Samsung Mobile will surpass 2 million shipments of Galaxy S...

Samsung Mobile will surpass 2 million shipments of Galaxy S smartphones in the U.S. this week, Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Telecommunications America told journalists Thursday at the pre-launch of the company’s Galaxy Tab tablet PC. The four Galaxy phones, launched through AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, will record shipments of 5 million in the U.S. by the end of the year, Sohn said. Globally, Samsung expects to ship 25 million smartphones by year-end across the product portfolio, with forecasts to double shipments in 2011, he said. Although the company showed the 7-inch Galaxy Tab, underscoring its one-handed operation and ability to fit into the pocket of a jacket, its official launch with the top four mobile service providers will be in the “upcoming months” and pricing plans weren’t disclosed. Responding to a question about 2010 volume forecasts for tablets, Omar Kahn, chief strategy officer of Samsung, said, “The tablet market is so new that early forecasts from the beginning of the year have been blown through already.” Citing the unpredictability of the market and the wide range of tablet PC projections from analysts, he wouldn’t hazard an estimate on volume, but said the company expected “strong demand.” Like some Samsung cameras, the Tab comes with front- and back-facing cameras, which allow users to have video chats. In the Q&A, officials revealed that only the Wi-Fi version, due out later than the first-launch product, would be enabled for video chat. The company also announced its Media Hub, a cloud-based content service for premium purchase and rental content, including next-day TV shows. MediaHub users will be able to share content with up to five mobile devices, according to Gavin Kim, vice president of content and services. Kim wouldn’t disclose pricing for the content other than it would be “competitive” with other online content. Nor would he comment on whether MediaHub content would be available to buyers of Samsung TVs or Blu-ray players. Asked when Media Hub will be available to those users, Kim said, “We're not prepared to talk about other devices.