EXCLUSIVE: Toshiba Australia is set to be the first vendor in Australia to deliver 3D TV without the need for 3D glasses. They are also set to mount a major assault on the Australian flat panel TV market with a new range of “Technically advanced” TV’s which will include their new Cell TV, which is capable of recording 8 TV channels at once it will also upscale 2D movies to 3D.The new Toshiba Cell TV also eliminates the need to buy separate 3D glasses with new 3D models set to be launched in Australia in the last quarter of 2010. The new Cell TV could also include a built in 3D Blu- ray payer while allowing users to control content on the screen, by gesturing in front of the screen in a similar way to which iPhone user’s use gesture strokes to control the direction of a screen.
At the heart of the Cell TV are the same processors that are found in the new Slim Sony PS3 and the Xbox 360 gaming console.
During an exclusive interview with SmartHouse Rob Wilkinson, the recently appointed General Manager of Toshiba Australia admitted that the Company was looking to shift the Company into fourth spot in the Australian market ahead of Sony who is currently in fourth spot with 11.6% market share.
To achieve this the Company has recently appointed Clemenger as their new advertising agency and are set to pour millions into marketing a new range of premium LED TV’s as being “technically superior to what is being offered by other brands”, the range will include new 200HZ, 60″ LED models with additional storage and Internet TV capability as well as their new Cell TV.
Wilkinson said “Toshiba is a technology Company who has constantly delivered advanced technology in notebooks. We are now going to do it with a range of TV’s that we believe are significantly more advanced than what our competition is currently offering. Our new Cell TV which we will launch in the last quarter of 2010 will allow users to watch 3D TV without the need to buy expensive 3D glasses. It will record up to eight TV channels at once and allow users to upscale 2D movies to 3D”.
“It is an extremely advanced technology that delivers a significantly superior picture image because of the raw processing power present in the Cell processors” said Wilkinson.
According to Wilkinson the new 3D TV’s will not be limited to large screen models.
According to the latest GFK flat panel TV sales data, Samsung, with 17.5 per cent market share, was number one in January; they were followed by Panasonic with its plasma range at 15.7 per cent. In third spot was a surging LG, which has seen its market share, climb from sub 10 per cent prior to Xmas to 13.6 per cent in January 2010. Sony was fourth with 11.6% market share.
The new Toshiba Cell TV technology, will also be incorporated into a new generation of Toshiba notebooks, this will allow users to connect the notebook to a TV or display screen to get the full benefit of the Cell TV’s 3D capability and enhanced processing speeds claim Toshiba.
Wilkinson who took over the role of General Manager of Toshiba’s AV and Information Systems Division from Mark Whittard who was promoted to Managing Director of Toshiba Australia said that Toshiba Australia was in an excellent position to respond to market needs in Australia. “We have local management empowered to make local decisions on sales, marketing and distribution and our plan is to significantly grow our TV business. We are a solid #5 in the market and we are confident that we can get to #4 in the market knocking off LG or Sony depending who is in that slot”.
“We have built our current TV business on smaller models and we have been extremely successful at it. Now is the time to target bigger market share with bigger sized TV models and above all an extensive range of flat panel TV’s that are superior to our competitors”.
“Our Cell TV technology was first brought to market via our PC division. Now it has been taken out of the PC division and put into our TV division and over the coming year you will see different versions of this technology in out TV’s and in all our digital media products.”
“This year we will bring to market our biggest ever range of TV’s; we will have multiple ranges of LED TV’s including performance high end models. The reality now is that we need to hold onto the bottom end market share we already have and grow our premium end share”.
