Transcripts For CSPAN2 The Communicators 20130211 : vimarsan

Here in las vegas at ces International Samsung has a rather Large Display, and the communicators is joined by david steel, executive Vice President of strategy for samsung. Mr. Steel, if you would, just begin by giving us a snapshot of the samsung corporation. Guest so samsung is now the Largest Technology company in the world by sales. We cover all the way from components like Semiconductor Chips and flat Panel Displays all the way through to finished goods like Home Appliances, itsing and smartphones televisions and smartphones. So youll see a whole range of products at the booth where were sewing pcs, audio systems, Home Appliances, televisions, the whole range. Host what is your position at samsung as executive Vice President . For what are you responsible . Guest so im responsible for our Corporate Strategy in north america, covering the United States and canada, and then looking at all of our Corporate Strategies across [inaudible] so overseeing all the different product areas and how we put together strategies there, thats my responsibility. Host you spent quite a few years in korea, correct . Guest thats right. Just over ten years. Host and why are you now in the states . Guest probably they got tired of me, said we need a breather. But its very interesting when youve been in the headquarters for a few years, youve seen what it is to have Global Responsibility but looking at narrower product lines. But now in coming to the u. S. , i can look at all the different product lines in one geographic market, so its a different way of looking at the business. Much more in the trenches of daytoday business in the market rather than in the headquarters of the corporation. Host for samsungs products is the u. S. And canada, north america, a Growth Market . Guest it still is. I mean, traditionally weve thought developed markets and developing markets, and with developed markets its being seen as someone mature. But if you look at the last few years of our progress in the u. S. Market, weve seen tremendous growth. Some of that is coming from new categories like the rise of the Digital Television or the growth of the phone business. Some of it is as we pick up our market share. Were the fastestgrowing brand in Home Appliances, for example, an area where Samsung Brand hasnt been as well known. But now bringing the same mix of innovation that we brought to televisions and phones, bringing new designs, now we can also grab business in Home Appliances. Host whats the Employment Level in the u. S. For samsung . Guest we employ several thousand people many terms of sales and marketing, also in Product Design as well as r d. We have a very Large Production center in usa p, texas, which is a in austin, texas, representing multibillion dollaring investment. So we have a fairly big footprint from coast to coast. Host david steel, one of your displays is tvs, smart tvs, ultra hdtvs. What else do you have on display . Guest so tv is the big highlight, as you mentioned, lots of new technology there. Were also devoting a bigger area than usual to our Home Appliances recognizing that Home Appliances now also are becoming smarter. So just like we have seen smartphones, weve seen smart tvs, tablets, even cameras, now Home Appliances are getting smarter which means lcd screens built in your refrigerator so that you can have simple apps instead of the fridge magnets. Youre going to have just a calendar on the lcd screen on the fridge. It means things like a smart washing machine so that youll get a text message when the cycle finishes so that you dont leave those wet clothes in the washing machine anymore. People have traditionally sort of lost a bit in smart appliances, sort of a jetsons future, but actually when they learn about the specific benefits, about the text message when the cycle ends, these are practical benefits of a smart appliance, then they really understand it. Going forward itll also be more about the smart grid which is how can you get Energy Savings from these appliances. Were already into Energy Efficiency, but the smart grid will be the next step in there. So Home Appliances, very interesting new area. Host how has samsung changed its Energy Footprint when it comes to tvs . You do have a display in the front of your booth talking about some of the energy costs, lower energy usage. Guest so thats been a big area of everyone sid for emphasis for us as we see this growth of electronics in the home. How do we think in a smart way about Energy Efficiency. Weve worked very closely with Energy Star Program because thats so broadly recognized as a sign of Energy Efficiency and tried to get that across all of the highend tvs, really get most of our lineup being energy star. So thats been an important area. We want consumers to think about that also when they buy products, to think about the energy consumption, the footprint that they generate from that. But, obviously, as you sell or more and more appliances, Energy Efficiencys important, and the Home Appliances is another category where we can see the benefit of Energy Efficiency. Host david steel of samsung, when you think about the future of tv, what does that phrase mean to you . Guest well, the future of tv means what its meant at least the last few years, certainly, which is getting bigger. You know, it used to be that we would say 40 inch was about as tvs would go in the home. Now were seeing the fastestgrowing part of the tv market is 60 inch and above. Were showing here at the booth 85 inch and 110inch ultrahigh definition tvs. So we see still the continued growth of large screen televisions in the home. Consumers have warmed to the scale of big screen tvs and the great entertainment. We also see the growth of smart tvs. Tvs used to be separate, unconnected devices just with an antenna or a cable connection. Very increasingly theyre internet connected. More than 60 of our large screen tvs are being connected to the internet. So that means the tv becomes a connected part of the home, access to all of your Video Services through apps, access to content on other devices in the home so you can link your tv to your smartphone or to your tablet as well as even social media. So youre sitting back on your couch watching a tv program, you dont want to miss your social media. You can get those on your tv. So certainly in the next few years well see big, big growth in smart television. Host a lot of talk, though, about tablets and wireless and tv everywhere. How does samsung fit into that picture . Guest so as you might expect from samsung given the breadth of products we have smartphones, tablets, televisions, computers, appliances one of areas were investing a lot is this multiscreen connectivity because we already see many consumers multitasking. Youre on your couch watching tv, but youre also texting on your phone or looking at the tablet, Something Like that. So how do we link those devices to each other . How do we also link them to the cloud or link them to the internet . One very good example is our galaxy camera. So we launched the camera last year. A camera now built in with 3g and 4g connectivity. You can instantly through the Wireless Network upload them to a web site or to a social media service. So bringing wireless connecttivity to a camera. So linking products like that, linking them to the internet and to each other, thats a big opportunity for us, and we think big value for the consumer. Host now, does samsung work directly with some to have cable providers to make tv everywhere available . Guest we have very Close Relationships with cable providers, with wireless carriers because, obviously, theyre critical in delivering the content of services to our devices. We know what were good at which is making really beautiful design products that have the latest technology in, and then we need these great partners who can facilitate the content and the services being delivered for those. So, yeah, we work very closely with those industries. Host the communicators is at ces in las vegas, and were talking with david steel, executive Vice President of samsung. Mr. Steel, i was a little surprised to see here at the booth a Large Display of what i would consider traditional cameras. Wheres the growth in that . Whats the new technology in those cameras . Guest so cameras are a relatively new category for samsung. So we saw the same interest in that that we saw in a lot of our other categories which is new technology coming to play, connectivity to the internet, to devices. So the last few years weve been pushing much more into the camera space coming up with innovations. And new camera here, the samsung nh300. Its a very High Performance camera, but it has a 3d lens, so its the first time to have a single listens on a consumer camera to record 3d. So just as were all getting used to 3d in movie theaters, many of us for our tvs at home, now you want to record content in 3d. So through i this camera you can do that. We also see great growth in the connected camera categories. So you want to get them very easily off your camera. Its not pulling out a card and plugging it into your pc anymore, its just simple onetouch wifi connectivity. So whenever we see categories that we can bring that sort of innovation and technology and also great consumer design, ten thats a technology, thats a category that well look at. Host david steel, as part of your job when it comes to some of your projects worrying about or thinking about spectrum policy . Guest spectrum policy is an area of importance to us, so we obviously need lots of bandwidth for the products. We tend not of to have specific opinions on how to get that, but we look much more just to make it possible to facilitate all these different devices and content. And if you look at the world that weve the growth that weve seen in the last two years in the u. S. Market in the smartphone industry, consumers buying smart tvs, so much of that has come because of the great gains in broadband to the home, in many wireless capabilities. So you can really see the benefits of having access to the bandwidth whether its home or whether its mobile, making it possible for consumers to use these great devices and then get access to a whole range of content and services that they want. Host is it important for a manufacturer such as samsung the to build in efficiencies for spectrum in its product . Is that possible in. Guest you know, till for spectrum we largely partner with wireless carriers or with cable providers and others, so those policy areas are more relevant to their business in terms of how theyre going to deliver the content. We really occupy that last push to the consumer. And theres a great design product, Great Technology and more and more making it easy to use. I think now consumers can see just how much is being packed into devices whether its smartphones, tablets or smart television. And how do we make those easier to use which means more user interface, more being placed on Voice Control or gesture, taking the sort of ease of use that consumers have found on touch screens and applying that to other devices. So youll see a lot of innovation in smart tv here at ces is around the User Experience or the user sewer face interface, making it easier to use. Thats more our area of expertise and focus than, actually, the spectrum allocation of how you bring the content of services. Host and whats the status of the great Samsung Apple patent debate . Is it concluded . Guest so litigation is still going on, so unfortunately, i cant say anything about that. But, you know, as a company were still committed, as you can see behind me, to bringing lots of innovation to the marketplace. We, we employ 50,000 people in to our r and, the facilities worldwide r d facilities worldwide. Were the second highest recipient of u. S. Patents, so were going to keep innovating, keep investing in design and the litigation is really a separate issue. So well leave that for others to comment on, but, you know, my focus here is how to we keep delivering on innovation in our products. Host in researching samsung, i was a little bit surprised to learn that samsung is the biggest telephone or Wireless Company in the world, in a sense. I mean, as far as manufacturing, correct . Guest right. You know, and thats been an area where we early on the potential we saw early on the potential growth in the phone business, recognizing that eventually it would be one phone per person, and in many developing parts of the world the phone would actually be the first platform to deliver the internet. You know, here in the u. S. We use the internet at home, but in many parts of the developing world, their First Experience with the internet is through their phone. So weve been investing a lot there. Weve stressed design which has been a big theme for samsung, and the phone is now such an intensely personal object. Weve done surveys in the past if you leave your home without your phone or your wallet, whath are you more likely to go back for . And the answer by far is your phone. You can borrow money from colleagues or friends, but if you dont have your phone, youre out of touch. You cant get information, you cant connect to friends and family. So thats why the phone business has been so successful for us, and we can bring all of our strength and design in technology, in connectivity to the phone market, and thats been a big opportunity for us. Host whats the future development for samsung and android, and what is tyson . Guest so really i cant comment on our platform strategy other than to say that samsung has always been a brand that wants to deliver what consumers are interested in. So we belief in Consumer Choice we believe in Consumer Choice. Weve had multiple platforms in the past, so thats really where were focused is offering choice to consumers. If theres demand in the marketplace for a product, we want to offer that. We want to stay openminded about different technologies, different standards, different protocols. And just keep an open mind and deliver what, hopefully, you see in the booth, Consumers Want to buy. Host hows the galaxy tablet phone doing . Guest its doing very well. The whole galaxy series, thats really where weve tapped into this growth in different sizes. So, obviously, the phone is doing very well. Weve had galaxy i, ii and iii, and last year samsung brought out the galaxy note, a larger device with a 5inch display. At that time people said, well, is this really too big, but its done very well. Weve sold a lot of those because people understand that theres room for different sizes in the marketplace. Some consumers are looking for larger sizes. Tablets, we sell different sizes of tablets. So, again, offering choice in the marketplace. Someones looking for a differentsized device, we want to offer that. Host david steel, recently in tech crunch there was an article referring to samsung as the fifth horseman. Im sure youve seen this, it said that apple, amazon, google and facebook are the big four, but in this authors view samsung should be included in that list. As a driver of the future. Guest well, certainly its nice to have recognition of our innovation, but i dont know about those groupings. I mean, our big focus is to stay humble and to stay hungry on innovation, to keep striving new products to keep driving new products, to leverage samsungs big investment in r d, to leverage all of our resources in design, really keep pushing things in terms of of bringing new technology to the market. Finding areas like the camera market where samsung can bring innovation, finding areas like Home Appliances where samsung can bring innovation. Well keep innovating like that, well keep investing in new technology, and well leave others to make the comparisons and write the groupings and future predictions. Host how closely do you work with google or facebook or microsoft . Is there a lot of Cooperation Among companies that have shared goals, in a sense . Guest we partner with a lot of companies as you would expect. Samsung is the largest tech company by sales in the world. We partner with lots of others. We know what were very good at which is making device, and thats where we want to stay focused, and we need to partner with lots of Different Companies whether its in the content industry, whether its wireless carriers, whether its Cable Companies to deliver content to our platforms. So we want to be a company thats very open to partnership, thats good at what were focused on but has a very open mind about partnering with other companies in general. Host david steel, is the u. S. Tech market unique . Guest you know, the commonality across a lot of countries around the world, but we have seen tremendous growth in the u. S. In the last few years. I mean, it used to be when i was working for samsung in korea for ten years, that was the poster child that we would use, and i would go around the world and tell people about the great broadband penetration rate increase, the great wireless speed. And i think one of the most exciting things weve seen in the last few years, and its a tribute to the Companies Involved and the policymakers involved, weve seen such tremendous growth in the u. S. Market in terms of wireless, in terms of broadband for the home. So now the u. S. Is really a market that is setting the pace. Weve obviously seen a lot of new content models coming out of the u. S. Market, and now we see many of our new technologies being launched first in the u. S. Because there is the infrastructure in place for lots of very savvy consumers who are looking for new technology for their homes and normal applications. So the u. S. Is a really important market for us, samsungs making Big Investments here. Its one we see options for new technologies, so theres a lot of commonality across markets in the world now that are looking for new technology, but the u. S. Is certainly a big focus for us. Host often legislators, reports government officials compare u. S. Broadband penetration to south koreas and say, you know, we need to achievement and that. Achieve that. What have you found in your time in the u. S. . Are we way behind . Guest there was of a time, i mean, i was in korea for ten years until five years ago, and back at that time the u. S. Was behind. And we always used to compare korean broadband penetration rates. The apartment i lived in had fiberoptics to my apartment, you know, korea was a market where we saw early adoption of stock trading through the internet, of travel reds vegases through the internet reservations through the internet. So it was facilitated by that broadband coverage. But very steadily over the last few years the u. S. Has been picking up, and now were at the point where in terms of broadband for the home as well as wireless technology, bandwidth is there, the speeds are there. You look at how a 4g has been rolled out in the u. S. , and that facilitates so many of these applications and content of services that consumers are looking for. So the u. S. Is very quickly coming up, and i think it is a tribute to everyone whos been involved in the industry and in policy making the last few years that weve caught up like that. Host as a point person here in the u. S. On samsungs executive team, how much time do you spend talking about, thinking about, worrying about what congress may be doing, what the fcc may be doing . Guest so policy is of increasing interest to us because just as the range of our product categories. When you go all the way from Semiconductor Chips to phones to televisions to Home Appliances, obviously there are a lot of policy issues that are of importance there, and were trying to monitor those closely and understand the implications for our business. But, you know, i think its always important for a company to focus on what you do best, and what we do best is making great products, delivering Great Services through those. So coming up with new designs, new user interfaces, thats it. And then studying what the policy implications are and trying to find how we can, you know, adjust to those and keep our business the same based on those. So policy is very important because thats arguably what propels the u. S. Over the last few years to where it is now as a very advanced Technology Market in terms of bandwidth and broadband and wireless. Host one of the themes of ces international this year is or two of the themes, the cloud and apps. Where is samsung when it comes to those two . Guest well, the cloud and apps are very important to us because so many of our devices are connected. In fact, almost all of our devices now are becoming connected either to each other or to the internet, the cloud. Apps are a great way of delivering content ands services. Weve seen on the smartphone platform and tablets how easy they are for consumers to use. Very intuitive, offer lots of choices for consumers. So now were bringing apps for tv. About three years ago we started samsungs smart tv apps, and now you can get a whole range of apps on your television. Well be announcing more in 2013 around multicultural content so that people can get access to whatever specific content they want through apps on their tv. And, of course, the cloud is important. It used to be that devices were quite separate from each other. Then we started to see devices being connected to each other, so you want to share content from your phone to your tv, for example. But now many, many devices are being connected to the cloud; cameras, Samsung Galaxy camera connected to a Wireless Network for immediate uploads and downloads. Home appliances being connected through wifi to the cloud so you can have apps on your refrigerator, you can have access the to recipes and calendar and things like that. And phones. Phones, tablets. The Samsung Galaxy note 10. 1 which is a 10. 1inch tablet but with an s pen so you can do information through handwriting. Again, were announcing at the show 4g connectivity on that. So connectivity, the clowld, the internet is very, very important for us. Host and weve been talking with david steel, executive Vice President of samsung, here at ces international in las vegas. This is the communicators on cspan. The communicators is on location in las vegas at ces international 2013, the Technology Trade show. More programming next week. Coming up next, new mexico Governor Susana Martinez gives her state of the state address. Then representatives from defense and nondefense groups hold a News Conference to discuss their joint effort to stop the automatic spending cuts called sequestration set to take effect next month. After that, a look at the future of medicare including how the Affordable Care act effects beneficiaries, Health Care Plans and providers. And later, the Senate Returns at 2 p. M. Eastern to continue debate on reauthorizing the Domestic Violence law called the violence against women act. [applause] now, a state of the state address by new mexico Governor Susana Martinez. She talks about lowering business tax rates, improving childhood literacy and repealing a law that gives drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. Susana martinez was elect inside 2010. Shes the first female golf female governor of new mexico. [cheers and applause] [applause] thank you. Governor, on behalf of the state of new mexico, we welcome you. Its a pleasure to have you, and were honored with your presence. Thank you, lieutenant governor. Thank you. Thank you. Please be seated. Lieutenant governor, Senate President pro tem, mr. Speaker, democratic and republican leaders, esteemed members of the new mexico legislature, especially the new faces, honorable members of the judiciary, former new mexico governors and tribal governors, senator udall, senator heinrich, distinguished guests, my husband who got a little tired of making those bologna second witches and sandwiches and went back to work which makes me smile. [laughter] [cheers and applause] and my fellow new mexicans, it is an honor to join you for the annual state of the state address. And while todays mood is one filled with optimism and hope, it is also bittersweet. There is one very noticeable absence from this chamber. A man whose legacy in this body endures, former speaker of the house ben luhan. The thoughts and prayers of new mexico continue to be with the family. [applause] it is a privilege to stand with you as we mark the opening of new mexicos 51st state legislature and chart the course for new mexicos new year. A year in which we must focus on making new mexico more competitive. At a time of intense gridlock in washington, d. C. , it is encouraging to reflect on the progress we have made together