Dolby Seeks Business Expansion in Korea
By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
Audio technology licensor Dolby Labs Inc. plans to strengthen its business tie-ups with the nation's leading telecom carriers and electronics majors including Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.
The San Francisco-headquartered company, which also sells products that enable surround-sound, 3D and digital cinema in theaters, said it is seeing better business chances in the local mobile on-line gaming industries, a senior company executive said, Thursday.
"Dolby will support Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics to develop their Blu-ray players with our multimedia and sound technologies. The mutual partnerships will further be solidified," Ramzi Haidamus, the company's executive vice president in sales and marketing, said in a press conference held in a Seoul hotel.
"Sales portions from Samsung and LG Electronics will be more than 13 percent of the total estimated sales in 2010," he said.
In 2008, it formed a united front with LG Electronics for marketing for the usage of its sound technologies ― Dolby Mobile ― in LG's key handsets ranging from Arena- and New Chocolate-branded devices.
The demand for Dolby's sound-related products will see another boom thanks to revised up sales targets in televisions by Samsung and LG. Samsung is the leader in global flat-screen TVs, followed by LG Electronics and Sony of Japan.
Samsung, which trails Nokia in the handset industry, plans to sell 270 million mobile phones, while LG has set a target of 140 million throughout this year, giving more room for Dolby to boost its sound products
For the diversification of its client channels and business footsteps, the lab is talking with a local game company for a technology partnership regarding its Axon technology.
"We are currently in deep talks with a local game company for the usage of our sound-linked techs. An official announcement will be made soon," the executive said.
"Meanwhile, Dolby is in the stages for enhanced partnerships with telecom majors such as SK Telecom and KT," according to the official.
Dolby currently has 21 regional offices in 12 countries worldwide, and the Korean office was established in November 2006.
The number of products which have incorporated Dolby technologies is over 4 billion as of January 2010, the company said.