Samsung is offering over $4 Million in cash prizes for developers to participate in the 2012 Samsung Smart App Challenge to develop apps for the Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Note devices.
The Smart App Challenge is open to all international developers and offers 4.08 million dollars in cash and marketing support for app promotion to the top 80 apps including 60 Samsung Apps Super Apps and 20 of the Best Galaxy Note S Pen Apps.
The Smart App Challenge only applies for applications on sale at Samsung Apps from May 7 2012 through to September 30 2012. Themes & Widgets are not included and Apps that are already on sale are not eligible and can’t be re-registered under a new name to participate.
Judging of the Challenge will take place from October 1 thru 30 with the Smart App Challenge Winners to be announced on October 31, 2012.
For app developers interested in participating, there are 3 steps to join the Smart App Challenge:
- Register on the Challenge website to signify your intention to participate, provide some basic information and agree to the competition terms and conditions.
- Develop you app and register it to Samsung Apps with the Samsung Apps Seller Office.
- Return to the Smart App Challenge website and provide additional information about your app so that Samsung can monitor the total download numbers needed to determine the winners.
Apps developed for the Galaxy Tab or Galaxy Note (for the 60 Samsung Apps Super Apps) need to be build on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) or a higher version (i.e. Jelly Bean?) and winners will be judged on highest download counts with 30 Game App winners and 30 Non-Game App winners to be awarded.
Apps developed for the Galaxy Note with S Pen need to be build for Android 2.3 or higher with the 20 winners being chosen by a review panel with entries scored on the creativity and originality among the apps featuring the S Pen functionality enabled by the S Pen SDK.
Samsung also advise that it is possible to be a winner in both the Best Galaxy Note S Pen Apps and the Samsung Apps Super Apps categories.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Note are both exciting products and the Smart App Challenge should produce some exciting applications that not only showcase these exciting Samsung products but also the Android mobile operating system.
Good luck to all the developers who are participating, we look forward to seeing the exciting innovations that come out of this competition.
Click Here To Visit The Samsung Smart App Challenge Website
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49 Comments
James
I must say that I am usually wary of any sort of contest challenges. The smaller the cash prize and sponsor, the more suspicious I tend to get. But in this case, Samsung is a worldwide company and the challenge requires that competitors invest a significant amount of time and perhaps money into developing an app. Samsung was recently fighting a class action law suit against the division that makes HD flat screens. I don't think they'd want another lawsuit.
Keith
Call me a skeptic, but I find it hard to believe that a company would award 4 million dollars to a contest winner. Granted, this is an award for the development of an app, and that is no simple process. So maybe that justifies the large prize. Maybe I am underestimating the lengths certain development agencies will go to in order to win that prize. I mean, it is 4 million bucks...Well worth the effort.
Brad Davidson
Thanks for your feedback Keith. Sorry if I didn't get the message across clearly however the 4 million is the total prize pool and that is split across 80 different apps.
Stanley
Those are the most easy to follow 3 steps I have ever read. About the lucrative contest, is this a strategy on the part of Samsung to generate downloads of apps hosted on their webserver? Maybe the company is attempting to enter the app sales market and compete with i-tunes. After all, Goggle is now attempting to compete in this particular market. And if that is the case for Samsung, this would be a great boost.
Stephanie
If Samsung would have had to settle a recent lawsuit, they might not be offering such a huge prize. For those that don't know, Apple brought the case alleging that Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10 infringed the design of its iPad. In their statement Samsung welcomed the ruling and added: "Should Apple continue to make excessive legal claims in other countries based on such generic designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed and consumer choice unduly limited.
James
I wonder if all of the apps entered into the contest will be graded based on the platform or all platforms graded all together. If you don't separate different scripting languages, then you allow for variables to alter the fairness of the contest because some platforms might have functional advantages over others.
June
This app development challenge is the most lucrative contest prize I have ever come across. The only larger prize I have seen is from the state lottery, which doesn't count in comparison because that is not technically a contest or competition. But considering the complexity and time it takes to develop an app, I would say that the grand prize is fitting and well worth the investment in time and money you'd make.
Timothy
I have seen some normal, boring, crazy, obscure, or just plain weird contests throughout the years, but this has to be one of the more complex and challenging contests. And just as I comment on that, the winner will probably be someone who develops some silly simple app that makes everyone say, why didn't I think of that?. It's always the silly apps that become big hits.
Robin
This contest sounds too competitive for a novice app developer to enter and realistically expect to have a shot at winning. When you consider the huge first place prize, I would expect full development teams deployed by app development companies to join this contest. It would be worthwhile for even a company to win this unheard of, massive grand prize.
