Dive Brief:

• Samsung wants its Galaxy Apps store to double its user base as the electronics maker takes on Apple’s iOS app store and Google Play. With each new generation of its Galaxy smartphone, the South Korean technology giant gains ground against competitors, according to VentureBeat.  

• The Galaxy Apps store is becoming more worthwhile for application developers with an active user base that quadrupled to 24 million a month since 2015. Samsung, which last month started selling its Galaxy S8 smartphone, is aiming for 50 million users and stronger app revenue in the next few years.

• Samsung is diligent about screening apps so that only the most promising ones are made available to Galaxy users, Ravi Belwal, head strategic partner manager for games at Samsung told VentureBeat. While about 2 million apps are found in competitors’ stores, Samsung has narrowed its offering to the hundreds of thousands.

Dive Insight:

Samsung’s strategy of growing its user base while limiting the number of apps in its Galaxy Apps store is not only good for game developers, but it also will help high-quality brands stand out. “We go with hand-picked partners and we feature them,” Samsung’s Belwal told VentureBeat.

A thriving software business could help Samsung drive revenue as smartphone sales growth stagnates, putting it more in the league of Apple, who is as not as dependent on the revenue from hardware sales because its healthy services business. Samsung's recent partnership with Google Play Music is another example of how the company is looking to build a strong set of software offerings with the goal of encouraging consumers to choose its phones over the competition. 

As the electronics giant seeks to recover from recalls that stymied growth for its last generation of mobile devices, it is targeting developing markets that have higher growth potential than mature regions like the U.S. and Western Europe. China, India, Malaysia and Indonesia are key targets for expansion, and apps that make its Galaxy smartphone more appealing to those audiences have an opportunity to gain wider use and mindshare.

Samsung is seeking more developers that will create apps with its Tizen operating system, which is due to be upgraded in September. India will be a key region for Samsung’s Tizen devices as the company seeks to convert mobile users into app buyers. Growing ad viewership has lured developers like Imanji and Halfbrick into creating Tizen-based apps.