Over 100 million apps have been downloaded from Samsung Electronics’ mobile and TV app store in less than a year after its launch, the company said Thursday.
Samsung Apps opened in June 2010 with the launch of Samsung’s Wave (GT-S8500) smartphone, the first smartphone loaded with Samsung’s Bada OS.
The company set up the Samsung Apps website to offer people software applications aimed at TVs and mobile devices such as Facebook and Twitter. The website gauged 10 million downloads three months after the website launched and 100 million in 10 months, Samsung said in a statement. Over 13,000 applications are now available on the marketplace.
The highest number of downloads went to France, followed by Germany and Spain, Samsung said. The three European countries accounted for 40 percent of all downloads made at the store.
Samsung Apps is available in 120 countries.
“We are anticipating that Samsung Apps will show a rapid growth in 2011,” Samsung said in the statement, especially with the upcoming launch of a variety of new Bada devices.
Apple’s App Store, by comparison, has already seen over 10 billion downloads since it opened July 8, 2008, for devices including the iPhone, iPad and iPod. There are 350,000 iPhone apps and 65,000 iPad apps currently available at the store.
Samsung decided to celebrate the 100 million download milestone by offering weekly prizes for anyone who downloads an app from the Samsung Apps marketplace between March 25 and April 30, 2011, the company said.
Prizes include Samsung Galaxy Tabs, Galaxy Players, UBS sticks and vouchers for Samsung Apps, the company said.