Samsung Turns to Microsoft for Technology

Despite having a luxuriant portfolio of technologies and being the largest publisher of patents in the United States in 2006, Samsung has turned to Microsoft resources when it came down to building its wireless digital photo frame. Gearing up for the 2007 holiday season, Samsung introduced new 8" Digital Photo Frame SPF-83V, powered by technology developed by Microsoft Research. The Redmond company underlined the fact that the wireless digital photo frame was one of very scarce selection of networked offerings available on the market.

"Offering our customers next-generation products that bring them closer to family and friends is important to us. Our latest digital photo frames, based on cutting-edge technology from the Microsoft Research labs, are easy to use and are one of the few offerings in the marketplace that offer a 'network' approach to digital photo sharing. This is a great example of our ongoing collaboration with Microsoft, and we are confident that the resulting product will be received extremely well", revealed Christopher Franey, vice president of Commercial Sales and Marketing at Samsung Electronics America, Information Technology Division.

Back in April 2007, Microsoft and Samsung inked a broad patent cross-licensing agreement, essentially sharing their technologies. The Digital Photo Frame SPF-83V is a direct result of the patent partnership between the two companies. End users will be able to enjoy their images anywhere in the home, via a wireless connection. The new digital photo frame is designed to seamlessly integrate with online services, such as Windows Live Spaces, or with applications including Windows Live Photo Gallery. In addition, the Digital Photo Frame SPF-83V can also serve content from Windows Media Player and materials through RSS.

"Working with industry leaders such as Samsung to allow them to deploy Microsoft's innovative technologies and bring great products and services to customers more rapidly is what our intellectual property licensing efforts are all about. This is just one example of how our dedication to open innovation can lead to greater collaboration between two technology industry leaders and to great products - right in time for the holidays", added Louis Carbonneau, general manager of Intellectual Property Licensing at Microsoft.