Samsung Expands 3D Product Line, Bows 65-inch 3D TV, Starter Kit

At the same time that Samsung scaled back industry projections for 2010 3D TV sales, the company ratcheted up its own commitment to 3D, bringing its 3D lineup to a total 35 products for the year, the company said Wednesday at a news conference at the Samsung Experience store at New York’s Time Warner Center.

Among the new 3D products launched at the event were a 65-inch LED-backlit LCD TV, three plasma TVs, a Blu-ray portable with Wi-Fi and a high-end home theater system. Although Samsung predicted at CES that 4 million 3D TV units would ship in 2010, the company has shaved that number to 2.5 million based on “history, not anticipation,” according Dan Schinasi, senior marketing manager of HDTV product planning in the visual display product group. Schinasi told Consumer Electronics Daily: “We expected more models from the competition. Our competitors were very, very late to introduce, and the breadth of product wasn’t what we thought it would be.”

Samsung said it has done its part to support the 3D rollout at retail, saying it has 6,000 displays in stores to demonstrate 3D TV. The company is making a similar push with “smart TV,” Samsung’s term for IPTV, in an effort to make a connection for consumers between smartphone apps and apps for TVs. “Over the next six months, you'll see us again full force as we continue to drive smart TV and 3D TV,” said Tim Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics America. Calling the two technologies “the vanguard of the new dimension” in home entertainment, Baxter said, “Smart TV marketing will come alive in many ways over the next six months. He cited a national Samsung-branded, TV, print and online campaign featuring Eli Manning, brother of Sony spokesman Peyton Manning. The company is also going on the road with a tour of “smart TV zones” and has partnered with Best Buy on a joint TV commercial and 2,000 dedicated in-store displays showing the benefits of smart TV, he said.

To sweeten the pot for consumers, Samsung will offer a 3D starter kit this fall to those who buy both a Samsung 3D TV and Blu-ray player, the company said. The free kit includes two IMAX 3D titles and additional 3D discs -- Into the Deep 3D, Galapagos, Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon and Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs, along with two pairs of 3D glasses. The IMAX films are available exclusively to Samsung for the next 12 months. To lure gamers, Samsung is working with the Sci-Fi channel’s Ultimate Gamer program, in which “Samsung products will be an integral part of this experience,” Baxter said. The second season of the program kicks off on Aug. 19 and one of the episodes “will involve 3D,” he said.

Additional 3D content will be available from the Samsung Apps store, Samsung said. The initial content will be a free video-on-demand application for movie trailers, but a transactional section will launch in the future, enabling consumers to order additional 3D content, according to Schinasi. The premium apps section launched Wednesday and apps range from 99 cents to $9.99. The store currently offers about 80 apps, with 200 expected by year end. There’s no date yet for the introduction of premium 3D apps, Schinasi said.

Calling 3D “game changing for us and the industry,” Baxter told journalists that Samsung expects the path of 3D to follow the rollouts of both HD and Blu-ray. By the end of the year, he said, 3D TVs will make up 20 percent of the big-screen TV (40 inches and above) market in the U.S. By 2012, that percentage will jump to 70 percent, he said, adding that Samsung has 80 percent of 3D TV market share. Samsung added to its 3D TV and Blu-ray lineups Wednesday, announcing the largest LED-backlit 3D LCD TV to date, the 65-inch UN65C8000. The company is making an aggressive expansion into plasma 3D, too, including a $1,099 720p 3D model. Schinasi declined to speculate what the street price of the leader 3D plasma model would be in Q4, but said “we'll be competitive. We'll offer the value at prices people expect."

The company also showed a $499 portable Blu-ray player that’s 3D-ready. The connected player comes with two HDMI jacks: a 1.3 version and a 1.4 version, with the former for use with legacy audio/video receivers that can’t accept a 1.4 signal, Schinasi said. The built-in Wi-Fi enables users within range of a Wi-Fi hotspot to stream movies from Netflix or other movie services, he noted. Samsung also introduced a highly styled $1,799 3D home theater system designed to match the super-thin UNC9000 LED TV. All of the Samsung TVs pack 2D-3D conversion chips, Schinasi said, adding “first and foremost we support native 3D content.” The conversion feature “offers the user the ability to convert anything -- broadcast, their existing library of 2D DVDs, photos, home videos -- but native is best,” he said, saying the conversion feature enables consumers to experiment with 3D.

Regarding published reports involving disclaimers about 3D and health issues, Schinasi said consumer safety warnings in early documentation were “very conservative from a legal and safety standpoint, covering from soup to nuts what could possibly happen.” With a little more experience and research behind them, he said, the company now tells consumers that the only negative effects consumers need to be worried about are eye fatigue, as long as they follow directions. The length of time people view before reaching fatigue varies from consumer to consumer, he said, depending on the quality of the content and how much 3D is actually in the content. “Your eyes have to track,” he said. “Depending on how much 3D there is, it could cause strain as you try to follow movement as it comes toward you.” He said Hollywood is moving away from gimmicky 3D and “learning how to make better content.”

On the connected TV side, Samsung is hoping to further its “60 percent market share” with a developer contest that launched yesterday. The “Free the TV Challenge” is designed to find innovative applications for IPTVs, Blu-ray players and home theater systems, the company said. The prize pool is $500,000, and 14 winners will be selected including first, second and third-place winners plus runner-up prizes. Industry experts will judge the apps for the top prizes and consumers can elect a people’s choice winner at the contest website, www.FreeTheTVChallenge.com. To be eligible, developers must live in the United States, submit the final app and provide a video that showcases how the app works to Samsung by Nov. 11. The contest will be administered by New York-based startup ChallengePost, and entries will be judged based on the quality of the idea, functional implementation, and visual appeal.

Samsung predicts industry-wide sales of 6.5 million connected TVs for 2010, or 20 percent of all TVs sold in the U.S., Baxter said. Since March, he said, the company has achieved a 50 percent activation rate of apps on the company’s connected TVs and Blu-ray players.