Samsung steps out to woo developers
About 1,300 people attending the event in San Francisco, delved into techniques for making applications that work across an array of Samsung devices.
"Samsung is really trying to get people excited about their platform," said independent Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle.
"The company has been trying to pull the emphasis away from Google and get developers to be loyal to them and not Google," he added.
"There are close to half a billion connected devices in the world today, yet a very limited number are actually connected to each other," said Samsung media solution centre president Won-Pyo Hong.
"Samsung is creating one of the largest connected platforms spanning a broad range of devices that people use every day, including smartphones, tablets, TVs and much more," he said.
New software development kits
During a keynote presentation in a packed ballroom, Samsung executives showed off new software development kits but there was little mention of Android, the Google-made operating system on which the South Korean company's smartphone runs.
Google consistently draws thousands of developers to sold-out annual conferences in San Francisco where software wizards hone skills for building fun, functional or hip "apps" for devices powered by the Android operating systems.
Sessions at the Samsung conference included many devoted to customised Android operating software.
According to Enderle, the South Korean consumer electronics company is also developing its own Tizen operating system and wants developers making apps for it before the new products hit the market.
"Samsung wants more control of the Android platform and Google doesn't like that," Enderle said. "There is a tug-of-war going on."
Motorola is Google's current focus
The stakes were raised by Google's purchase of Motorola Mobility, the manufacturer of the sophisticated Moto X smartphones that are powered by Android software.
Samsung stressed the breadth of the company's consumer electronics offerings and the potential for applications that let people connect devices for "multiscreen" experiences.
"In future, the applications you develop will be available across all of our devices, not just smartphones, tablets and PCs," said Samsung Telecommunications America president Gregory Lee, adding that there are so many opportunities for convergence.
Samsung Electronics released new kits for creating consumer or business applications on the company's smartphones, tablets, and smart television screens.
Samsung is the top manufacturer of mobile devices powered by the Android operating system, which dominates the global market.
"We are committed to accelerating Android app development," Samsung media solutions centre America senior vice president Curtis Sasaki said in a welcoming note to developers.
Exciting future for convergence
He promised the company would show developers an exciting future of possibilities.
"Beyond mobile and TV, Samsung is investing heavily in frontier technologies including, wearables and much more," Sasaki said.
The keynote address included a Twitter engineer showing off a new application tailored for Samsung devices with testimonials from companies such as eBay, Autodesk, Zillow, and Cie Games.
Samsung reported last week that its net profit spiked to another record in the third quarter, driven by soaring revenue from memory chip sales.
The world's largest technology firm by revenue said the net profit for the July to September quarter rose to 8.24trn won (US$7.8bn), from 6.56bn won a year ago.
Stagnant growth in sales of the company's flagship Galaxy S smartphones was offset by strong sales growth in the cheaper end of the smartphone market.
The semiconductor business saw the biggest gains, with a 12% rise in revenue over the previous quarter to 9.74trn won.
Samsung's mobile unit still accounted for two-thirds of the company's operating profit in the third quarter, but this figure had been slowing down as the market for premium smartphones becomes increasingly crowded and prices drop.
Analysts estimate Samsung sold between 85m and 89m smartphones during the quarter.
Samsung's consumer electronics unit - the company's second largest in terms of sales --continued to struggle in squeezing out profits from the competitive market.
Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge
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