Samsung banking on smart TVs
Thai Samsung Electronics has high hopes that its new smart TV will drive its sales up 30 per cent to Bt12 billion this year.
Ratchata Suttapattanon, senior manager for the audio-visual business, said yesterday that smart TV would be the highlighted product for this year. Since its introduction five months ago, more than 2.5 million units have been sold worldwide, including 50,000 in this country.
"Smart TV can respond to the lifestyle of new-generation customers who want to experience smart content and services via applications including games, news updates, real-time traffic information, and movie showtimes and trailers," he said.
To serve those different demands, six local partners will help develop eight applications in first phase. Examples are game applications by EA Mobile Thailand and Index Corp (Thailand), investment information and updates by the Stock Exchange of Thailand, movie showtimes and trailers by SF Cinema, real-time traffic reports by the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre, business news updates by Krungthep Turakij and The Nation and entertainment news by NBC's Mango TV.
By the end of this year, the company plans to launch 52 local applications for smart TV with upcoming partners to meet increasing demand.
The company will also cut the prices of 32-inch LCD TVs from Bt6,600 to Bt5,000-Bt6,000 soon to boost sales in the crucial final quarter of this year. This strategy targets the mass market, which buys 40-50 per cent of all television sets.
"Given these factors, I strongly believe that the company will enjoy a 30-per-cent surge in sales to Bt12 billion in television sets this year," Ratchata said.
Of the targeted sales, LCD and LED televisions will account for 36 per cent each, plasma TVs for 18 per cent and old-fashioned cathode-ray-tube models for the rest. Smart TVs are in the LED segment.
