Samsung wants to widen its consumer electronic horizons far beyond smartphones and is looking to invest heavily in future technologies that it believes will be more responsive to the needs of the consumer.
South Korean media reports say Samsung has established a new research lab that focuses solely on projects involving virtual reality, drones, unmanned vehicles, robotic telepresence, 3D printing, and more. Although the new team will be part of Samsung's mobile division under the supervision of mobile chief Shin Jong-kyun, it will operate independently of Samsung and will have no direct links to the company's structure and divisions.
"Given the significance of the team, members will have more authority and independence because the main purpose of the team isn't to develop single devices for any imminent results, but to develop solutions to go with Samsung's manufacturing capabilities," a Samsung official tells Korea Times.
The latest initiative is part of Samsung CEO Boo-Keun Yoon's bigger plan to move into the Internet of Things (IoT) industry and bring smarter, inter-connected devices to consumers' hands. At the International CES held in January, IoT was a major theme for Samsung, which announced that all of its TVs will be Internet-connected by 2017, allowing consumers not just to watch TV on demand but also to use their TVs as the central hub for all their Internet-connected devices.
In five years, all Samsung products, including its ovens, washing machines, and refrigerators, will be part of the IoT, Yoon said, giving users the ability to control all their devices from a smartphone, a tablet, or a smartwatch. To achieve this, Samsung has pledged $100 million to fund developers to create applications that allow consumers to make the most of their IoT experience.
"To make the Internet of Things happen, it takes more than one company. It takes more than one industry," Yoon said. "We have to strike partnerships everywhere."
Samsung's hot pursuit of the nascent IoT industry can in part be attributed to the last quarter's profits decline, the first in Samsung's recent history since 2011. Company executives are willing to admit that simply selling products for the time-being is not sufficient to sustain the company's growth and that technology companies need to focus more on creating companies that "set themselves up around your lives."
"Samsung's previous success was mostly due to releasing products that are competitive in pricing," says one official. "This is an old business formula. We need to constantly explore new ways to meet the needs of people through innovation and updated technologies."
Still, Samsung is not abandoning its smartphone business to pursue its IoT goals. As Andy Griffiths, president of Samsung United Kingdom and Ireland says, Samsung has learned from the recent decline in its phone business. Whether it will apply whatever lessons it has learned, we have yet to see.
