Samsung to offer its own Facebook-like social network
updated 06:38 pm EDT, Wed June 13, 2012
Samsung officials say social feature to be built into products
While competitors are touting deeper integration of Facebook into their products, Samsung is reportedly looking to unseat the social networking giant. Unnamed officials within the company have revealed to The Korea Times that Samsung will introduce a social network embedded in its products sometime early next year. The company is said to have been emboldened by early successes with some of its social offerings, and believes it can build a network to eventually compete with Facebook.
The service is currently code-named "Samsung Facebook," and it is aimed at leveraging Samsung's existing social networking tools—ChatOn, which is available on iOS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and Android devices, and Family Story, a cloud-based sharing app—into a full-fledged, cross-platform social media service. Samsung believes the network can come to include cameras, Blu-ray players, televisions, and a range of other devices from Samsung and other companies.
Samsung officials say the company will integrate the as-yet-unnamed service with Amazon's cloud computing platform. By the end of the year, the company aims to have a polished and finished version of Family Story that will be offered to Samsung device users for free, before possibly rolling out to other device users. Samsung is reportedly quite confident in the network's potential, as the company is said to be looking to guard against possible data bottlenecks following its introduction.
Samsung's decision to build out its own social network is a stark divergence from the much-publicized decision by main competitor, Apple, to closely integrate its forthcoming mobile OS update with Facebook. The company's gambit could pay off, given its position among the top mobile device makers in the world by market share, however competitors' similar attempts, such as Google+, have yet to make a dent in Facebook's dominant position.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2010
What a waste of time
Good to see Samsung are blowing their money like this. With all their money if this is one of the best things they can think of to spend it on then they are will struggle in the future.