Rose
James, I have to agree with you I am normally wary of contests/ challenges as well the sponsor really makes me suspicious especially if I have never heard of them. Like you said this is Samsung so I would hope this is different. Thank you for all this information I appreciate it and will read it again to really make sure I absorb it all.
Todd
June, I don't know if you saw their reply to an earlier comment or not that the prize money is to be split over 80 apps. It still will add up to a lot of money if you were to be a winner but not the full amount that everyone is thinking. And as you said it's deserved for the time and money they invest in making the app. that they submit for the contest.
David
Stephanie, you make a very valid point and it sounds like Samsung handled it the best way they could in this situation. I appreciate you clearing up the prize money issue that everyone was misunderstanding as far as it being spread out among 80 apps. I think it is great they did it in a contest forum it brought them more apps. I'm sure and those aren't easy so they deserve the money.
Maureen
I wish I had seen this contest earlier in the year, I would like to join and I have some friends that would like to as well, I guess we have only lost 2 months worth of work so it could still be done. Was there a deadline for signing up? This is a great idea, because it has been a while sense some new apps have been out there.
Robert
You have done a great job getting this information out there and I hope that you get a lot of contestants. I know we have a lot of smart apps. out there already but some new ones would be a welcome surprise I'm sure. It was also a great idea to use a blog format to get the information out, did you also post it on Facebook and Twitter?
Matthew
The Samsung Corporation seems to use contests to promote more than any of their competitors. The company named Schoharie High School as a winner in their Solve for Tomorrow contest, receiving a total of $100,000 in technology. In addition to the $100,000 the high school wins a trip to DC, and a chance to meet nine-time Grammy winner and philanthropist John Legend at a celebration event in April.
Timothy
I think this is a great contest, can you imagine the new apps that we could get out of a contest like this? There are tons of them out there so to come up with something that is original will be the hard thing. I don't think the prize money split over 80 apps. Is to bad and Samsung can afford it.
Patricia
I would be very wary of this contest if it wasn't the simple fact that it is Samsung offering the winnings. They have the money to do something like this so I wouldn't be worried about losing my time and money that I put into it. Thank you for posting this information I hope that it will turn out for me this would be great. Please post anymore contest coming up.
Gregory
I was listening to a radio - a sports talk radio show, of all things - in which they started talking about how the opposite of an i-phone zealot (who has drank the cool aid) is a Samsung smart phone user. Apparently these folks are just as passionate as mac freaks. So if there is this much buzz and dedication for Samsung phones, maybe it would be worth it to learn app development for android for Samsung apps.
David
The more I hear about Samsung, the more I am realizing that this is one of the main competitors to the i-phone. In fact, I listened to some radio talk show in which they talked about was the war of perceptions and opinions between i-phone fanatics and Samsung users. It seems that there are many Samsung cellular owners and this may be one reason why the company is sponsoring such a competition.
Santos
For the tech savvy crowd, one advantage of Android is the ability to tinker and tamper with software through an open platform. While this may be a positive feature in some instances, the thing that worries me is that it also leaves ample opportunities for hackers to obtain personal information or crash a user's device. Maybe one of the reasons Samsung is offering such a large prize is because they believe they can learn something about improving security.
Thomas
While watching the Emmy Awards last Sunday night, and all the subsequent entertainment news coverage the following day, I noticed that Extra, the entertainment show on NBC, used a Samsung Galaxy tablet to invite celebrities to take a photo, sign it or interact with fans on social media. It was a great promotional idea. If Samsung has big endorsement deals with networks, they must have a big advertising budget, which would explain this big contest prize.
Jean
The Samsung Galaxy Note II , which was recently released, has so many diverse apps and even more on the market. This device runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean straight out of the box and Samsung's TouchWiz Skin too has seen some tweaks in its features. also makes an appearance on the device and helps users take notes. The app also recognizes the user's handwriting. No wonder app development for Samsung is so popular.
Joe
No wonder Samsung is giving away so much money in prizes. Their latest smartphone - Galaxy Note 2 - is making a big splash at the Gitex Shopper and the product went out of stock within two days of the launch. Pre-sale orders for the phone-tablet crossover device outstripped previous Note 1 sales. I want to buythe Galaxy Note 2, which is the much-anticipated successor to the original Galaxy Note, the largest smartphone on the market.
Bonita
Samsung's lawyers in the US have added the iPhone 5 to the list of Apple products that the company believes have infringed on its patents. Samsung is just claiming that the patents the other iPhone models infringed on are also infringed in the iPhone 5. It seems odd for Samsung to be so protective of their technology when they have open source development contest like this one.
Richard
The various app development platforms of this contest which are mentioned in this article may as well be gibrish to me. When it comes to mobile development, I am nothing more than a user. I come from the old school of development for standard computers. I guess if I want to remain useful as a developer, I better learn how to code a mobile device platform.
