Samsung Underestimating Apple's Potential Impact on Television Market?

[MacRumors]

Soon after rumors of Apple's plans for entering the television market began to gain significant momentum late last year, analysts noted that the industry's existing players were already "scrambling" to react to Apple's likely entry and its chances of remaking the industry.

But perhaps not all television manufacturers are sweating Apple's arrival, as Pocket-lint reports on comments from a Samsung product manager indicating that his company is confident that its massive investment in picture quality improvements will trump anything Apple might be able to put together in other areas.

"We've not seen what they've done but what we can say is that they don't have 10,000 people in R&D in the vision category," [Samsung product manager Chris Moseley] said.

"They don't have the best scaling engine in the world and they don't have world renowned picture quality that has been awarded more than anyone else.

"TVs are ultimately about picture quality. Ultimately. How smart they are...great, but let's face it that's a secondary consideration. The ultimate is about picture quality and there is no way that anyone, new or old, can come along this year or next year and beat us on picture quality.

"So, from that perspective, it's not a great concern but it remains to be seen what they're going to come out with, if anything."

As a product manager, Moseley's words carry less weight than if they had come from a senior executive with broader responsibility for the company's overall direction, and so it remains unclear whether Moseley's lack of concern about Apple's plans is a personal perspective or a broader indication of the company's thinking on the matter. Moseley is also obviously charged with promoting his company's products and thus would be expected to position them as industry leaders.




Nevertheless, Moseley's comments leave him open to comparisons with other representatives of Apple's competitors who underestimated the company as it entered new markets. Executives at Microsoft and Research in Motion famously panned Apple's iPhone announcement, while others scoffed at Apple's plans to completely reinvent the tablet market with the iPad.

Apple's ultimate plans for a television set are unknown, and its ability to drive a revolution in the well-established and low-profit television industry remains to be seen, but the company's success over the past 10-15 years has proven that competitors would be wise to keep an eye on Apple's efforts.

Article Link: Samsung Underestimating Apple's Potential Impact on Television Market?

[basesloaded190]

What is he supposed to say? "We are running around like a bunch of chickens with our heads cut off over a product that might not even exist"

[firestarter]

TVs are a commodity item - and current offerings already offer a good feature set.

It's not whether Apple can produce a good TV... it's whether the market will bear an Apple-style premium price. Personally I doubt it.

[rstansby]

And the audio quality of an iPod is inferior to a CD, so that won't sell either. Oh wait...

[wake6830]

This has a distinctly "Baghdad Bob" feel to it.

[brdeveloper]

I would love a smart TV if, and only with, the entire set is less expensive than a dumb TV plus a home theater computer (like the Macmini). I love my LG TV connected to Macmini with wireless mouse and keyboard.

An iOS TV running toy apps would be useless to me.

[sfoalex]

Yes, TVs are about good quality. But content is still king. Audio CDs have better audio quality than compressed audio files such as AAC and MP3, yet they sell like hotcakes because they are good enough and very convenient. Quality isn't the only factor. Just one of the factors.

[24601]

So he is doing what far to many in the tech industry do, looking at it from the engineer's perspective. Picture quality is important and a company can't put out crap but average consumers don't know squat about the technical specs. They see something in the store and can rarely perceive the difference in pixels with the way everything is setup.

Consumers aren't as savvy as so many of these product specific marketers and engineers expect them to be. People want ease of use and simple integration into their lives.

[dreamworks21]

said the same idiot later "i mean come on, people wanted a faster horse, so we gave it to them! who would want a dumb Model-T?"

[Unggoy Murderer]

How can Samsung underestimate a product that technically does not exist? What a load of nonsense.

[Peace]

Originally Posted by rstansby

And the audio quality of an iPod is inferior to a CD, so that won't sell either. Oh wait...

There's a HUGE difference between a consumers expectations from a portable music player and a television. Consumers expect more from their TV.

re: Samsung. Typical blather.

[HishamAkhtar]

I'm sure they're concerned but Samsung has a point. Just because Apple is entering the TV market doesn't mean that the rest of the TV companies are doomed.

[BJ.SoundWave360]

HiFi makers probably thought this about MP3 quality. "NOBODY would ever switch to lower quality sound, with our HiFi system and others available."

We don't live in a world that logical. We live in a world where convenience and features have trumped what logically seemed un-trumpable in the past.

A beautiful TV, with an Apple logo, with Siri, the App Store, and other features Apple is thinking up, but has .01% less quality on the picture?

I'll take the Apple! No brainer!

[jamessnell]

I think Apple's demonstrated pretty solidly in the last few years that Content trumps everything. Having a device that delivers vast amounts of commercials in razor crisp quality, is having the killer product of the 90s. But we're way past that. Interesting how most people in general are so remarkably slow to understand new market trends. Samsung's opening themselves up to an eventual buy-out from Apple. Though, making an excellent display is valuable. Just, the end-to-end experience is sort of the bottom line to the droves of consumers trying to decide what to dump their $ on while wandering around their local Walmart.

[Steveo13]

If Apple plans to "Re-invent" the TV, I think everybody is in for a treat in the future. Since we all know what happened when Apple "Re-invented" the phone.

[dwhittington]

Maybe Jobs meant that he finally figured out how to crack a Samsung screen.

[derek1984]

Wouldn't that be something if Apple has KURO technology lol

[herocero]

I have a beautiful LED Samsung TV that really shines . . . when I turn off all their ridiculous post processing "enhancements." The added frames and processing is just awful, and he goes on and on about picture quality? Out of the box pretty much every TV has to be adjusted for brightness and sharpness to fit your room and lighting, and all the demo materials they put together for floor models aren't representative of anything on TV or movies. This guy is a joker.

[Diode]

Originally Posted by firestarter

TVs are a commodity item - and current offerings already offer a good feature set.

It's not whether Apple can produce a good TV... it's whether the market will bear an Apple-style premium price. Personally I doubt it.

People were suddenly able to come up for a premium for the iPhone opening smart phones to the masses (vs just power users).

As Steve Jobs famously said in the 80's - consumers don't know what they want until you give it to them.

[PeterQVenkman]

Apple will still be using the same display panels as everyone else. I hope they really bring something new to the table in terms of functionality, because the display itself isn't going to look much different.

As of right now I'm waiting for larger OLED or crystal LED TV's to come about and not cost as much as a small car. Those things look STUNNING.

[usasalazar]

"Our estimates are that none of them will come out alive unless they surrender to us quickly."

[nagromme]

Originally Posted by firestarter

TVs are a commodity item - and current offerings already offer a good feature set.

It's not whether Apple can produce a good TV... it's whether the market will bear an Apple-style premium price. Personally I doubt it.

Apple hasn’t charged a premium price in ages. Competitors from MacBook Air-alikes to tablets have had a tough time coming close to Apple’s pricing without cutting a lot of corners!

Apple, if they enter this market, will be competing against a “TV plus something,” not against a TV screen alone.

[Thunderstrike76]

Apple doesn't need 10,000 people in R&D, Apple has Jony Ive and the best engineers in the world. Sammy sounds scared.

[AlienXi]

"We've not seen what they've done but what we can say is that they don't have 10,000 people in R&D in the vision category," [Samsung product manager Chris Moseley]

Sounds like something Nokia might have said before the iPhone

[Capt Underpants]

TV's aren't all about picture quality anymore, Samsung.

We're moving forward.