I just had a great chat with Mark Leathan, head of Marketing for consumer electronics at Samsung. Turns out we’ll start getting 3D TVs from the Korean company from the middle of April.
Here are some of the interesting points from our conversation:
* Samsung will be launching not just 3D plasma screens, but also 3D LCDs and 3D LED-backlit LCDs.
* The 8000 Series will hopefully launch mid-April, as will 3D plasmas. We’ll probably be waiting until the middle of July before we get our hands on the 9000 series (and its awesome remote) though.
* In addition to 3DTVs, Samsung will be launching 3D enabled Blu-ray players, and possibly also a 3D-enabled home theatre in a box solution.
* Samsung are in discussions with content providers about 3D, but there are no announcements to be made at the moment.
* The Samsung App Store, which will sell apps for certain TVs, will probably crossover with Samsung’s mobile phone division. That means the same apps could run on both your TV and your Samsung phone.
* There are no plans for an OLED release in Australia for the first half of 2010. I got the impression that we probably won’t see anything in the second half either.
* In response to Samsung US’s claims that 80% of LED TVs sold in the States were Samsung, Mark said that a similar figure would apply to Australia, although he expects the percentage to drop over the next year with more manufacturers selling LED backlit TVs.
Mark also emphasised that despite the fact 3D got all the noise from CES, he believed it was the online capabilities of the Samsung TVs – including DLNA capabilities and the app store – which would really benefit the changing habits consumers. I tend to agree with him a lot, especially in 2010 when 3D content will be thin on the ground.