Samsung Electronics said that it will launch a new online application store for its smartphone users on September 14th 2009.
The company said that the application store will be opened first in the UK, France, and Italy, followed by Germany, Spain and 30 other countries in the coming months.
Initially, the store will be accessible to users of Omnia and I8910 HD devices and later expand to users of other models such as Omnia II and OmniaLITE. In order to activate the service, Omnia and I8910 HD users will need to upgrade their devices and install the mobile client on their phones from the store’s website.
The Samsung Application Store will initially offer about 300 applications including games, references, social networking, e-books and health-related tools. It expects the number of applications to reach over 2000 by the end of 2009.
The on-device client is available in English, French and Italian and supports credit card and phone billing through the mobile application store. The Application Store is designed to automatically display the relevant application catalog available for a user’s specific Samsung mobile phone model.
Hosoo Lee, executive vice president of media solution center at Samsung, said: “With the launch of the Application Store, Samsung will increase mobile phone sales and add value for its mobile customers through the availability of carefully selected applications.
“The Application Store will expand the service channel, not only on handheld devices but also on PCs through the launch of new PC software. The software will allow customers to download applications and manage them on a PC to maximise service usability.”
Samsung is the latest to open application store, joining Microsoft, Nokia and RIM, who have earlier launched application stores for users to download applications to their handsets, following Apple’s hugely successful App Store.
