Why Samsung is entering the mobile app store war

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SAUSALITO, Calif — Mobile gamers have no real problem accessing games for their various devices. So the prospect of a new entrant into the online storefront seems unnecessary at first glance.

Or, as GamesBeat’s Dean Takahashi asked Samsung vice president Mihai Pohontu at the GamesBeat Summit yesterday, “Why do we need Samsung, too?”

The answer, as Pohontu detailed, is to offer a greatest-hits compilation in a market where everyone else dumped a record store on top of you. The Samsung storefront on mobile phones and tablets is an invite-only space of curated content. Rather than creating a catch-all process for developers to pitch and publish their games en masse, Samsung itself seeks out designers to craft games designed around the capabilities of the company’s products.

“We aim to be a touch point for developers that are creating experiences that are unique to Samsung products,” Pohontu said. “So we need our own storefront … a more curated one”

Samsung’s goal, Pohontu outlined, is to craft “exclusive experiences” for users across all of its products. The vice president’s marketing campaign-ready slogan for the initiative described the company as “strid[ing] across screens.”

When asked, by none other than fellow GamesBeat Summit speaker Nolan Bushnell, about investments in fledgling gaming technologies like geo-tracking, Pohontu assured that something was happening behind the scenes that he could not speak on. A special team, somewhere at Samsung, is “working with the Internet of Things space.”

Before answering, however, Pohontu proved that rank in the corporate hierarchy is no match for age-old fandom.

“I have been asked a question by Nolan Bushnell,” said the beaming vice president. “So this must be the height of my career.”