On this day, from the pages of Appliance Retailer:
Thursday 14 January 2010
Having wowed the CES crowds with its 3D TV technology, the focus for Samsung Australia quickly turned to its local plans for the exciting new proposition.
“3D TV is definitely one of a few things we will be pushing heavily throughout 2010,” said head of consumer electronics marketing Mark Leathan. “Samsung will certainly be banging the drum for 3D technology this year.”
Samsung was first to market with 3D TVs, in time for a 2010 3D TV blitz that included rugby league’s State of Origin, the AFL Grand Final, the X Games and several golf tournaments. The hype soon died down, however, and 3D became more of general TV feature rather than a desirable premium.
Back in 2010, Leathan didn’t appear to foresee this:
“I don’t see why the benefits of LED in normal viewing situations won’t transition over to the 3D format,” he said.
So why did 3D fail? Marketers from a variety of suppliers have come to general consensus: there was too much confusion about whether 3D TVs were both 2D and 3D or if consumers had to watch everything in 3D.
The lack of content certainly didn’t help, either, and flash forward to 2014 and premium sporting events — the Ashes, AFL and NRL Grand Finals, for example — aren’t even shown in HD, let alone 3D.
Australa’s #1 album that day was I Dreamed A Dream by Susan Boyle.