South Korea’s Samsung Electronics plans to sell more than 25 million “smart TVs” this year, as it tries to capture the rapidly growing Internet TV market. Kim Hyun-Suk, head of the firm’s television business, told reporters that the firm hopes to sell 50 million flat-screen TVs worldwide this year, of which 25 million will be Internet enabled, interactive TVs.
Samsung launched its first line of what are now considered “smart TVs” in 2009 and has so far taken huge strides in this field. Samsung’s latest model – named ES8000 is expected to hit stores by the end of March. The ES8000 contains all the technologies and features possessed by the company. It recognizes human voices in around 30 languages to turn it on or off, switch channels, or adjust volume. It also recognizes hand motions and offers some 1500 apps.
Samsung also hopes to introduce a smart TV run on Google’s operating system by the final quarter of this year. With rumors of Apple’s Siri-powered smart TV set to be launched soon, it will be interesting to see if Samsung hits its projection because of consumer demand or because all its TV’s are getting smarter.
