Samsung Seeks to Build Services Business for Internet-Capable CE Products
Samsung is deepening deployment of the Smart TV this year as it builds a services business that reduces its reliance on Yahoo Widgets and other applications stores, Eric Anderson, vice president of product and content solutions, said at the company'e spring line show in New York.
Since launching with a handful of Yahoo Widgets on its TVs two years ago, Samsung has created its own developer program, which has produced more than 300 applications globally, including 200 in the U.S., Anderson said. The number of developers that have downloaded Samsung’s software development kit has grown from 35 in August 2010 to 3,200, about half of them “active” with the program, he said.
The result has been a range of services from search and discovery to Netflix, CinemaNow, Vudu and Your Video, which is designed to manage metadata based on a user’s interests. To increase development, Samsung is introducing minor, major and master programs, the master version focusing on content genres like sports, fitness, gaming and others, Anderson said.
"The store that had Yahoo is still alive and well, but what we going to get into more signature services and our role is more about access and discovery and not necessarily about aggregation,” Anderson said. “A lot our big brand applications we don’t host so I have no ambition to build this huge service bureau and say ‘no you have to come onto my servers.'"
The need to firmly establish a application program will be critical this year as Samsung competes to attract to its platform developers beset by “so many different options,” Anderson said. “The name of the game is what type of program do we put together so they spend the next 100 hours with us,” developing content, he said.
To handle the enhanced Smart TV platform, Samsung bulked up its plasma and LCD TVs and Blu-ray players, doubling the amount of on-board memory from a year ago to 2 GB and increasing video processor clock speeds to 800 MHz. Samsung uses a combination of its own video processors in step-up models and Broadcom ICs in lower-priced sets, Anderson said. Samsung forecast an increase in U.S. sales of Internet-equipped sets to 9 million units from 2.5 million in 2010.
Samsung is fielding 22 Internet-capable LCD and plasma TVs, including 12 with built-in Wi-Fi wireless, priced starting at $1,599 for a 51-inch plasma and rising to $3,599 for a 55-inch LCD model. The Internet capability is a hallmark of Samsung’s 13 plasma and 7 LCD 3D TVs that ship this month and in April. The 3D plasma sets range from 43- to 64-inches ($799-$3,599) and include 720p models in 43- and 51-inch screen sizes. 3D TV sales are forecast to hit 3.8 million units this year, up from 1 million in 2010, which was short of forecasts of 4 million, said Daniel Schinasi, senior marketing manager for HDTV product planning. The shortfall in 3D TV sales last year was tied to a combination of a sluggish U.S. economy and a shortage of 3D content, he said. The U.S. economy is expected to improve only slightly this year, but about 100 3D movies are expected to be released coupled with a new dedicated channel from 3net, a joint venture involving Discovery Communications, Imax and Sony, Schinasi said. DirecTV and ESPN, which launched 3D channels in 2010, are expected to bolster 3D programming this year. To promote 3D, Samsung will package DreamWorks movies Megamind and Shrek with two pairs of video glasses with each 3D-capable set sold.
"3D has come and gone in the past because technology hasn’t been able to deliver a comfortable solution,” said Phil McNally, an executive at DreamWorks. “I think we are at that point where, going forward, we are going to always have 3D as long as we see with two eyes and have great technology to make 3D content.”
In Blu-ray, Samsung will field nine players ($199-$899), including five 3D-capable models that also contain Your Video and Samsung applications. Samsung is parting with Nvidia in 3D PC monitors, said Jason Redmond, senior manager for integrated communications. Samsung previous sold Nvidia 3D Vision-certified 22-inch monitors, but it will move to proprietary active shutter technology in shipping 23- ($599) and 27-inch ($799) models in May. The 1080p monitors will be packaged with 3D video glasses, Redmond said. “We made a major investment in the 3D technology so we wanted to make sure that the experience was consistent across the TV to the monitor so we adopted our own technology,” he said.