NEW YORK, 4 October 2005 — Samsung Electronics, the global technology innovator, showcased some of the company’s newest products and technologies at the company’s 2005 Global Road Show here last week.
Samsung Vice Chairman and CEO Jong-Yong Yun and other executives outlined key strategies for continued growth and innovation at the road show. The event was held on Monday at the Time Warner Center in New York for media and Samsung customers from around the world.
“Samsung has built its success on excellence in design and innovative technology,” Yun said during the road show. “But in the years ahead, successful tech companies must respond to the growing power of consumers’ choice. Samsung will not only respond to this shift of power; it will take the lead in this area by providing what we call ‘unlimited choice’, creating exciting products that combine functionality and styling in almost any combination to suit a customer’s lifestyle,” he said.
Visitors at the Global Road Show were treated to live demonstrations of a wide variety of new products such as the world’s largest plasma display panel (PDP) TV, measuring 102 inches and TFT-LCD TV, measuring 82 inches; a 40-inch OLED television, the largest working prototype of this new screen technology; the world’s largest commercialized DLP (Digital Light Projector) TV, measuring 71 inches; a Blu-ray disc recorder with a built-in HD digital terrestrial tuner and a host of new mobile phones, portable media players and color laser printers.
Samsung, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of home appliances, also launched the first-ever four-door convertible refrigerator, Quatro Freedom, and new speed cook oven, a unique combination of oven and microwave.
Samsung released its first single-pass color laser printer at the road show. Single-pass enhances the printing speed of color printouts equal to the speed of black and white documents.
The company introduced the YM-PD1 Portable Multimedia Player with DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) functionality. The multi-codec PMP allows users to watch movies, enjoy DMB TV content, and listen to music on the go.
“Samsung is committed to developing stylish, high capacity, all-in-one personal entertainment devices which meet the changing needs of consumers’ modern lifestyles,” said Taiho Ahn, senior vice president of Samsung’s digital media division.
Earlier Yun cited the company’s commitment to R&D as a major reason for its success. “We have emerged as a company with a reputation for excellence, but we are still on the rise,” Yun said.
“We will further extend our commitment to our 17 global R&D centers. In 2004, we were the sixth largest recipient of US patents, with over 1,600 patents,” he said.
In 2005, Samsung’s R&D spending is projected to increase to $5.2 billion, which is over nine percent of the year’s total expected revenue.
Samsung’s Chief Marketing Officer Gregory Lee said: “Samsung was recently ranked as one of the Top 20 brands in the world in an independent study. Our aspirations are higher, though. We seek to create passion for our brand and our products, and build a relationship with our customers that is unsurpassed.”
The company’s strong performance, both in terms of financial results and product design has been recognized by various industry awards and rankings. In July this year, Samsung was ranked 39th among the companies listed on the Fortune Global 500. It was the fourth company in the electronic and electric equipment sector and the highest ranked company in South Korea.
In August, Interbrand placed Samsung Electronics 20th in their annual ranking of global brands based on brand equity. The company is considered one of the fastest growing brands in the world as it moved up from 42nd in 2001.
Sumsung’s focus on design excellence has also been highly rewarded. The company received 12 iF Design Awards in January 2005. In July, the Industrial Designers Society of America presented Samsung with three Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA). In August, three innovative products were recognized by European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) for its excellence in design and product concept.
Furthermore, Samsung has now become the world’s No. 1 consumer electronics brand, after it surpassed long entrenched player, Sony.
The company is now valued at $14.9 billion and is ranked at the 20th position among the Top 100 global brands in a survey by BusinessWeek magazine and InterBrand Consultancy. Samsung, with 2004 parent sales of $55.2 billion and net income of $10.3 billion, employs about 113,600 people in over 90 offices in 48 countries.
Serving as master of ceremonies for the event was Emmy Award-winning actor William Shatner. “I’m a huge fan of Samsung and have been a long-time user and admirer of the company’s products. I’m eager to see the new devices,” Shatner said.
The Global Road Show is Samsung’s annual media and partner event held in major markets across the world. In 2002, it was held in New York, Paris, Beijing and Singapore; in 2003, New York and Istanbul and in 2004, in Shanghai and London.
