Samsung Prepares App Store For European Phone Owners

Samsung plans to open its first app store

By The Wall Street Journal

Samsung today announced it's preparing an online app store for its Omnia smart phone, setting high expectations for future smart phone launches.

Following the success of the Apple App Store, handset manufacturers are launching online stores so phone owners can download custom programs for smartphones. Furthermore, it's a good way for independent developers to help the community while also cashing in on revenue sharing with manufacturers.

Samsung will include 300 apps at launch for phone owners in the United Kingdom, France and 30 other nations across Europe in the next few months. Specifically, the Omnia-centric store will grow to have more than 2,000 apps before 2010. Phone owners will be able to download apps using the Omnia's built-in Wi-Fi.

Omnia owners will be able to pay for apps by credit card or adding the charges to their mobile phone subscription plan. Furthermore, Samsung said the store will be compatible for future Omnia II, Omnia Lite, Omnia Pro and other smartphones.

The app store will be located at Samsungapps.com in the future. "Samsung Application Store is coming soon!" the Samsung site says. "Please visit us again soon."

Research In Motion (RIM), Nokia, LG Electronics, Palm also have their own stores, with several other companies expected to launch their own stores in the next few quarters. Samsung and LG have solid smartphones, but analysts have been critical of their software, especially if compared to Apple and RIM.