During a wild and theatrical keynote Thursday at CES in Las Vegas, Boo-Keun Yoon, president of Samsung's Visual Display business, outlined Samsung's vision for the future and why the TV is the centerpiece of all entertainment technology.
Samsung's Smart TV service, Yoon said, an interactive, on demand media center that serves as the centreal point in our connected worlds, is poised to be the leader in Internet-connected TVs and media devices.
Yoon's stoic, forward looking and visionary oratory
In contrast to Yoon's stoic, forward looking and visionary oratory, Samsung's presence on stage Thursday during the most significant appearance of this year's CES was woven with all the glitz and glam of a Las Vegas show.
A troup of dancers, with well practiced routines, made a half dozen costume changes throughout the hour long event, and although entertaining, the direct connection to TV and technology seemed to be lost on most in attendance.
A sort of child emcee for the night was a furry-headed pre-teen, who apparently represented a child from 2020, who talked of his experience with the TV entertainment experience, and how vastly different things were from 2010.
While much of the partner content Yoon introduced focused on the ease of use of the Samsung experience, the keynote dealt largely with the metaphorical, dreamily poetically of the evolution of the human digital experience.
Jeff Katzenberg film producer and CEO of DreamWorks Animation
Like just about everyone else at CES this year, Samsung is showing a commitment to 3D, Yoon said, declaring that "Samsung is working hard to secure a wide variety of 3D content."
And with that, Jeff Katzenberg film producer and CEO of DreamWorks Animation, takes the stage with Yoon, and gushingly welcomed the quality of the Samsung brand and its high standards.
"When it comes to 3D in the home, there's Samsung, and then there's everyone else", Katzenberg said, noting that DreamWorks uses off-the-shelf Samsung TVs, not special custom devices, to make all of their films.
Samsung partners Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt
Samsung partners Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt on stage at the Samsung keynote Thursday evening in Las Vegas, showing off some of their content in the partnership with Samsung.
Demonstrating Comcast's Project Infinity, an initiative launched at CES three years ago, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said there's going to be an Xfinity TV app for the Galaxy Tab--one which turns the tablet into a remote control and video player.
In addition to the 150,000 videos on the Comcast's Project Infinity, there's going to be an Xfinity TV app for the Galaxy Tab, which Roberts demonstrates.
The App turns the Galaxy Tab into a remote control as well as a video player. Demonstrating SportsCenter and CNN you can actually watch live TV on the Tab, part of that theme of interconnectedness of devices that seems woven through this year's CES.
Jason Kilar, CEO of Hulu, one of Samsung's partners, compared the current TV experience to old rotary phones, saying that someday in the not-too-distant future, we will look back and laugh at the state of current television.
Kilar also mention that in addition to the Samsung TV partnership, that Hulu Plus will be soon be coming to Android phones.
Against a fanciful background of fireworks, and loudly showing off what he called Samsung's 3D sound, Yoon said "By 2020, Samsung will have invested $23 billion on green initiatives. We are committed to human digitalism. We are committed to putting human life at the center of everything we do."
Adobe Systems CEO Shantanu Narayen joins Yoon on stage to talk about Adobe Air and how Flash will soon be a greater part of TV's, tablets, and smartphones like Samsungs.
Yoon said Samsung was excited to be the first company to bring Adobe Air to TVs, saying access to the Web is an important feature for Samsung's TV future, and the digital human experience, and so Samsung will be adding Flash to their TVs too.
"Our customers want access to the full Web," said Yoon.
And as we look back at this keynote and try to decipher just what Yoon's vision for the future of the human digital experience is, the Samsung keynote closes with another dance, this one complete with ladybugs, umbrellas, and flowers, naturally.
