Samsung Electronics` Visual Display (VD) Business Division will put forth the monitor and signage as the ‘post-TV cards.’ The curved monitor will be the main product of the monitor business, and a new signage lineup will be introduced to make inroads into niche markets, such as outdoor and small signage.
According to an SEC insider on January 1, the VD Business Division decided to make the `curved` monitor the main product of the monitor lineup starting this year. The company thought that the TV monitor TD590C and the SE790C monitor with a 21:9 aspect ratio, which were released last year, were well received in the global B2B market. “The CRT monitor was replaced by the flat panel TVs due to the latter`s multiple advantages, such as high spatial utility. We are planning to reproduce this experience with the curved monitor as well,” said a VD Business Division insider. “Most of our new monitors released in 2015 will be curved.”
In contrast, the company decided to continue to be cautious with the 4K UHD (3840×2160). As the largest size of the 4K UHD monitor is 30-inchish, SEC believes that it will be limited in competing with resolution alone. It was known that there were not a lot of popular demands for the general-purpose UD590 and professional UD970 model, released last year. Instead, SEC will capitalize on the competitiveness of the curved monitor, e.g. spatial utility and immersion, to penetrate the B2B marker, including government offices, enterprises and financial institutions where there are high demands for monitors.
As for digital signage, SEC prepared the new outdoor lineups, the ‘OHD’ and ‘OMD’ series. Their 700nit or higher brightness and strong durability make it possible to see contents accurately in broad daylight. 46, 55 and 75-inch products are available, and the OHD series will be the main outdoor products, whereas the OMD series will be the semi-outdoor products. The company plans to preoccupy the outdoor signage market with these products. SEC is also expected to compete with LG MRI, an affiliate of LG Electronics that manufactures and sells outdoor signage products in the US.
The small product groups, first introduced this year, will spearhead the company`s efforts to solidify its global No. 1 position in the commercial display market. The VD Business Division of Samsung Electronics is planning to unveil 10~20-inchish products, including the 10-inch product (model name LH10DBD) and 22, 24 and 27-inch products, at CES to provide global B2B customers with more choices. In particular, the small signage will be used to promote products at department stores and marts, or as small signboards inside buildings, and is known to have great potential in the market.
The VD Business Division decided to operate its B2B business because it has been continuously pointed out that the company will be limited in making profits with TVs alone. “We have been No. 1 in the TV market for 9 consecutive years, but as the digital conversion in advanced markets is completed, the demands arising from TV replacement is declining. That`s why we are turning our eyes to B2B,” said an insider of SEC`s VD Business Division. “We cannot rely only on the demands from TV replacement in the low-income emerging markets and premium TV product lines like the curved TV.”
As a matter of fact, the display device sales (TVs, monitors, etc.) of the VD Business Division of SEC in Q3 of 2014 were the lowest since 2010 (KRW7,210.7 billion). The need for a new breakthrough has been mentioned continuously in and outside of the company.