Samsung to integrate camera division with other units, make two hearts beat as one

by Nilay Patel, posted Feb 1st 2008 at 3:28PM

PMA isn't just about gear announcements -- there's also super-thrilling corporate strategy and reorganization to talk about, and it looks like Samsung's making the biggest move in that arena, with plans to integrate its digital camera division more closely with the rest of its consumer tech operations. Samsung Opto-Electronics has been a free spirit until now, but Sammy says that in order to achieve its goal of becoming one of the top three digital camera vendors in the market by 2010, it's going to have to tame those wild horses and bring everything under one roof. The plan is to allow product lines like HD camcorders and displays cross-pollinate with the cameras, eventually producing more models like the NV24HD pocket cam and HMX20 camcorder -- and hopefully for cheaper prices, since Sammy will be able to better manage suppliers and the retail channel. No word on what new models are in store, of course, but hopefully we'll be seeing some interesting results of this lovefest at next year's PMA.