By Kim Yoo-chul
LAS VEGAS ― The annual International Consumer Electronics Show (ICES) is always the year’s first taste of new technologies that will define the twelve months ahead.
Korea’s two technology giants ― Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics ― are preparing to promote new technologies and find further business chances with major clients at the global conference that will kick off today and run through Friday.
Major Korean players partook in this year’s show for different purposes.
LG is seeking business alliance opportunities to increase its presence in areas that it is effectively managing. Samsung plans to unveil more home appliance-related devices such as robot vacuum cleaners and fridges because the world’s top smartphone maker is weak in terms of its home appliances portfolio.
On Monday, LG said that it is seeking to build up a so-called ``Smart TV Alliance’’ by securing new partners.
The alliance provides a common software eco-system that allows software developers to write applications for multiple smart TV platforms. LG, which is the world’s No. 2 TV manufacturer after Samsung, is investing more for Web-enabled TVs and related content customized for those premium home appliances.
In a statement, LG said the alliance, which consists of LG, TP Vision, Toshiba, Qualcomm, YuMe, has just expanded its membership by adding five new partners ― Panasonic, IBM, Specific Media, TechniSat and ABOX42.
``Combined market share within the alliance was reaching some 30 percent. As the organization realizes `economies of a scale,’ the time is ripe to push new business projects,’’ said LG Electronics spokesman Yoon Won-il in Seoul.
It’s no secret that the Web-enabled TV market is severely fragmented with everything from Samsung, LG’s Smart TVs to Google TV vying for developer attention and the alliance is aiming to focus some of that energy into a single, common goal.
The United States accounts for 20 percent of LG’s annual TV revenue, while the revenue portion of appliances is approaching some 30 percent.
On the other hand, Samsung Electronics plans to use the exhibition as the venue to strengthen its position as the world’s leading home appliances manufacturer, according to Samsung officials.
The ICES is still the right show at which to meet major clients and conduct broad ranging business discussions. With displays of more home appliances, Samsung aims to grab attention from potential buyers and major distribution channels in the United States, said Samsung executives.
Headquartered in Suwon, south of Seoul, the firm is the world’s top supplier of memory chips, flat-screens and is also the world’s biggest manufacturer of televisions and smartphones.
Over the past few years, the ICES was dominated by big players such as Microsoft, Intel, Sony and Hewlett-Packard (HP). But there’s a shift happening.
Samsung and Lenovo are now the big dogs at the show. The ICES doesn’t need Microsoft in the same way that Microsoft doesn’t need the ICE anymore and the same can be said regarding Samsung because it is large enough to command an audience anytime it wants.
``Yes, that might be true. But we still need the ICES because we are changing towards a major home appliances firm,’’ said Samsung spokesman Song Cheol-kyu.
In a separate statement, Samsung said it will release tech-improved audio-video (AV) products including sound bar, wireless Bluetooth speakers, Blu-ray players and advanced home-theaters.
Yoon Boo-keun, the company’s head of its consumer electronics (CE) division, will hold a press conference for the Korean media on Jan. 9 from 6:30 p.m. at the Las Vegas Country Club, near the main venue of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC).