Eyeing the growing number of youths in India, Samsung is planning a major shift in its strategy by introducing Internet TV, also called ‘Smart TV', where a user can simultaneously surf and watch TV.
“The Internet@TV feature in the Samsung premium 3D, LED and LCD TVs allows users to seamlessly integrate a broad array of Internet content where they can surf the web, download or stream applications from various categories such as video, game, sports, lifestyle and info on the Samsung Application store,” Samsung India Deputy Managing Director Ravinder Zutshi told The Hindu .
Quoting a new global research, Mr. Zutshi said today more than 60 per cent of young adults aged 16 to 35 said they would like to watch TV while simultaneously chatting online. These consumers were leading the development of ‘Internet or Social TV'. “The concept is new and exciting and Samsung is leading this trend by making its Internet@TV application available on its premium flat panel television range, priced between Rs.54,000 and Rs.4 lakh,” he said.
Pointing out that the concept of Internet TV was still in its nascent stage in India, Mr. Zutshi further said: “Through Samsung Internet@TV features widgets that are there in the high-end TVs, consumers can access as many as 33 applications such as YouTube, Picasa, Google maps, AP news sticker, AccuWeather.com, Facebook, Getty images, History Channel, Sudoku, Twitter and USA Today.” Samsung India is considering providing some Indian contents too through its application to make the concept popular in the country.
It also provides a feature MOIP (Multimedia over IP) that can be used for video-conferencing using large screen or video/voice call using Skype service.
Though Samsung applications are for free, a customer will have to pay for downloading contents from the Internet.
“Going beyond entertainment, Samsung TV will soon become a hub of infotainment, with a great deal of interactivity through the applications — access to the latest news reports, staying connected with friends, live streaming of HD videos from the web, personal photo viewing from mobile devices, interacting with friends including the ability to record, pause and search video content — all this with the push of a button on the remote control,” Mr. Zutshi said.
Mr. Zutshi further said globally, Samsung Electronics had already seen 10 lakh TV application downloaded from Samsung Apps, the world's first HDTV-based application store, where users can purchase and download applications from an expanding range of content and service providers, directly from their TV. The company's 200th TV application is now live via the platform. Samsung had reached these milestones in less than a year after the initial launch of Samsung Apps. In the first half of 2010, Samsung took over 66 per cent of the U.S. connected TV market, he added.
