New York — Samsung Electronics introduced an array of cutting edge video, mobile and major appliance products to the trade last night at a Global Road Show, held here at the Time Warner Center.
The event, hosted by vice chairman/CEO Jong-Yong Yun and emceed by actor William Shatner, underscored the company’s commitment to innovation through research and development.
“We have emerged as a company with a reputation for excellence, but we are still on the rise,” Yun said, citing Samung’s expected $5.2 billion in R&D outlays this year, which will represent more than 9 percent of the company’s projected total revenue in 2005.
The fruits of those expenditures, unveiled to retailers, analysts and the press, included:
- A 71W-inch DLP rear-projection TV, an 82W-inch flat-panel LCD TV, a 102W-inch plasma display panel and a working 40W-inch OLED TV prototype, all billed as the largest within their categories
- A Blu-ray DVD recorder with built-in HD tuner
- A portable multimedia player that can receive live TV content
- A four-door convertible refrigerator with separate climate zones, and a new speed-cook oven
- Samsung’s first single-pass color laser printer
Attendees also received an update on Samsung’s global marketing strategies and programs from chief marketing officer Gregory Lee, who noted that the company was recently ranked as one of the world’s top 20 brands in an independent study.
Shatner, who helped foment consumer fascination with electronics devices in his role as starship Captain James Kirk on the 1960s sci-fi TV show “Star Trek,” noted that he is a “huge fan of Samsung as a company and have been a long-time user and admirer of its products.”
