Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
Samsung eyes three-fold growth in TV biz in 2020
Kim Hyun-suk, president of Samsung Electronics' consumer electronics division, speaks during a press conference at the Caesars Palace Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, Wednesday (KST). / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
By Baek Byung-yeul
Tech giant to roll out robot in first half
By Baek Byung-yeul
LAS VEGAS _ Samsung Electronics has presented a “three-fold growth” strategy for its TV business in 2020 by focusing heavily on high-premium 8K TV sets, its division chief said, Wednesday (KST).
In a press conference with South Korean media on the sidelines of this year's technology fair in the U.S., Kim Hyun-suk, who also handles the company' consumer electronics business, said Samsung is ideally-positioned to beat its rivals in the race to develop next-generation TVs given it's prowess in manufacturing customized memory chips for ultra-high viewing resolution.
“Samsung is looking at three-fold growth in the business in 2020. The 2020 lineup of 8K TVs has market competitiveness in terms of picture quality and sound as well as design. We also have widened the price range of 8K TVs to attract more customers,” Kim told reporters.
The executive highlighted Samsung's competitiveness in mass producing memory and logic chips which can be integrated into Samsung's 8K TV sets enhancing their high viewing resolution and contrast ratio.
“The 8K chips we are currently using for the firm's TV lineup are not widely available in the market. It takes at least two years to develop such chips. I don't know when Chinese firms will start to manufacture their own chips,” Kim said. He added the technological gap between the company and its main Chinese rivals spans at least two years on multiple fronts. Samsung has been leading the global TV market since 2006.
Given Kim's emphasis on making Samsung's 8K TVs more popular, his remarks could be interpreted as Samsung looking to a “golden-pricing” strategy of possibly selling its 8K chips to rivals at an “affordable and competitive price” once it begins mass production.
He also hinted at Samsung releasing robotics products at “affordable prices” between June and July. The company earlier announced its “Samsung Bot” robotics platform and unveiled a lineup that included Samsung Bot Care, Samsung Bot Air and Samsung Bot Retail, and an exoskeleton-assisted robot.
“We can commercially launch the robots at any time; as soon as consumers are ready to pay for them. The robots we will launch will be priced as same as a large-sized clothes dryer,” Kim told reporters.
Regarding the possible launch of a home-based virtual cardiac rehabilitation service, dubbed HeartWise, here, Kim said this would only be possible after various regulatory challenges and issues are addressed.
Users of such a service could save on medical expenses, but it is currently illegal in Korea where certain telemedicine procedures are prohibited. “Korea is facing an aging population that has to spend more on medical services. The government, therefore, has to change regulations as soon as possible,” Kim said.
The most significant regulatory hurdle for “digital health companies” is medical device regulations. While leading technology companies are on track to develop health-oriented products, outdated compliance frameworks and requirements still remain, while all digital health products fall under the medical device category.
“Samsung plans to roll out the (HeartWise) service in countries that don't ban the selling of services or products that have medical related features,” Kim told reporters.
The service that pairs a Samsung smartwatch with a smartphone via Bluetooth was co-developed by healthcare company Kaiser Permanente. The personal healthcare service gained attention during Kim's keynote address at the CES as it collects users' activity data, displays their heart rate during exercise and sends data to clinicians to track their patient's progress.