Since Samsung Electronics release the world’s first Full HD 3D LED TV on February 25th, there has been explosive responses worldwide. Over the past 6 weeks, Samsung’s 3D TV has reached 10,000 in domestic sales, which means that 245 sets have been sold daily,  and just announced that it is expanding its production number from 2 million to 3 million as demands have been higher that expected.

Samsung has applied the ‘2D → 3D converting technology’ that allows the viewers to watch all programs in 3D with a click of the remote. It has a ‘real black filter’ to add shaded depths to bright areas of the scene to give a more dimensional figure. Furthermore, viewers can adjust amongst the 10 levels of the 3D effect. It has higher definition, with a slimmer design of 23.9mm, and is price competitive compared to the existing LED TV model.

Since its launching events in Europe, US, Latin America, and the CIS a month ago as, Samsung is leading a 3D TV fever with its global marketing strategy. Orders have been flooding, that Samsung 3D TV exports had to be shortly delayed.

In Manhattan’s Samsung 3D TV launching event, director of ‘Avatar’ James Cameron showed up and praised Samsung as “Beautiful and a business leader of the TV industry that has brought the 3D entertainment from theaters into our everyday homes.”

ESPN, Sogeocable, SBS have already gained 3D broadcasting rights for the 2010 South Africa Worldcup, which is expected to further boost demand for 3D TVs.

3D is expanding into major motion pictures, animation, home entertainment, concerts, sporting events, broadcasting television, advertising & smartphones. It is clear that the 3D industry is now never like the shows you saw in theme parks with the disposable blue& red glasses. 3D entertainment is not going to be a circus that leaves when the novelty is gone. It is here to stay and Korea is no way a trivial player in this field.

Following is interview with Kim Faura, the CEO of Telefonica, Cataluna, by ET News. I translated the interview script in Korean into English. Please mind the possible errors in the course of re-translating.

Q. What is the purpose (reason) of your visit to Korea?

▲ We would like to enhance the competitiveness of our company. The technology in Korea has been upgrading. Telefonica will also develop its level of technology in the mobile field. We expect KOTRA would play a significant role to support global cooperation between Telefonica and Korean companies.

Q. Which particular areas of Korean IT are you interested in?

▲ It would be “HSDPA”. Telefonica is behind in area of “HSDPA”. I was very impressed by seeing Korean people using it. We have an intention to apply Korea’s mobile technology not only to the HSDPA area but also to other areas. It was interesting to know about ‘Optical Fiber’ technology of LG Nortel in spite that it is part of wireline communication technology. We’d like to learn the technology and provide it to Spain as well as other countries.

Q.There is a plan for disposal of Nortel’s stake in LG Nortel. Do you have an intention to acquire the stake?

▲ I only talked about technologies that NG Nortel has on this visit.

Q. I know that you’re also planning to visit SK C&C.
▲ We are having a meeting this afternoon. I’m interested in what they’ve got for us but not sure what would be suggested.

Q. Which companies in Korea are you hoping to cooperate with?

▲ We are looking for various companies. Because of this our CTO is along with me. We will decide what types of cooperation we suggest to each of them after ensuring whether price and technology is suitable to Spain market.

Q. What do you see the level of Korea’s mobile technology?

▲ Korea is always one of the best countries. Spain is behind with that and wants to improve. I’ve met with Pantech and there are 4 or 5 cell phones which are interesting to me. It could be evaluated as innovative products in Spain or England. We would negotiate a price with the marketing team.

Q. How much are you expecting to be the purchase amount of Korean brand cell phones?

▲ It was 400 million euro in previous year. It’s been rising since this August; we expect it to be 500 million euro for this year. Our role is to deliver products that customers want. People buy Korean brand cell phone because they want it. Consumers in Spain want to get Samsung or LG cell phone.

Q. How much would it be next year?

▲ I can’t tell exactly how much but with this regards, it would grow to be 6 million euro excluding Pantech. Pantech has to be run through test market.

Q. 7 million euro was put on a global R&D last year. Did Telefonica invest in Korea?

▲ I’m not sure. This investment is for world wide. Investment in Korea will be decided concerning this week meeting.

Q. Have you considered direct investment in Korea?

▲ We intended to 2 ~ 3 years ago but it didn’t work out. Korea market is conservative.

Q. What is Telefonica’s vision?

▲ We need various companies. We were an operator before but now we need to give out the value to our end customer through other application. We are showing steady growth now and looking for contents business.

Q. Is there any condition for Korea Company to cooperate with Telefonica?

▲ The answer is No. If there is a competitive product we will find a solution for the cooperation under any circumstances and of course the company has to be reliable.

Q. What about the global business plan?

▲ We acquired the part share of Telecommunication Company of Italy and China. We have a plan to cooperate with them for developing one mobile platform, which enables Samsung and LG benefit from it.

“App Store” is a buzzword for many mobile operator and Korean companies are no exception. We covered previously the launch by LG this summer and its now who SK launched yesterday its own version : www.tstore.co.kr . Tstore should go global in 2011. LG  will follow in October.

The KT proposes not only applications but also game, phone decoration, games, music, movie , education materials and funny features. Being based on the WIPI, a south-Korean middleware enabling interoperability to run application, it aims to be largely open regardless of the phone you use. The platform can be reach by visiting the website with your phone or your computer or by installing a management software. At the end of the year, Tstore should be available whatever is your telecommunication provider.

A strong developpers community is the key of a vigorous appstore and Tstore seems to be friendly towards them.  SK will propose freely to developers to use SKT DRMs, upgrade infrastructure or organize contests. The review and approval process will not be necessary for developers who already have recognition from professional organizations. Developers will pay a registration fee each year, starting next year. SK will take a 30% commission on sales revenues of applications.SK may invest in venture companies to secure contents.