Samsung plans first global developers conference

Samsung Electronics will host its first global developers conference later this year, showcasing its hardware and software in products including mobile phones and Web-connected televisions.

The three-day event will take place in San Francisco starting Oct. 27, according to a teaser posted on a Samsung Web site late Monday. The site invites developers to “create what’s next” by signing up.

The event is intended to further distinguish Samsung from other competitors and Apple, its biggest competitor in the market for smartphones and tablets, by using Google’s Android operating system. Samsung, the world’s biggest seller of smartphones and TVs, is enlisting developers to create applications that will add new features and better connect all of its products.

“Engage with industry leaders,” the company said in the teaser site. “Collaborate with fellow developers. Learn about new tools and SDKs,” or software development kits.

While Google created Android, Samsung has used the operating system to battle Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Android captured 70 percent of global mobile operating system market share at the end of last year, compared with 21 percent for Apple’s iOS, according to IDC. Samsung, Asia’s biggest technology company, was the No. 1 Android vendor with 42 percent of that market.

Since 2012, Samsung and Intel Corp. have held developers conferences in San Francisco and elsewhere to build interest in their separate, jointly developed Tizen operating system for mobile phones.

The October event signals Samsung’s broader ambitions, with the potential for major announcements of new products and Web-based cloud services. It is being held a few blocks from San Francisco’s Moscone Center, where thousands of Apple developers gather each year to hear about the latest developments for iPads, iPhones and Mac computers.

This month, Samsung announced it had purchased streaming entertainment startup Boxee, which it said would help improve the user experience across its connected devices.

Samsung shares have sagged since early June amid investor concerns over slowing growth in its smartphone business and price competition between makers of Android-based handsets.

The company is down 16 percent this year, compared with a 5.8 percent decline in the benchmark Kospi index. The average price of a smartphone has plunged to $375 from $450 since the beginning of 2012, IDC estimates.

Bloomberg