Today at Samsung’s media event in NYC, I got the chance to chat with VP of Content and Product Solutions, Eric Anderson, on the future of Smart TVs. The company just recently released a number of new Smart TV offerings equipped with what Samsung is calling Smart Interaction — the ability to control the TV through voice and gestures.
And while this is sure to wow consumers, Samsung is far more concerned with what it will mean for the company once these Smart TVs infiltrate the market. See, Samsung’s long-term end goal is an ecosystem. As a company that builds everything, from cameras to phones to displays to TVs to dishwashers, Samsung actually stands a chance when it comes to unifying your multimedia experience under one brand name. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that the experience itself was seamless and intuitive.
As expected, Anderson and Samsung aren’t too threatened by competition in this rapidly changing industry, but he did mention that Samsung loves nothing more than a challenge. While he sees Boxee and Roku offerings as more of a complementary set-up — assuming that consumers are using those with older model televisions that eventually migrate toward less prominent rooms in the home — while Google and Apple pose a threat in terms of consumer loyalty.
He admits that they’ve built up an ardent following, but that he hopes the next cycle of TV buyers can see the potential of Samsung Smart TVs when it comes to personalization, simplicity, and building out an ecosystem. He said that Apple and Google may be asking you to make a “quantum leap” with their forthcoming products, while Samsung is respecting the old way of consuming media via TV, and is ready to hold your hand through the transition.
Anderson also touches on some of the most popular apps on Samsung’s Smart TV platform, which might not be just what you’d expect, and admits that the future may actually be missing apps. He agrees that people want the content apps provide rather than the apps themselves on a TV, and that intelligent viewing is definitely on everyone’s mind right now. When we’ll see a real-life iteration of it, however, was off the table.