Billions Market – ‘Dollar Box’ in the Future

3D Display Business is selected as the first item for high value added business for the next generation by Samsung Electronics, and it is evaluated as revolutionary item to change the market dominator.

3D business can be applied for television monitor, computer monitor, mobile phone, game, advertising, defense, entertainment, medical equipment etc. Therefore, the business is estimated to create a new billions dollar- market with big influence.

If Samsung Electronics realizes 3D technologies earlier than foreign competitors, it will secure stable income source that is bigger than existing semiconductor business.

3D business is very meaningful under the circumstance that recently many big corporations have searched for new future business items, and the selection of new items that will sustain Korea Economy 10 years later has been big issue at national level. Samsung’s challenge for 3D business may affect other corporations such as LG, SK, etc.

▽ 3D information terminal business= The main advantage of 3D technology is to improve reality. Existing plain displays transfer codes through plain monitor, so the cubic effect decreases. On the other hand, 3D display creates new screen by compounding with lights beyond plain screen called ‘external space’, and it maximizes cubic effect.

For example, on television advertising, if a model stretches a his/her arm holding a products toward the camera focusing at, then the arm and products come out of the monitor and are showed in front of the viewer. This technology can be applied all of products related monitors.

The technology may affect on camera for cubic effect, transforming & receiving equipment as well as on display. The impact on IT industry will be very powerful.

▽ Samsung’s R&D plan for 3D technology= Samsung Electronics has already organized ‘3D Display R&D Team’ and launched the R7D. The team developed 3D LCD that implemented moving image in front of 20cm of the monitor, but it hasn’t yet overcome the matter of quality.

Samsung Electronics aims to commercialize 3D technology in the next year, and to apply to game machines, advertising, medical equipments, etc.

▽ Forming of the base of super high-tech corporation= As launching 3D business actively, Samsung Electronics expects on the success of 3D game machines that will be commercialized in the early of the next year. One of senior managers of Samsung Electronics says “we expects that 30% of existing game users will purchase new 3D game machine” and adds “It will appears as dollar box business with 10 billion won of turnover domestically and one trillion won globally”

As a transferring method of advertising, 3D display is expected to maximize the advertising effects by being installed in large sized retail shop or out door, and affects on advertising market fundamentally. If 3D technology is applied to medical equipments, it will improve the screen with cubic effects very much.

In addition, Samsung Electronics tries to apply 3D technology for television, computer monitor, mobile phone, etc. Kim Sung Sik, a senior researcher of the team says, “Television and mobile phone should be supported by camera, wave transforming & receiving technologies as well as by 3D display technology, so it will take 10 years to commercialize it. In the ling run, we will develop a system to display 3D cyber world very elaborately.”

Jeong-Hun Park sunshade@donga.com