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April 25, 2014

Samsung Apps Are Aplenty, But Not Really Getting Attention

Samsung was a brand name recognized in households around every corner of the planet before it ever made smartphones. Since the release of its Galaxy series phones, this image as a reliable electronics manufacturer has only been boosted further. As much as everyone seems to love the Galaxy, the sentiment turns almost 180 degrees when it comes to Samsung's App Store, Media Hub, and included apps (which are, for many, considered bloatware that gets in the way). According to Strategy Analytics' data from AppOptix last month, it seems that many Galaxy S3 and S4 users are turning to other app ecosystems to get what they use on their devices.

Samsung has a pretty extensive repertoire of apps, some of them appearing on its devices out of the box, while others can be acquired through Google Play or Samsung's own app stores. However, AppOptix's March 2014 data for the U.S. (which included more than 250 Galaxy S3 and S4 users) reveals that Samsung's apps were accessed an average of 7 minutes per month, while these same people were spending 149 minutes total per month on apps they found through Google Play.

As for the stores themselves, the data is even more pessimistic for Samsung. Users spent an average of 64 minutes per month on Google Play whereas Samsung App store just got 0.6 minutes of attention during the same period.

But when we look at Samsung's devices themselves, we see the company's successful market position in action. The Galaxy S3 and S4 are both devices that seem to engage users more than rivals. Users using these phones were consuming 14 percent more time on video and sent/received 24 percent more data than the industry average.

“Clearly, Galaxy Sx series have succeeded in creating more engagement by growing the overall pie, but its own content and media strategy is faring low at the moment,” said Bonny Joy, chief of consumer telemetry platforms at Strategy Analytics. “Galaxy S5 is a step-upgrade from the Galaxy S4, but as far as content and media is concerned, little has changed to draw consumer attention to its latest launch.”




Edited by Maurice Nagle


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