Samsung launches smart TV at Rs 37,700 in India

MUMBAI: South Korean consumer electronics major Samsung is bullish on the flat panel TV business in India, and is eyeing a 35 per cent market share in the segment that is expected to touch 50 lakh units in the current year.

The company which is present in India through its wholly- owned subsidiary, Samsung India Electronics, has a market share of around 30 per cent of the 38 lakh units of flat panel televisions in the country.

"We have over 30 per cent share in the business, which is more than the industry growth, and this year it should increase by five percentage points to 35 per cent," Samsung India Audio Video Business Vice-President Raj Kumar Rishi told reporters here.

The firm is also betting big on the LED TVs and expects to garner a market share of close to 40 per cent this year from 34 per cent in 2011.

"Consumers are showing a strong adoption of LED TVs. It has better technology, lower energy consumption and the better picture performance. We will also launch new products in LED and drive the transition from LCD to LED," Rishi said.

"Samsung's contribution to LED TVs is expected to grow to 70 per cent this year compared to 25 per cent sale of flat TVs in 2011," he added.

The company today launched its interactive smart TV priced at Rs 37,700 to Rs 2,73,000.

With the new launch, the company is targeting a market share of 65 per cent in this category.

Samsung also plans to sell 1.5 lakh units of smart TV units as their market is projected to reach 2.5 lakh units in 2012 as compared to over 1.1 lakh units in 2011.

Lenovo unveils 55-inch smart TV

BEIJING/HONG KONG: What a difference nearly 50 years makes. Although the exact origins are lost to time, it was around 1965 that the phrases "boob tube" and "idiot box" were coined to describe the small cathode-ray tube television and the content broadcast on it that many thought foolish.

Fast-forward to 2012 and it's the era of the "smart TV," a slim and stylish - and large - LED flatscreen model connected to the Internet that allows viewers to download movies, play video games and Skype their relatives around the world.

Lenovo K91 smart TV

Smart TVs are also the latest battleground for technology giants like Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Lenovo Group Ltd, each of which is trying to capture the eyeballs and wallets of consumers hungry for content displayed in the comfort of their home in 3D on a high-definition screen.

The latest entry in the market was unveiled in Beijing by Lenovo on Tuesday, where the world's second-largest PC maker showcased its 55-inch K91 smart TVs to attendees who were reading Sina microblogs, playing simulated tennis and watching the movie "Inception" on demo models.

While relatively established in other parts of the world, smart TVs have been slow to catch on in China because of restrictions on content and the concept itself is relatively new.

The K-series is Lenovo's first smart TV and the company decided to launch it on its home turf because it said it would be easier to negotiate content deals in China.

"We been very busy this spring sowing seeds for the future," Lenovo's CEO and chairman, Yang Yuanqing, said during the launch. "Lenovo not only wants to be a leading PC vendor, it also wants to be a global leader in providing Internet consumer devices."

Lenovo may have to play catch-up in the rest of the world as tech heavyweights Samsung and Apple power ahead with their own offerings. Another Korean firm, LG Electronics Inc, the world's No.2 TV maker, plans to launch Internet-enabled TV based on Google's platform in theUnited States in May.

"Whatever Apple does, it sets the trend for some other PC makers," said Vincent Chen, an analyst at Yuanta Securities in Taipei. "For Lenovo, the smart TV is a good strategy for it to consolidate its market share in China. However, content will be the biggest obstacle for Lenovo's smart TVs to be sold outside of China."

Diversification

Lenovo, which has been diversifying into making its Lephone smartphones and Lepad tablet PCs, derived more than 40 per cent of its total nine-month sales of $22 billion in 2011 from China.

Analysts said Lenovo had been dominant in the traditional PC sector, but its foray into smartphones, tablet PCs and now smart TVs, has not been as successful.

The launch of its smart TVs will unlikely have an immediate boost on Lenovo's earnings in coming quarters since it is only being sold in China. By 2015, smart TVs will make up about half of total TVs shipped globally, Lenovo executives said.

Lenovo's smart TV, which comes in four models with prices ranging from 6,499 yuan ($1,032) to 14,999 yuan, uses a Qualcomm Inc processor and runs Google Inc's Android 4.0 operating system.

Lenovo K91 smart TV

Lenovo plans to start selling its smart TV this month at electronics retailer Suning stores in nine cities: Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

The company is already selling a console that could be paired with the new smart TV. The company's Eedoo unit in April launched the CT510 console that will compete with Microsoft Inc's XBox Kinect and Sony Corp's Playstation.

However, Lenovo said its CT510 device is primarily an exercise and entertainment device since sales of so-called gaming consoles are banned in China.

Lenovo's shares fell 4.2 percent on Tuesday, underperforming the main Hang Seng Index's 0.4 per cent loss.

Information Courtesy: The Times Of India