New invention is coming into Smart TV market. There has been only one model (a model of single
body) when you think about Smart TV.
Now there is a new player in the market with a separate body (Set-top box) and it seems more and more companies will join competition with this model. After LG U+’s first run in the market competing with Set-top box model, SK and KT Broadband joined the new competition. New smart TV “Set-top box model” has capability to use apps including web-searching, VOD, and live TV show functions. LG U+ seems to be confident in this market by cooperating with Google producing U+ TV G. KT, as a main provider in Korea, expects to release Android based set-top box TV in the end of this month. SK Broadband, on the other hand, plans a bit behind by looking at the beginning of next year for release since research and development work is needed until this year.
Single bodied Smart TV VS Separate bodied Smart TV.
The competitive advantage that new smart TV brought is a ‘price’. While single bodied smart TV costs between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 won, set-top box only costs around 100,000 to 200,000 won. Abundance of VOD contents in set-top box model is also found attractive to users.
