Consumer Electronics Market in Germany-Dissertation Writing Help
Executive Summary
Consumer Electronics Remain A Sought After Market Category
Despite the
economic turbulence in 2008, with inflation swinging from high to low in the
second half of the year, consumer demand for electronic devices remained high
in Germany, once again showing the country’s seemingly inexorable affinity for
high tech gadgets. Although in volume terms growth was not as fast as in 2007, the
value grew approximately twice as fast as a result of a further shift towards
more expensive digital high tech electronics. This was especially evident in
the TV sector, where high-priced HDTVs accounted for a much larger volume share
than in the previous year.
Convergence Continues To Shape Sector Structures
Multifunctional
electronic devices continued to be among the most sought-after products in
2008, putting increasing pressure on related, single-function sectors.
Manufacturers continued to focus on innovations that would meet consumers’
demand for converging devices. Navigation systems were fitted with TV and Wi-Fi
receivers; in-car media players had mobile phone adapters and GPS functions;
digital TVs had Wi-Fi access; and mp3 players and smartphones were the new
all-round talents, with such functions as personal training software including
heart rate monitoring and stride sensors.
Drivers of Growth Are Hdtv and Mobile Content Devices
HDTVs were once
again the winners of the home entertainment sector and consumers’ willingness
to invest in an HD-ready TVs remained high despite the current lack of HDTV
broadcasting in Germany. Also, strong in demand were portable devices that
provide mobile access to online or stored content, most importantly laptops and
portable multimedia players. Manufacturers focused on enhancing the mobility
and technical features of these devices, adding Wi-Fi access to portable
multimedia players and reducing the size and weight of laptops. Navigation
systems were another sector that registered strong volume growth as a result of
significantly falling unit prices and added-value features such as new live
traffic alert systems or gas station finders.
Market Is Mature But Dynamic
Although the
market for consumer electronics is comparatively mature in Germany, with scope
for volume growth very restricted, structures continued to be dynamic in 2008,
driven by fast innovation and replacement cycles. German consumers displayed a
particular enthusiasm for replacing their analogue electronics with the newest
digital technologies but even the more conventional digital devices such as CD
players were affected by accelerated replacement habits. Germany’s thirst for
the newest high tech was also evident in the fact that almost all of the top 20
players operate in the premium segment of consumer electronics.
Saturation Expected To Slowdown Volume Growth
While overall
volume is expected to continue to grow steadily over the forecast period, it
will see a significant slowdown in pace in comparison to the review period. As
market experts believe, volume for recently introduced, popular digital
products such as HDTVs will settle at a high level over the forecast period and
thus not be able to produce such a fast growth as registered over the review
period. Although consumer demand is expected to remain high, slower volume
growth combined with significantly declining unit prices will have a negative
impact on value sales.
Key Trends and Developments
Hd Continues To Advance
Compared to
North America and South East Asia, where early versions of HDTV have been
available since the 1990s, in Europe HDTV was introduced rather late, with HDTV
sets first hitting the shelves of German retailers in 2001. Attempts to
broadcast in HD quality have so far had few successes and were mostly
discontinued. In 2004, a pan-European satellite TV programme called Euro1080
(now HD-1) was the first channel available in HD quality. In Germany, after
some tests in 2004 and from 2005 onwards, private broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1
Media AG aired two HD programmes permanently. Pay-TV provider Premiere launched
HD channels in 2006, in time for the football World Cup.
The two channels
Pro7HD and Sat.1HD by ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG were discontinued in February
2008 and no plans have been announced to resume airing. At present, HD
broadcasting is only available via subscription on pay-TV channel Premiere, and
via two public channels, AnixeHD, launched in 2006, and ArteHD, launched in
July 2008. In January 2008, Warner Bros. announced that they would discontinue
publishing movies on HD-DVDs and use the Blu-ray format instead. This decision
made a final stroke to the long-standing format question in favour of Blu-ray.
Outlook (of the trend)
Analogue
terrestrial TV ceased to be broadcast at the end of 2008, marking another step
forward for digital TV. Analogue cable TV broadcasting is set to cease across
Europe by 2012. Public broadcasting channels ARD and ZDF have announced plans
to launch HD broadcasting in 2010, on the occasion of the Olympic Winter Games.
Although no specific plans have been announced by private TV stations about a
future provision of HD broadcasting, private channels are expected to follow
ARD and ZDF’s example quickly. From 2010 onwards, the spreading of HD broadcasting
is expected to happen at a fast pace until eventually, HD becomes the standard
format.
Successor
formats of HDTV have already been tried out in different contexts. QuadHDTV
with quadruple pixel size (i.e. 3840x2160) was presented in 2006 and was
supposed to be put to work for X-ray applications. Japanese TV channel NHK is
testing a format called Ultra High Definition Video (UHDV), which displays a
resolution of 7680x4320 pixels and up to 60 images per minute. Whilst UHDV is
primarily aimed for TV broadcasting, it also closes the gap with digital cinema
as HDTV does not have big enough a resolution as required by digital cinemas.
Current Impact
Sales of HDTVs
have seen a fast volume growth over the review period and in 2008 more than 85%
of all digital TVs sold were HD-Ready. The total number of German households
owning an HD-ready TV set amounted to approximately 3 million in early 2008 and
consumer willingness to invest in HDTVs or HD-related devices remained high.
Following the
decision by Warner Bros to discontinue using HD-DVDs, Toshiba, the major
manufacturer of HD-DVD players, announced that itwould stop producing HD-DVD
Players and switch to Blu-ray players instead. Subsequently, the share of
Blu-ray players in the HD hardware sector grew by over 90% in the first quarter
of 2008 alone. According to a survey conducted by trade association BITKOM in
June 2008, over 1.2 million households expressed the wish to buy an HD-receiver
or set top box within 12 months, 871,847 households wanted to buy a Blu-ray
player, 613,504 an HD recorder and 318,893 an HD camcorder.
Manufacturers
responded to the strong consumer demand for HD devices with equivalent product
innovations. HD resolution was implemented into almost all devices related to
imaging as an added-value feature in 2007 and 2008, including computer screens,
camcorders and digital cameras. Computers also saw the launch of integrated
Blu-ray players.
Future impact
The start of HD
broadcasting in 2010 is expected to bring about a further push for HDTVs and
accelerate the trend towards larger, more expensive screens. Sales of
HD-related peripheral devices are also expected to experience a boost from the
switch to HD broadcasting. Especially HD set-top boxes have high volume growth
prospects as most TV sets lack integrated receivers. The advance of HD will
also have a positive effect on value sales of set-top boxes as it will bring
unit prices up, especially when they feature integrated HD recorders. Set-top
boxes are therefore among the only products that expect a unit price increase
over the forecast period.
The HD trend is
also expected to trigger a strong performance for all devices related to the
Blu-ray format, which are expected to quickly move standard DVD devices off the
market. By 2010, almost every second German household will be fitted with an
HD-ready TV set but HD broadcasting will still be lagging behind. This means
that for the majority of HDTV owners, the Blu-ray format will be the only way
to enjoy high definition images.
The trend
towards larger screens will have a particularly positive impact on sales of
Blu-ray players as the high definition image quality is particularly eminent on
screens larger than 37”. The Blu-ray disc is also expected to replace standard
DVDs in the IT sector and integrated Blu-ray players will become a standard
feature of all laptops and desktops with HD-ready screens.
Convergence, Mobility and Connectivity Trends Shape Market Sectors
Digitalisation
has brought about three closely interrelated trends that have been shaping the
market for consumer electronics over the review period. Electronic devices are
not merely stand-alone devices anymore, they are either portable and
multi-functional, or can be connected to the internet and/or linked with other
digital electronic devices.
The convergence
trend especially affects mobile phones and navigation systems, which are both
seen to be at the centre of this trend by industry experts. Mobile phones are
fitted with increasingly better digital cameras, mp3 players and internet
access and are turning into multi-multifunctional, yet highly portable devices.
Some mobile phones even include GPS services, therefore providing the same
functionality of navigation systems, which in turn now often provide mobile phone
functions such as dialling pads and phone book storage.
The mobility
trend affects all portable devices and has seen recent product innovations
including navigation systems with terrestrial TV receivers and mp4 players with
Wi-Fi access, in the quest to provide consumers with mobile access to any kind
of online or TV content. Laptops have become smaller and were fitted with
stronger batteries to facilitate mobile use. Innovations included Apple’s
MacBook Air and the so called netbooks – very small laptops now produced by
almost every manufacturer of laptops.
The connectivity
trend especially applies to in-home consumer electronics as it focuses on the
connectivity of computer and home entertainment centre/TV. With HDTVs being the
new must-have in Germany, a growing number of consumers are now interested in
extending the scope of their TV’s functions by turning it into the centre of
home entertainment. By connecting the TV to the computer, a whole new set of
functions for the TV opens up, such as surfing the web, accessing music or
video files stored on the computers hard disk, or watching slide shows of
digital photos.
Current Impact
The convergence
trend has had a large impact on the market as it is imposing pressure on all
devices that are not multi-functional. Over the review period, sales of
portable mp3 players were impacted by mp3 mobile phones, as well as by the
competition from portable multimedia players. The impact of camera phones on
digital cameras was not very noticeable yet as the quality of the mobile phone
cameras is in most cases still lagging behind and therefore do not offer a real
alternative to a regular digital camera.
Navigation
systems have put pressure on in-car media players since their sales took off in
2006 and in-car media players have seen sales decline since then. The impact
was worst in 2008 as navigation systems reached very high volume sales that
year, resulting in volume declines of between 15-20% for in-car CD players and
in-car DVD players.
Portable
multimedia players benefited hugely from the convergence and mobility trend and
saw volume sales grow significantly year-on-year since their introduction in
Germany in 2005, again, much to the detriment of portable mp3 players. Laptops
saw a very fast volume growth in 2008 and continued to put significant pressure
on desktop PCs.
The connectivity
trend brought about the innovation of a new set of devices designed to
facilitate the connection between devices such as computers, external hard
disks, TVs, audio systems and DVD players, and thus established an entire home
network. Such home connectivity devices are offered by a number of major
manufacturers of digital TVs and computers, for example, the Activity Media
Centre by Fujitsu Siemens Digital Home.
Outlook
In an increasingly
mobile society, convergence, connectivity and mobility are set to be at the
centre of consumer demand over the forecast period. Manufacturers will further
focus future product innovations on merging digital functions to extend
connectivity to a broader range of electronic devices and to enhance the
features of mobile appliances. Mobile TV, currently of very little in demand in
Germany, is expected to gain in popularity over the forecast period and open up
new areas of innovations and added-value features, such as enhanced screen
quality on portable devices.
A further
direction for product innovations will come from faster internet connections,
both in the home and for mobile internet. According to industry experts, the
maximum hypothetical speed for broadband internet connections could be up to
ten times faster at the end of the review period than it was in 2008, where the
maximum speed was 100,000 Kbit/s. The maximum speed of UMTS, which was 14,000
Kbit/s in the HSDPA Category 10 format in 2008, may more than double by 2010
and reach a speed of 36,000 Kbit/s.
Connectivity in
the home is expected to be a further focus of product innovations and
manufacturers are likely to put efforts into turning the entire home into a
digital network controlled through remote controls, where digital content can
be accessed wirelessly from any room in the house.
Future Impact
With the speed
of the mobile internet advancing, consumers will be able to carry out more
complex online tasks on-the-go. Mobile internet access will therefore play an
increasingly important role for all mobile devices over the forecast period,
enabling consumers to do their online shopping from anywhere or even to
download music or video files directly onto their smart phones or portable multimedia
players. Within mobile phones the share of smart phones – the ultimate
convergence device – is expected to rise significantly over the forecast
period. Mobile TV is likely to become a popular smart phone function and future
innovations may include credit card functions, which enable the phone to act as
an instant payment method in both online and real shops.
The convergence
trend will increasingly impact sales of stand-alone devices and will also
result in analogue consumer electronics being pushed off the market as these
cannot be hooked up to digital media sources. Most analogue consumer
electronics are expected to decline at a 40-50% volume CAGR over the forecast
period. Digital consumer electronics will see devices merge and single-function
appliances will be moved off the market. To give but a few examples, portable
mp3 players will face growing competition from mp3 phones. Volume sales of
laptops are expected to continue to increase over the forecast period, causing
desktop PCs to decline by an almost 15% volume CAGR between 2008 and 2013.
Navigation
systems will become much cheaper and consequently more widespread. Volume sales
are expected to grow at an almost 12% CAGR over the forecast period. Standard
functions of even the low-priced navigation systems will include integrated
radios and mp3 players. Volume sales of in-car media players are, in turn,
expected to suffer from the rising competition from navigation systems; the
rate of decline will be fast, at a -25% volume CAGR between 2008 and 2013.
Internet Retailing To Slowly Change Distribution Patterns
In line with the
fast growth of the internet and its user community, internet retailing has seen
distribution shares grow continuously over the review period. In 2007,
approximately 60-65% of Germans accessed the internet regularly. Over 70% of
German households that owned computers accessed the internet via broadband
connection, enjoying fast speeds and no time pressure when surfing. Over the
past decade, online shops have increased, with most large high street retailers
and even discounters now running online branches that offer the full range of
products and services that are available in their real outlets. In addition to
regular online shops, shopping platforms such as Amazon or eBay are
facilitating vibrant sales from consumer to consumer. While for some market
sectors like food and groceries, internet retailing is a comparatively recent
and niche development in Germany, for consumer electronics it has been
established and approved as a convenient and competitive distribution channel
since the beginning of the review period.
Due to the
internet’s nature as a communication platform, many review websites have
started up, giving expert advice on every electronic device available on the market.
Websites such as www.billiger.de, www.pricerunner.com or www.dealtime.com,
which compare prices and show the cheapest retailer, and include shipment rates
and customer reviews, make bargain hunting easy on the internet. Furthermore,
users have found their own way of commenting on nearly everything, including
electronic devices, through online discussions on forums and blogs.
Current Impact
A fast growing
number of consumers regard internet retailing as a convenient and flexible way
of home shopping. The fact that orders can be placed from anywhere in the world
comes in handy for an increasingly mobile society. In consumer electronics,
internet retailing saw shares more than double over the review period, to reach
over 9% of total retail volume. For some sectors, especially smaller consumer
electronics, which can be shipped more easily, these figures were even higher.
For example, shares of DVD players and VCRs more than tripled to reach 9% in
2008, and portable consumer electronics hit almost 12% volume share.
Larger consumer
electronics, such as flatscreen TVs, home cinema and speaker systems or desktop
PCs, saw shares of internet sales grow more slowly due to the fact that many
online retailers still charge considerable amounts for shipping large items.
Furthermore, consumers still seem to prefer re-assuring face-to-face advice
from shop assistants when it comes to making an in investment in items such as
a large HDTV. In addition to shopping around in actual stores, taking a closer
look at items and finding out cheapest offers, consumers now tend to make their
purchasing decisions based on product insights gained from an extensive number
of online reviews. This is imposing increasing pressure on retailers, who often
provide expert advice but are left without a purchase as consumers then decide
to order from a cheaper online retailer.
In addition,
internet retailing is putting pressure on unit prices as it offers very
competitive pricing due to the low operating costs involved. It is putting
pressure especially on mail order companies as internet retailing displays a
similar concept. In response, most mail order companies have successfully
launched their own internet retailing segment, for example Quelle and Otto.
Outlook
The internet’s
fast growth is set to continue over the forecast period, both in terms of
websites on offer and in terms of the number of users. According to internet
experts, the worldwide online population will increase at a 6.6% CAGR during
the next few years, far outpacing the 1.1% CAGR for the planet's population as
a whole. While in Germany, the number of users is already quite high and
forecast growth is expected to be slower here, a positive impact will come from
a further spread and improvement of broadband connections. The German
government has announced plans to subsidise the installation of broadband
access in rural areas, which have so far not been reached.
Improvement of
the speed and quality of broadband connections in Germany will have a positive
impact on internet retailing. A recent OECD prediction that by 2011 one third
of the productivity growth in industrial nations will be derived from the
advance of the broadband technology, is also likely to materialise in Germany
as well. As an integral part of internet retailing, safety of personal details
and online payment methods will be developed further. Payment operators such as
ClickandBuy or PayPal will improve the reliability and convenience of their
services and ensure that customers will not have to enter their bank or credit
card details every time they shop online.
Future Impact
Over the
forecast period, the share of internet retailing in consumer electronics is
expected to grow significantly as the number of consumers familiar with
internet applications will rise. The further spread of broadband connections
will mean that consumers can browse online shops extensively without time
pressure. Faster internet connections will give operators a chance to make the
design and presentation of their online shops more appealing to potential
customers and to run more noticeable marketing campaigns. Furthermore, under
the improved conditions of a larger internet community and faster broadband
connections, more operators are expected to enter internet retailing as it is a
cost effective way of selling goods and has a high potential to reach a large
audience.
Saver payment
methods will convince more consumers to do their shopping online. Retailers
will put effort into enhancing their customer services, for example through removing
delivery costs or running special offers. Some operators may even work towards
closing their high street branches and focusing their entire business on
internet retailing. This is particularly likely for operators such as Quelle,
where high street outlets are more a complementary addition to their online
shops. Internet sales will especially rise for smaller electronic devices and
portable consumer electronics as these can be shipped more easily. For the
larger consumer electronics such as flat screen TVs or desktop computers,
consumers may still prefer to purchase these in outlets to avoid shipping cost
if applicable.
On the other
hand, expert, in-person advice for the purchase of high-priced devices may
continue to work against internet retailing, especially when the purchase
involves building-in or setting up complicated devices, such as home
connectivity centres or high-end navigation systems.
Falling Unit Prices Continue To Impact Market
Over the review
period, many sectors of consumer electronics were impacted by falling unit
prices as a result of fierce competition between manufacturers, price pressure
from large retailer chains interested in running special promotions as often as
possible, growing share of competitively priced internet retailing, and as a
result of lower consumer demand for some analogue and less sought after digital
products. Particularly affected were analogue consumer electronics, which are
set to vanish from the market, such as VCRs, which saw unit price declines by
over 30% in absolute terms over the review period, and analogue TVs, the unit
price of which declined by over 50%.
New technologies
also saw unit prices decline as their novelty factor wore off and they became
more widespread. Unit prices for HDTVs fell by almost 15% between 2003 and
2008, and for other digital TVs, which had previously been dominated by the
very expensive plasma TVs, prices fell by over 50%.
Other subsectors
with noteworthy declines were found within portable consumer electronics.
Laptops experienced unit price falls of over 30% between 2003 and 2008 but the
largest decline was registered by navigation systems, whose unit prices fell by
over 75% over the review period.
Current Impact
Unit price
declines have had a particularly negative impact on all subsectors that have
witnessed strong volume decline, accelerating value sale declines over the
review period. For analogue consumer electronics, this resulted in products
moving off the market at increased pace, making it less attractive for market
players to continue operating in these sectors.
For HDTVs,
falling unit prices helped to trigger higher volume sales and make this product
group more popular and widespread. Value sales for HDTVs were not affected
negatively by falling unit prices as these were evened out by high volume
sales. For other digital TVs, however, falling unit prices did not trigger
significant volume growth and instead resulted in significant value declines in
2007 and 2008.
Unit price
declines for laptops triggered fast volume growth, especially in 2008, which
again resulted in significant value growth. As they became more affordable,
laptops grew in popularity over the review period and have been imposing
significant pressure on desktop computers as the price difference between them
has lessened.
Navigation
systems saw very fast volume growth due to the falling unit prices over the
review period, which, for most parts, also resulted in significant value
growth. However, manufacturers have started to feel the pressure from declining
unit prices and already in 2008, value sales were impacted negatively.
Outlook
Price
competition between manufacturers and other market players is not expected to
lessen in the near future and as a result, unit prices for many subsectors of
consumer electronics are expected to continue to decrease over the forecast
period. The growing share of internet retailing will do its bit, as will the
large retailers, which are likely to continue to run special promotions to
attract bargain-hunting German consumers.
For HDTVs, unit
prices are expected to decline significantly slower than over the review
period, to reach a value only 6% lower in 2013 than in 2008. Other digital TVs
will see unit prices decline by over 40% between 2008 and 2013.
Unit prices for
laptops will decrease by almost 20% over the forecast period. Unit prices for
navigation systems will continue to see a very fast decline to 50% less of
their 2008 value by the end of the forecast period.
Future Impact
HDTVs, which
were already very high in demand in 2008, are expected to reach volume
saturation by 2010 and see volume sales decline thereafter. Falling unit prices
will put additional pressure on manufacturers of HDTVs.
Other digital
TVs are forecast to continue to see a fall in popularity given that HDTV is
expected to be the standard format of the future. Declining unit prices for
other digital TVs will therefore not be able to trigger volume sales but
instead will result in significant value losses, making it less attractive for
market players to operate in this segment.
