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.
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.
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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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.
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."
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.
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