Deja vu: Samsung may be eyeing a mobile video service, again
Samsung Electronics hasn't had the easiest time developing consumer media services, but it may be trying again with new a short-form video service for mobile.The South Korean tech giant has set aside "several tens of millions of dollars" to invest in mobile videos, The Information reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources. The publication said the new product is being overseen by John Pleasants, the previous co-president of Disney Interactive, where he focused on video games. Samsung is aiming to charge people a few dollars a month for the service, the publication said.Samsung didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The company is holding press briefings next week about a "brand new lifestyle app," though it's unclear whether that's related to video.Samsung's investment of "tens of millions of dollars" in the service, its reported price point of a couple dollars a month, and the idea that it's being run by a former Disney gaming executive all indicate the offering will be experimental and small.By comparison, Netflix's original content budget is roughly $350 million. The bandwagon of technology companies investing in original content is a crowded one. Besides the high-profile examples of Netflix and Hulu, companies such as AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft, Sony, SoftBank and Xiaomi have been putting significant resources behind making their own videos to create exclusive lures for video watchers, with varying degrees of success.Samsung has an unimpressive track record in consumer media services. It jettisoned its Samsung Media Hub, which was similar to the iTunes and Google Play stores for movies and TV shows, earlier this year. It also launched streaming-music service Milk -- a Pandora-like radio offering -- this year as well, but the app is generally an afterthought in the crowded music-app landscape, overshadowed by the likes of Pandora, Spotify and a slew of others.
