Share

TV ups tech stakes

THE war for domination of consumer electronics has shifted from the handheld portable gadget to a device that is firmly ensconced in the living room.

At last week’s International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the launchpad for the industry that owns Las Vegas in January every year, smartphones took a backseat.

One dazzling TV set after another was unveiled to oohs and aahs – and aarghs from those who had just bought the previous state of the art version.

There was little to choose between the flagship screens of the world’s TV giants, with the big three, Samsung, LG and Sony, all unveiling versions of the new Ultra High-definition (UHD) 4K standard – sets with double the resolution of high-definition TV.

Sony stole a march on its rivals, however, with the world’s first 4K TV using OLED (Organic Light-emitting Diode). Samsung, for its part, put out a 3D OLED TV.

While OLED is becoming common on cellphone screens, its high cost of materials and production had kept it from big screens. Now, it seems, the stakes are high enough for TV manufacturers to ignore the fact that the devices are priced out of reach of the market. The desperate shortage of tailor-made content is glossed over.

In this battle, mindshare is as important to manufacturers as market share. Being first with any size, format or innovation is a goal in its own right.

Why are bragging rights so important? The real issue with high-end TV is that the manufacturer only has one shot at winning over the consumer. Unlike smartphones, which are typically replaced every two years, the TV set has a lounge life of five to 10 years.

Once the purchase has been made, the losing brand may not have another chance to win over the customer for up to a decade.

With smartphones, they can recover from mistakes; they can survive having to play catch-up; and they can win back lost customers with the next roll of the dice. When they lose a TV customer, on the other hand, there is rarely a second chance in the product future that is currently mapped out.

As a result, convincing customers to go with a specific brand is as important as giving them what they want from the device. Being positioned as a technology leader is a key part of that convincing.

Enter 4K. The first 4K sets unveiled a few months ago by Sony and LG – on the same day in South Africa – respectively cost R279 000 and R160 000. That meant a market of perhaps a few dozen customers. But anyone seeing either of the sets in action on shop floors would have been convinced that the manufacturer had entered the future of TV.

Despite the technology not yet being built into lower-end devices, the perception of technology leadership would still provide a halo effect over these sets.

For Sony, the stakes are high. Speaking to South African media at CES this week, Sony senior vice-president Masashi Tiger Imamura acknowledged that the company was on a mission to turn around the loss-making TV business.

“The most important thing to us was to make a very attractive product for  the market,” he said of the 4K OLED set. However, it was also important to understand how the TV had evolved in the way it was used.

“TV used to be a very passive device. Now it has become both a passive and active device. TV is not a standalone product anymore.“

Every one of the major manufacturers also unveiled more advanced versions of the content services available on their internet-connected TVs, with the Samsung and Panasonic screens at CES displaying remarkably similar interfaces for accessing Web-based content.

Increasingly in the future, we can expect to see TV makers attempt to differentiate their devices based on innovative content services.

Imamura does not believe, however, that competition for higher picture quality has ended, or that content is the only way to differentiate.

“I believe there is still a lot of room to improve picture quality with new technology like OLED. The issues are always around the customer getting real value, how much they will pay, and what kind of volume we can sell.

"It's a balance between demand and supply and technological advance.”

As a result, he said, 4K represented both a risk and a challenge to Sony.

The excitement it created at CES suggests that, from a marketing point of view, the risk has paid off.

 - Fin24

*Arthur Goldstuck is managing director of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter or Pinterest on @art2gee.


  
We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
18.94
-0.9%
Rand - Pound
24.10
-0.9%
Rand - Euro
20.59
-0.7%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.42
-0.9%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.8%
Platinum
915.75
-0.8%
Palladium
1,028.36
-3.5%
Gold
2,159.96
+0.2%
Silver
25.03
-0.6%
Brent Crude
85.34
-0.1%
Top 40
66,252
0.0%
All Share
72,431
0.0%
Resource 10
53,317
0.0%
Industrial 25
100,473
0.0%
Financial 15
16,622
0.0%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders