Samsung Electronics Taiwan Co is expecting a sales boost next year, with growing momentum from its handsets and MP3 player product lines, company executives said yesterday.
"We will introduce more consumer-oriented products next year," Samsung president Jeon Yong-sung told a media gathering yesterday.
It is targeting a revenue increase of 20 percent to reach US$300 million (NT$9.77 billion) next year. This year's sales figures will be similar to last year at US$250 million, he said.
Sales are expected to hit US$500 million in 2010.
Samsung is ambitiously targeting sales of its global operations to double last year's US$57 billion in 2010, with more than 20 products taking the world's No. 1 spot in terms of market share.
In local market, Jeon said handset sales will hit 1 million units next year.
The company sold a total of 800,000 cellphones here this year, falling short of its initial target of 900,000 units.
To increase sales, Samsung is slated to introduce more than 30 new handsets next year. Because of the booming third-generation market, models with such capabilities will have a heavy focus in the first six months, according to Jeon.
Next year, the company will also introduce up to eight new MP3 players, a segment which it has aggressively targeted this year in an effort to overtake Apple Computer Inc's iPods, said David Li (李正祜), a company supervisor.
Statistics from GfK Marketing Services show that in terms of volume share, iPods were No. 1 in Taiwan for the first 10 months with a 10 percent share.
Samsung came in second with a 7 percent share, after launching several models similar to iPods but boasting better features and lower pricing.
Another rising star product will be liquid-crystal-display (LCD) televisions.
Samsung aims to sell 50,000 LCD televisions next year, with launches of up to three models, said Kwon Sung-sik, a director in charge of the home appliance division.
With a bigger push from LCD TVs, Kwon said home appliance revenues -- including those from refrigerators, camcorders and washing machines -- would rise to account for 10 percent of local revenues next year.
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