Samsung announced today that it will be launching it’s own application store this quarter. But tomorrow will see the launch of the Samsung Application Seller Site, which is a portal geared towards developers and re-sellers. Similar to the Symbian application warehouse model, the Seller Site will license third-party companies to sell Samsung apps. The site also contains developer aids, in the form of Samsung Mobile Innovator. The aim seems to be to create a large pool of apps, that developers can add to and re-sellers can draw from, before the Application Store launches by October.
How will the Seller Site it work?
Interested companies pay one dollar to register as a member of the Samsung Application Seller Site. This gives developers access to Samsung Mobile Innovator, which is their support infrastructure. It helps to develop apps that adhere to Samsungs standards, both technical and in terms of content. Developers then attach a price, and state their target market. After that, the Samsung Application Store and Sellers take over. Samsung will be offering sales contracts to third-party re-sellers, who will be to sell any apps from the Store over their own services.
The supported device platforms will be Symbian and Windows Mobile.
From the release:
Kanghyun Kwon, Vice President of Samsung’s Content Service Team, Media Solution Center, said: “We launched a Samsung Application Store beta service in January in the UK and have been collaborating with developers and content providers through Samsung Mobile Innovator, a developer program for Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Java from October, 2008. With the launch of Samsung’s Application Seller Site, we can complete the total eco-system for better, easier, and more exciting mobile experiences ranging from compelling mobile phones to content and applications. We are aiming to achieve a win-win business model for end-users, mobile operators, and industry influencers, such as developers and content providers.”
What we think?
Kanghyun Kwon used the word “eco-system” in his above quote, and that sums up a lot of how I feel about this. It’s a damn good idea to get this kind of initiative running in the months before the App Store launch. Samsung has made an interesting decision here. Outside of the iPhone, people are generally fairly uninterested in device-specific apps. Independent stores like GetJar hit a much larger audience than just the owners of one kind of device. By providing resources for app developers, and then allowing the resulting apps to be sold over other app stores, Samsung isn’t just tapping into the more open spirit of the app industry. It’s also massively boosting its potential audience.
