“As part of its efforts to strengthen its software capabilities Samsung Electronics Co. said Monday it will be hosting a global competition to lure developers to create apps for its Galaxy smartphones,” Min-Jeong Lee reports for The Wall Street Journal. “Just how much is Samsung willing to pay? The contest will see 10 winners, who will receive a combined $800,000 in prize money. This isn’t the first time Samsung has hosted a global contest for android developers.”
“The company is particularly looking for apps that can be coordinated with Samsung’s ‘Group Play’ service,” Lee reports. “‘Group Play’ is a function highlighted on Samsung’s latest Galaxy S4 smartphone that allows users to share certain content such as photos, games and music at the same time and interact with one another.”
Lee reports, “Analysts estimate Samsung to be lagging behind Apple in the high-end market which is where the profit is. Despite the many new functions of the Galaxy S 4 phone, the smartphone hasn’t received great reviews in terms of software, something that has been routinely cited as a weakness for the company when compared with Apple.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Apple’s iPhone retains more value than top Galaxy models – May 15, 2013
Samsung spends more to make chintzy, plastic Galaxy S4 than Apple does on sleek, metal iPhone 5 – May 9, 2013
Over half of Samsung Galaxy S4′s advertised 16GB storage capacity eaten up by Android and Samsung bloatware – May 1, 2013
Samsung’s cheap, plastic Galaxy S4 significantly more breakable Apple’s iPhone 5 – April 29, 2013
Yankee Group: iPhone ownership in the U.S. will top Android by 2015 – April 26, 2013
Yankee Group: Apple continues to eat Samsung’s lunch; customer loyalty will drive iPhone ownership past Android’s peak – April 26, 2013
Apple’s iPhone user gains again out-pace Android in the U.S. – April 5, 2013
Why Apple’s new iPhone can’t lose; as with all iPhones, next-gen likely to become best-selling smartphone of all time – April 4, 2013
Apple increases lead over Samsung, gains on Google’s Android in U.S. smartphone market share – April 4, 2013
Analyst: Apple iPhone 5 got over 5X times as many tweets as Samsung’s lackluster Galaxy S4 – March 27, 2013
J.D. Power: Apple ranks highest in smartphone customer satisfaction for 9th consecutive time – March 21, 2013
Yankee Group: Apple to gain additional U.S. smartphone share over Samsung in 2013 – March 20, 2013
With 78% share, Apple’s iOS tightening its grip on the enterprise and taking share from Android – March 8, 2013
comScore: Google’s Android, Samsung continue to lose U.S. share to Apple’s iOS, iPhone – March 6, 2013
World’s best-selling smartphone: Apple iPhone 5; iPhone 4S #2, third place Samsung Galaxy 3 brings up rear – February 20, 2013
The first step to create their own OS.
Luring developers didn’t work well for Microsoft, and it shan’t work for Samsung either.
“The Winner Takes It All”
I don’t wanna talk
About things we’ve gone through
Though it’s hurting me
Now it’s history
I’ve played all my cards
And that’s what you’ve done too
Nothing more to say
No more ace to play
The winner takes it all
The loser’s standing small
Beside the victory
That’s her destiny
I was in your arms
Thinking I belonged there
I figured it made sense
Building me a fence
Building me a home
Thinking I’d be strong there
But I was a fool
Playing by the rules
The gods may throw the dice
Their minds as cold as ice
And someone way down here
Loses someone dear
The winner takes it all
The loser has to fall
It’s simple and it’s plain
Why should I complain?
But tell me does she kiss
Like I used to kiss you?
Does it feel the same
When she calls your name?
Somewhere deep inside
You must know I miss you
But what can I say?
Rules must be obeyed
The judges will decide
The likes of me abide
Spectators of the show
Always staying low
The game is on again
A lover or a friend
A big thing or a small
The winner takes it all
I don’t wanna talk
If it makes you feel sad
And I understand
You’ve come to shake my hand
I apologize
If it makes you feel bad
Seeing me so tense
No self-confidence
But you see
The winner takes it all
The winner takes it all…
How dare people give 1 star to ABBA!
ABBA recently passed The Bealtes in the UK as the band with the most sold record ever. That should tell you something.
It may be hard to believe, but I’d never heard that bittersweet song. Thank you for introducing me to it.
Just Samsung being “innovative”.
Samsung is what Samsung does:
Cheap
Shameless
Lying
Manipulating
Dishonest
Unoriginal
Ok, our product has the market share and we lead in innovation, per Samsung. Yet they have to buy people to make apps?!
Well now, maybe those cheap bastard you sell to and all the money to bride people with is starting to payoff. The developers know they can wait and have some of that dirty money funneled to their wallets.
I believe Capone would be proud…ok, I know Ballmer and Gates are of Samsung.
It reminds me of the kid that was so ugly that his mother had to tie a pork chop around his neck so that the dog would play with him.
I enlarged your photo by hovering over it… did you end up eating that pork chop?
Say, didn’t I see you over in the Rue Morgue?
My mistake. I gave it to you.
Samsung is doing this as a momentum play. Strike while the iron is hot, so to speak. It’s a quick way to pile on developers while GS4 sales are hot. They may get lucky with a few apps to help bolster their brand. I think it’s a smart move. That’s what reserve cash is for. It plays for the media and helps developers get some cash in their pockets on a platform where apps don’t make very much money. Unscrupulous is fine if it can help you win.
Samsung is serious about beating Apple, so it’s understandable they’ll do whatever is necessary. The smartphone market is turning out to be an industry where nice guys and fair players don’t necessarily win anything. I would think that recent Apple shareholders should realize that much. Samsung is playing by the same rules that Wall Street does and it’s paying off, at least in the short term.
In the smartphone industry there are no referees to call low blows or punches after the bell. There’s only winners and losers. As shareholders, you should decide which you’d like Apple to be. The big investors have already decided Apple is the loser.
GS4 sales are not hot from what I’ve read.
“In attempt to catch Apple iPhone”
I thought that you guys had Samsung way past Apple with a crappy product.
I wondered what company ordered all those wooden nickels… Now I know..
The problem with this approach is that the developers will stick around only so long as they get paid. There are simply too many versions of Android out there (even on Samsung phones) that won’t allow apps to work well across the various flavors of OS. And that’s a developer’s nightmare. Even if they just develop for the latest version of Android, who’s to say the next version won’t horribly break their app?
Maybe they can rename it Group Malware.
Nothing like doing business with Zero conscience, Zero culpability and Zero creativity — and succeeding. What a world.
“Group Play” sounds like an escort service.
And paying people to make Apps will not solve a bad software problem. Or te author of this article confuses the OS with Apps or does not really know what he is talking about.