Samsung’s continued dominance amongst mobile phone manufacturers employing Google’s Android mobile operating system has been startling, and the South Korean vendor even managed to build an Apple-level of hype for the recent launch of its flagship Galaxy S4. With the company expected to ship a total of 320 million smartphones in 2013 with a quarter of them being Galaxy S4 units, that’s almost 80 million of just that one smartphone model in the hands of consumers.
It’s no surprise then that Samsung has just announced the Samsung Smart App Challenge 2013, a global competition for mobile application developers aimed at finding new applications that make use of the Samsung Chord SDK and utilizing the GALAXY S4’s ‘Group Play’ group communication function.
It’s the second time Samsung is hosting such a contest for Android developers, but this time a total of 10 entries will be selected as winners, receiving a record total of $800,000 in prize money. Coupled with co-marketing efforts from Samsung to drive app adoption from those 80 million potential users, this contest is likely to be very attractive to Android developers. In addition, final winners will be assessed by Samsung Venture Investment for funding potential.
“With Samsung Smart App Challenge 2013, Samsung is going to boost (the) mobile ecosystem,” said Won-Pyo Hong, President and Head of Samsung Electronics Media Solution Center. “At Samsung we will continue to encourage mobile developers to develop new and innovative applications with newly-launched features of GALAXY series. The Samsung Smart App Challenge will greatly enhance application choices for GALAXY S4 so users can enjoy a valuable experience.”
The challenge is open to all mobile application developers worldwide. Developers who wish to participate should sign up directly on the App Challenge website (http://www.smartappchallenge.