Juanita
I don't think that this contest is app development strictly for mobile devices. I say this because Samsung also has a vast array of apps made for smart TV screens. Speaking of which, Samsung issued a notice that it agreed to offer free repairs to Oklahoma residents who purchased certain LCD, Plasma, and DLP TVs from the company that have malfunctioned due to capacitor issues.
Heather
My friend worked on this project for a few months. they ran everything like a typical agile startup with weekly iterations and a lot of testing "MVPs". Really cool project. Also its all going to be open sourced! My understanding is that there's a lot of skepticism that this thing will run for very long. Samsung uses hardened processors to make sure radiation from outside the atmosphere doesn't affect electronics.
Estelle
I'd be all over this if I had any idea how to build an app. I have some really cool ideas for them but I don't know how to do it so I guess I won't be in this contest. Thank you for posting though I will look for it the next time and see if I can enter than. Great idea putting this out there, this will get a lot of app ideas.
Catherine
I am encouraging my son to get involved in this because he knows how to build apps and we are going to work together to come up with the idea for one that we both think will be good, that way we have multiple generations covered instead of it all being focused on the younger generation. Thank you for the details of the contest, wish us luck.
Cora
Samsung announced the launch of the GALAXY Camera. Developed to fit the changing ways we communicate, the GALAXY Camera combines high performance photography with the latest Android OS 4.1, / Jelly Bean, and 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi-only connectivity, creating a new type of device to shoot, edit and share high quality photographs and video easily. You know there will be many apps for editing. Maybe one of the popular apps will come from this contest.
Helen
I noticed that Samsung announced the launch of its Digital Theatre App for its Smart TV line, bringing bespoke content from Britain's leading theatre companies. This is a fascinating move because they have decided that content is indeed king, and has partnered up with several Theatres to produce multiple camera performances. This contest is I guess is another way to acquire content.
John
Wow I hope they will post who the winner is because this is a big deal. I was also wondering if there is a possibility of more than one person winning and of that is the case how much money would they actually win? This is very interesting and I look forward to keep tabs on it to see what happens in the end.
Justin
I wish I was computer savy so that I could build an app. I have thought of so many that I would love to do but the truth of the matter is I can't make them and I don't want someone else to use my idea. I'm also greedy so I don't want to share the winning with anyone if they made it for me and we won. Thank you for your post, very good.
Henry
John I agree I'd like to know if the winner is a young kid or an adult that has been at this for awhile. I lay my bet on a younger kid to win though because they have a fresh outlook on things and they know what the other younger people want as far as apps. go. You have done a great job on this article I hope that you get a lot of contestants.
John
I have a cousin that has entered this contest so like the other readers I hope that you will post the winners of the contest when it is over. I am sure he will let everyone know if he does win but I think it would be cool to see it in writing. Thank you for doing this I think it was a great idea.
Suzanne
I am so glad that I found this now, a friend of mine was telling me about it and took me a couple of days to finally find it. My daughter wants to do this so I had to find it to see if she still could or if the dates were already passed. Thank you for leaving this out there like this I'll send her the link so she can read the rules etc.
Nellie
I think this is great and more companies should do this. There are a lot of people out there that have a lot of good ideas and this is just the beginning. I think that they should have these kind of contests for blogs, web pages etc. you would get more quality out of people that way then any other way. Thank you for this post I appreciate it.
Michael
I am surprised that they are willing to give away this much money for something as simple as an app. aren't these written and released every day? I am happy because my son entered in the contest so I will be really thrilled if he can win. Great job you have a nack for this blog thing keep up the good work.
Susan
The October 30 deadline is almost here in just another week. I wonder if all those cash prizes are being awarded at once or if they cash prizes will be dolled out sporadically throughout the remainder of this year. Do I come back to this site to read about any updates?
Gayla
I saw on the TV news that Samsung named Schoharie High School as a winner in their Solve for Tomorrow contest, receiving a total of $100,000 in technology. To make the video, Schoharie students chose to use the two things people think of when they think of their county, which are agriculture and the devastation caused by storms Irene and Lee. I think that was a genius idea and concept.
Ingrid
I noticed that Samsung Galaxy II has launched a huge ad campaign for the start of the NBA season, featuring Miami HEAT and 2012 NBA finals MVP, Lebron James. It is a series of different commercials showing Lebron James hanging out with friends and family in the off season. It continually shows him using apps from his Samsung Galaxy. Well, if they're paying him an endorsement deal, they can certainly afford these contest prizes.
Eunice
Samsung is rolling out the brinks truck to promote their brand, not just with cash prizes for development contests, but also to big time superstar athletes like Lebron James to promote their Samsung Galaxy touch II. It looks like it has the power and capacity to run a myriad of apps. