IFA chief hopes Samsung will unveil Note 8 in Berlin

IFA Executive Director Jens Heithecker speaks during an interview with Korean media at an IFA press conference in Lisbon, Saturday (local time). / Korea Times photo by Yoon Sung-won

By Yoon Sung-won

LISBON ― IFA Executive Director Jens Heithecker said Saturday that he expects Samsung Electronics will unveil the new Galaxy Note in Berlin this year.

“My personal perspective is that IFA would be the better place (to unveil the new Note smartphone),” Heithecker said at an IFA press conference in Lisbon, Saturday (local time).

“The big advantage is that we have a lot of media and journalists from all around the world in Berlin. It is not possible to bring them all together in other cities wherever it is, in August. That’s our offer."

Starting from the first Galaxy Note in 2011, Samsung Electronics had unveiled the Note 2, 3 and 4 in August every year in Berlin at the sidelines of the IFA show. Thereafter, however, the world’s largest smartphone maker moved the venue to New York, targeting the North American market.

The head of Europe’s largest electronics fair said he looks for more participation of Korean information technology enterprises at the event for their greater presence in the European electronics markets.

“Samsung will have the biggest presentation as well this year as far as we know, and we are very happy to have Korean industries such as Samsung, LG and other companies in our show,” Heithecker said.

In recent years, multiple top executives of Korean enterprise such as Samsung Electronics’ consumer electronics President Yoon Boo-geun and LG Display CEO and Vice Chairman Han Sang-beom delivered keynotes at the opening of IFA shows.

The IFA chief said there are discussions for a keynote by a Korean company’s executive every year.

“Over the last few years, we had so many Korean companies’ executives on our stage, which I made me proud as people were wowed, saying Korean industries are so strong on the stage,” he said.

About the aggressive drives of Samsung and LG in Europe’s premium electronics market, Heithecker said non-European electronics makers should focus on the market to establish their brands and products.

“Europe is one of dominant markets worldwide and you have to be there and be successful for your brand. That is the challenge for the companies,” he said.

“For outsiders, the European market is a tough market, because we have very strong European home appliance industries. We see different habits of consumers from different regions and continents, especially for washing machines and fridges. For example, no one outside Korea needs a fridge for kimchi.”

Kimchi is Korea’s traditional staple side dish. Many Korean households have refrigerators dedicated to storing only kimchi.

He also advised Korean enterprises need “niches of high value home appliances and devices with all the technology knowledge they have” as well as a proper pricing strategy to compete with enterprise from China and Eastern Europe.

Meanwhile, Heithecker said the Trump administration’s protectionism currently is not affecting Europe’s electronics trade.

“At the moment, we don’t see an impact on trade because what we’ve gotten so far from the Trump administration is announcements, statements about free trade,” he said.

“Free trade is essential in the whole system of the consumer electronics industry because it’s a very international business with so many companies from different countries involved. There are big American brands, too, and they need all the components, all the innovation from global manufacturers to have products for American consumers. The negative effects of American protectionism so far have been seen.”