Samsung is trying to get into the social networking game, if an article by The Korea Times is to be believed. The article, which cites a Samsung official, claims that Samsung will enter the social networking market early next year with a Facebook-like service which Samsung hopes will be able to compete with Facebook.
The new service is designed to be available on a wide variety of internet-connected devices such as TVs and cameras, as well as computers and tablets. Family Story, Samsung's current social network, provides a nice framework for Samsung's developers to build upon. The current Family Story has a focus on photo sharing and schedule reminders.
According to the official:
By the end of the year, we will have a polished and finished version of Family Story that will be offered first to Samsung device users for free. The new service will become available in the first quarter of next year at the earliest.
The eventual goal is to expand our social media service across different devices from different companies across different mobile platforms. That includes cameras, televisions and blue-ray players.
We are confident that the service will be popular globally. That means we need to guard against the possibilities of a data bottleneck. That's why we want a server-based computing structure and disperse with a network of servers across different countries.
The idea is that the social network will gain a quick foothold due to the popularity of their smart TVs and other internet connected devices. They have yet to decide on a name, but refer to the project internally as Samsung Facebook. Samsung has recently invested large sums of money to bolster the software and content side of the business.