It makes it easier for users to try, rent and purchase applications

Sep 19, 2011 22:01 GMT  ·  By

Two years ago, South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung announced the launch of their own storefront for mobile applications, the Samsung Apps, and now the company has expanded the list of available features for the portal with some new additions.

The application store kicked off in September 2009 with software available for download for handsets running under Symbian and Windows Mobile, but it suffered a great deal of changes in the meantime.

Currently, it includes a number of over 40,000 applications, which can be downloaded and installed on handsets running either under Google's Android operating system, or on those based on Samsung's own mobile platform, namely bada.

Samsung’s App Store also offers a series of applications developed specifically for Smart TVs.

While celebrating the 2-year anniversary of Samsung Apps, along with the new launch of its bada 2.0 operating system, Samsung has added a new set of features to the storefront, and has also tweaked the UI.

The current user interface for the store is in line with the bada 2.0 operating system. Moreover, users will enjoy a new billing interface, which will provide them with quicker purchase of applications.

But this is not all. The portal was also enhanced with features that include Try’n Play and Rent’n Play, which enable users to either try out applications, or even to rent them for a specific period of time before making a purchase.

Moreover, the app storefront now offers Smart App Recommendation, which hints at various applications depending on user’s preferences and usage trends, along with a Wishlist, where users can put applications that they are interested in and which can be purchased later.

All Wave devices that are based on the new bada 2.0 OS flavor can enjoy these enhancements, it seems. This means that users will benefit from them starting with next month, when Wave 3 lands on shelves.

Also, existing Wave phones will taste the bada 2.0 upgrade before the year's end, and they will be able to enjoy the new Samsung Apps features then. These improvements will arrive on Galaxy smartphones later this year, it seems.

One other thing that should be noted is that Samsung is reportedly offering 30 paid applications for free to its Wave users, and that the list includes, among others, the Fruit Ninja and Plants vs. Zombies games. (via)

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