) and two-way video communications is what it is

laying its bets on. So, Samsung's repertoire includes products in the capture

(camera phones, digican-camcorders), display (Plasma and LCD TVs), store (SDRAM

and Flash memory devices), processing (mobile CPUs) and connection (mobile

phones) spaces.

Jong Young Yun, Samsung's vice-chairman and CEO, said, "Today, we

herald a new era of the video communication age. We will no longer be

constrained by voice or data, but will live in a converged world where voice,

data and video work together to offer consumers the ultimate digital

experience."

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“In this segment, India is 5-6 years behind China, though by 2010 the India mobile phone market can reach the current levels of China's”



-Kwang-Soo Kim, president & CEO, Samsung South West Asia

Most of these products will reach India soon, though some of them have

already been launched in other markets such as Korea. The global pricing for

most of them hasn't yet been announced. Nevertheless, here's a look at some

of the striking products expected soon.

Amongst the mobile phones, the S2300 is a 3.2 mega pixels camera phone that

comes with an optical zoom. Then there's the V-500 that comes with a swivel

screen; you can turn the display around 180 degrees to see your pictures in both

landscape and portrait modes. This is something that has been seen in computer

monitors but not hitherto in mobile phones. Then there is a mobile phone with a

3GB HDD and stereo speakers.

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Globally, more than 50% of Samsung's phones are camera phones. In India, on

the other hand, only 7-8% of Samsung's phones are camera phones (the camera

phone market in India is about 3%), while 60% of Samsung's phones in Thailand

are camera phones.

Commenting on the camera phones, Samsung digital media business marketing

team VP, David Steel said, "Companies that manufacture just phones or just

cameras can't compete with us."

Amongst the new generation products are Samsung's 3G phones. But, for the

time being these remain in the "next gen concept" stage. According to

Samsung mobile communications division worldwide sales and marketing team senior

VP, Chang Soo Choi, "The highway is ready, we need to wait for the right

automobiles; the technology is available, but we need to look for the killer

application."

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In display, the PS 80X4H is the world's largest and highest resolution

plasma TV, with 1920x1080 full HD resolution, 2 tuner built-in with double

screen PIP and full connectivity (VCR, DVD, PC, DVI, STB) while the LS57G15B is

the world's first 57-inch LCD TV.

Amongst cameras showcased, the VPM105, for example, is a micro compact

camcorder, camera, MP3 player, voice recorder and comes with 512 MB storage. The

VP-D6050 has an 10X optical zoom in its digi camcorder, while a 3X optical zoom

in the digi still camera.

Keeping alive its tradition for well-designed products, the products on

display certainly pleased the eye; some of them have also bagged prestigious

awards for design. The 50-inch DLP TV (SP50L7HR), for example, has received the

Silver Award for IDEA (Industrial Design Excellence Award) by Business Week.

Design is serious business for Samsung; it invested $3 bn in R&D last year,

and has budgeted for more this year.

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The technology for some of these products has originated in India. Samsung's

R&D team in Bangalore has developed the software for the World Phone (CDMA-GSM

dual band, VGA camera with flash, video recording, dual color LCD, 64 polyphonic

ringtones).

Incidentally, Samsung has over 25 R&D centers around the world, employing

over 25,000 engineers. Focusing on localization, it taps local expertise; so it

has centers for television in Russia, digital TV in the US, set-top boxes and

video applications in Poland, cellphones in Dallas and voice recognition in

Israel.

In fact, Samsung has registered patents in many countries; about 1,500 in the

US and almost double that in Korea. According to Jong Young Yun, "Samsung

is rated as the fifth amongst companies with the largest number of

patents."

If Samsung's ambitious plans come to fruition, so will Mr Kim's desires

of "wanting graduates to choose Samsung as the first company of choice to

join".

Juhi Bhambal associate

editor/PCQ

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