Laptops are
expected to rise significantly in popularity as manufacturers will focus their
product innovations on making them more powerful, more versatile and smaller.
Volume sales will, however, grow at much slower pace over the forecast period
than seen over the review period as sales are expected to reach near
saturation. This will mean that unit price declines will put increasing
pressure on value sales, cutting profit margins of market players and taking
the added value off innovations
For navigation
systems, significantly declining unit prices already started to have a negative
impact on value sales in 2008 and are forecast to continue to do so over almost
the entire forecast period. In a sector where consumers expect fast innovation
cycles and continuously enhanced services, declining unit prices will put
significant pressure on manufacturers.
EU Legislation for Greener Consumer Electronics
The Restriction
of Hazardous Substances Directive or RoHS took effect on 1 July 2006 and
restricts the use of six hazardous materials, among them lead, mercury and
cadmium, in the production of various types of electronic and electrical
equipment. The effort to reduce hazardous materials in electronics is motivated
in part to address the global issue of consumer electronics waste. As newer
technology arrives at an ever increasing rate, consumers are discarding their
obsolete products at a quicker rate than ever. This waste ends up in landfills
and in countries such as China to be "recycled".
To combat this,
the EU released the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE
Directive), which became European Law in February 2003, setting collection,
recycling and recovery targets for all types of electrical goods. The directive
imposes the responsibility for the disposal of waste electrical and electronic
equipment on the manufacturers, who are required to establish an infrastructure
for collecting WEEE from private households free of charge. Also, the companies
are compelled to use the collected waste in an ecologically-friendly manner,
either by ecological disposal or by reuse/refurbishment of the collected WEEE.
Current Impact
In 2008, only
about a third of electrical and electronic waste was reported to be treated in
line with these laws and the other two thirds was going to landfill and
potentially to sub-standard treatment sites in or outside the European Union.
Apart from losing out on valuable secondary raw materials, this is especially
worrying since inadequately treated products pose major environmental and
health risks. Moreover, many electrical and electronic products not complying
with the substance restrictions have been found in the EU.
To comply with
these legislations, most manufacturers have banned all hazardous substances
from their production and have launched a recycling programme that allows for
the free return of all branded products. Dell is showing particular green
concern through an additional programme that accepts any make or model of
computer or computer peripherals. Some manufacturers have further realised the
marketing potential of promoting a greener image, especially in the
eco-friendly German society, and have started to show their own initiatives.
Dell is running a campaign called ‘Plant a Tree for Me’, meaning that the
company will make a donation to sustainably managed reforestation projects when
customers tick the ‘Plant a Tree for Me’ option with their orders.
Outlook
In December
2008, the European Commission proposed revised laws on recycling and the use of
hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. The revised
directives would set a new binding target for the collection of electrical and
electronic equipment and renew the list of hazardous substances.
In regards to
climate change, the EU has proposed a regulation reducing standby energy
consumption of household and consumer electronics. Depending on the
functionality of the device the regulation sets a maximum allowed power
consumption for standby of either 1 or 2 Watts for the year 2010. As of 2013,
the admissible power consumption level will be lowered to 0.5 Watt or 1 Watt,
which is close to the levels that can be achieved with the best available
technology. The regulation will reduce today's standby electricity consumption
in the EU - approximately 50 TWh per year - by 73% by 2020. These savings are
equal to Denmark's yearly electricity consumption and would lead to
approximately 14 Mt CO2 emission savings per year.
Future Impact
Green concerns will
be of growing importance for manufacturers, not only as a result of pressure
from legislation but also as a result of growing consumer awareness. Energy
efficiency will play a vital role in future product innovations as it is
directly related to carbon emissions and climate change, a topic that is set to
be in the focus of environmental concerns. In light of rising costs for
electricity, energy efficiency – a topic already very big in Germany when it
comes to household electrical appliances and light bulbs – will also become a
unique selling point for consumer electronics devices, as consumers will be
applying their eco- and energy-consciousness to much used devices such as TVs
and computers.
Fujitsu Siemens
has already announced that its laptops comply with the new regulation about
stand-by energy usage and other manufacturers are likely to follow quickly.
Philips will launch the first energy saving 42” HDTV in the US in 2009. Samsung
presented an eco-friendly mobile phone in July 2008, which features an external
body made from corn. The phone will initially be only available in Korea.