Samsung Electronics Targets Digital Consumer Electronics, Aims for US$58B Revenues
November 17, 1999 (TOKYO) -- Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. of Korea said it plans to boost sales of digital consumer appliances 15 percent annually to reach US$58 billion in 2005.
It will invest more in R&D in that sector.
The company has invented a slogan, "Samsung DIGITall: everyone's invited," aiming to secure a third rank or higher position in global sales as a manufacturer of digital consumer appliances.
Samsung Electronics will invest more than US$1.4 billion in R&D over the next five to 10 years to achieve that plan.
The company will spend a total of US$80 million on R&D in 1999. And in 2000, it will boost expenses to US$315 million.
Samsung Electronics cited the following as major strategic products. Products equipped with small media cards called SmartMedia are in the forefront.
New products for the U.S. market in 4Q99
- The world's first CDMA PCS cellular phone, "SCH-3500," priced at US$149
- Portable audio players, "YP-E32" and "YP-E64," priced at US$169.99 and US$249.99, respectively, and compatible with the MP3 standard. They have 32MB and 64MB, respectively, of flash EEPROM as internal memory, and they support SmartMedia as exchangeable memory media.
New products for the U.S. market in 1Q2000
- A portable MP3 audio player, "Photo Yepp," capable of displaying still pictures, priced at US$399.99
- An 850,000-pixel digital still camera, "SDC-80," with a translucent body, priced at US$349.99. It will support SmartMedia.
- A 17-in. LCD TV set, "SyncMaster 170MP," with embedded tuner circuits, priced at US$3499.99. Digital zooming will be available.
- A digital still camera, "SDC-007," priced at US$599.99. It will be a high-end model with a revolving and folding LCD panel.
New products for the U.S. market in 2Q2000
- A portable MP3 audio player, "Yepp New E," designed with a hip-hop style, priced at US$199.99, equipped with 32MB of internal memory. It will support SmartMedia for storage.
- A high-end portable MP3 audio player, "Yepp New D," priced at US$249.99 and equipped with 32MB of internal memory. It will employ 3-D sound functions. It will support SmartMedia for storage.
- A portable MP3 audio player, "Motion Yepp," displaying moving pictures as well as still pictures, priced at US$499.99. It will be able to display music video and profiles of vocalists.
- A digital photo album, "SyncMaster 80," which will display digital still picture files and others stored by SmartMedia in a slide-show style. It will be priced at US$799.99.
- A 43-in. projection-type LCD TV, compatible with HDTV programs, priced at US$5,999.99
New products for the U.S. market in 3Q2000
- A DVD camcorder, "DVR-2000," which will use a rewritable "DVD-RAM" as its recording medium. It will be priced at US$1,999.99. It will be able to record conventional analog TV programs using MPEG2 coding functions. It will support progressive output (Y, Pb, Pr).
Samsung Electronics will spend US$3 million to survey trends of "Generation Y" consumers aged 13-25 and "Generation N" consumers who use the Internet daily. By 2001, the company plans to deploy a US$150 million advertising campaign in the United States to disseminate its new slogan.
(Nikkei Electronics) |
