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USA: Samsung Joins Hands with Baobab Studios,Comcast,HTC, to Invest in VR Company. Building VR Ecosystem.

According to Samsung Group on Dec. 7, Samsung Venture Investment Corp., has recently made a 6 million investment in Baobab Studios, a U.S. based startup that specializes in animated virtual reality (VR) content, along with Comcast, HTC and others.

Also joining the funding mix are Silicon Valley's leading investors including PaypaL co-founder Peter Thiel and Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus. Baobab creates animated films which can viewed with VR devices.

Its first animated shot, "Invasion!" is currently available via the Samsung Milk VR service and its new works will be launched next year.

This investment is Samsung’s preemptive movement to lead the VR ecosystem. Samsung has set a goal to dominate the VR ecosystem from the Gear VR hardware, to VR content production equipment, including 360-degree cameras, and VR contents. Samsung’s VR online video platform, Milk VR, is also an extension of such movements.

As the VR market is estimated to be US$1.4 trillion (1635.2 trillion won) in 2030, Samsung, in cooperation with Facebook's Oculus VR division, has released the Gear VR in advance in a bid to take the lead. However, the company can fail to dominate the VR ecosystem if there are no high-quality contents.

In fact, Google unveiled its VR content creation platform, Jump, at the I/O developer conference this year, suggesting a strategy to establish the VR ecosystem that connects Jump, YouTube and VR devices. Apple and Sony also have similar strategies, while Chinese companies are pressuring Samsung with the launch of VR devices which are cheaper than the Gear VR.

In this regard, Samsung Venture Investment invested in New Zealand’s VR media firm 8i in October. Also, the company took part in venture investment funds, which are backed by Hollywood movie star Ashton Kutcher. In the gaming industry, there is a rumor that an American video game developer Blizzard Entertainment is promoting cooperation with Samsung Electronics to make its games available on the Gear VR.

Samsung introduced the beta edition of a web browsing program for its virtual reality (VR) devices.

A screenshot of Samsung Internet for Gear VR 

Samsung Electronics Co. introduced Wednesday the beta edition of a web browsing program for its virtual reality (VR) devices, allowing users to access more content online.

The test edition of Samsung Internet for Gear VR will allow users of Samsung's VR devices to stream various videos online and provide a theater-like experience, the company said.

It also allows users to surf the Internet with voice commands, with Gaze Mode activating the screen simply by staring at the menu.

Other features from typical smartphone web tools, such as bookmarks, are also provided through the platform.

The Samsung Gear VR, which links to the Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 Edge+, Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, went on sale here last month with a price tag of 129,800 won (US$112.4), significantly lower than the around 250,000 won of previous models.

The device allows users to enjoy gaming and movie content with a 360-degree rotation view.

Samsung earlier said the device was sold out in South Korea only a day after its release, reflecting the rising popularity of VR devices in the market.