Samsung App Store and the Omnia 2 Handset
Samsung has spent the last couple of years establishing itself as a producer of high quality smartphones as well as more modest handsets. With the release of the Samsung Omnia 2 it is entering a highly competitive market. On one front it is fighting off the almighty populists over at Apple, whose iPhone handset and App Store have redefined much of what users expect from their smartphones. On another front Samsung faces the new Android handsets from HTC and Motorola attempting to establish and save new and old companies respectively. Samsung must also out-strip the ageing giants Nokia, whose N97 handset has been criticised for its slightly fiddly interface and ageing operating platform. The Samsung Omnia 2 has got its work cut out.
What made the iPhone so popular was not just its looks, but also the sheer volume of software available from the App Store. Bedroom developers could produce applications which in a short time could become global phenomena. The App Store has been quickly copied by other manufacturers and Samsung are throwing the hat into the ring with the creation of their own app store. It is called, simply, the Samsung Application Store. So it seems that gimmicky names are not going to be on the agenda. What is interesting about the new store is that Samsung are celebrating it by opening up an App design competition. Developers are being invited to send in their submissions between October 23rd and December 10th 2009, which is a relatively short window for those with no prior experience. The app has to be designed for use on the Samsung Omnia 2 and the prizes are not to be sniffed at.
There is a total prize pot of $330,000 US up for grabs and applications must be produced either in English or Italian, for some reason. The creators of the best two Samsung Omnia 2 apps will receive $100,000 apiece, with the rest of the winnings distributed amongst the runners-up. Another benefit of winning the prize will of course be an enduring relationship with Samsung as they continue to develop applications across their mobile platforms. Apps for the Samsung Omnia 2 could be the beginning of a beautiful and lucrative relationship for a particularly canny developer.
Winning apps will be made available for free for a total of four months and it has been confirmed that the selection process will be completed in mid-December and they should be released in time for Christmas. You have to be registered at the Samsung Application Store Seller Office in order to be eligible for entry into the competition and there are a total of eight app genres into which your app must fall in order to qualify. It is clear that December will be an exciting month for Samsung Omnia 2 owners everywhere.
Samsung has realised that the success of the Omnia 2 relies on the app store, which in turn relies on the quality and number of the applications available – which of course relies on a development community evolving around the new handset. By establishing this relationship from day one Samsung are playing an extremely sensible game. Apple’s app store has had time to develop and grow and as such acts as an example to others. The Android store is far from perfect and still needs more applications and ingenuity to really take off. Nokia’s Ovi store is perhaps the worst of the bunch, with a slightly clunky interface.
Samsung’s Application Store is already looking rather professional, which is a good sign. You are invited to download the Application Store to your Samsung Omnia 2 and it is of course compatible with all varieties of Samsung smartphones. Samsung is also currently offering a free money-off voucher to the first 1000 people who make a purchase from the App store. This suggests just how early in the lifecycle of the store we really are, but this is surely a deal that any owner of a Samsung Omnia 2 will jump at.
At the moment a majority of the applications available are games and Samsung will be looking to the community to dictate the types of practical applications which are developed. What this does suggest is that there are a huge number of opportunities for clever developers to fill gaping holes in the Samsung app store with their products. This may result in some rushed jobs which lack the sheen of professionalism seen in many iPhone applications. However, once the initial glut of apps have established themselves or faded away, thoughtful developers should produce genuinely impressive applications. The Samsung app store is also your first port of call if you want to get involved as an application developer or as an app publisher. Because Samsung’s phones run a variety of different operating systems, including Windows Mobile, Symbian as well as in-house variants, there are a wide variety of potential routes for developers to take. Since the aim of this initial competition is primarily the Samsung Omnia 2, developers will need to get to grips with the TouchWiz User Interface, which is Samsung’s own software. Thankfully TouchWiz 2.0 is designed with user-friendliness as well as visual excellence in mind, so there should be a lot of imaginative uses for its interface. Hopefully the competition will produce some truly great apps and should result in a lasting partnership between Samsung and their developer community.
Tags: app store, samsung, samsung omnia 2