BARCELONA, Spain ― Samsung Electronics plans to double its tablet PC sales for this year with the firm targeting up to 40 million units, said its mobile chief Shin Jong-kyun on Monday.

Shin said the global economic slowdown would impact tablet sales in the first half of this year, but the world’s top handset maker would expand its tablet lineup in 2013.

“We believe the first half will not be an easy one,” he said in a press conference held a day before the launch of the Mobile World Congress. “But we still think the tablet market will grow by 50 percent this year.”

The world’s No. 1 manufacturer of mobile phones and televisions will present the Galaxy Note 8.0, an addition to its tablet lineup, at the four-day mobile trade show here.

Equipped with a 1.6-gigahertz mobile application processor, the new 8-inch wireless gadget comes with 2 gigabytes of RAM and the S pen. It will be launched next month, said Shin.

“We’re confident people will think the latest addition is of much use and a convenient tool in our daily lives,” he said.

According to market researcher Strategy Analytics, Samsung sold up to 16.6 million tablet PCs in 2012.

Shin also said that it would present next-generation mobile solutions ― such as a personal cloud service called Home Sync and multi-screen content service named TV Discovery ― in a bid to strengthen its mobile business-to-business sector.

Another enterprise total solution tool called Knox will be introduced in a related effort, which will enable efficient management in a secure environment for firms using Samsung’s own proprietary technologies, according to the mobile president.

“Our B2B business was weak compared to the business-to-consumer sector until last year,” he said. “We will present eye-opening results in the B2B sector this year as we plan to improve performance in the field.”

He added that the company will unveil the upcoming flagship smartphone Galaxy S4 at an unpack event in New York on March 14.

“Following the launch of the Galaxy S3 in London, we’re showcasing the Galaxy S4 in New York,” said Shin as he handed out the invitation with QR codes for the first time to the Korean press.

By Cho Ji-hyun, Korea Herald correspondent
(sharon@heraldcorp.com)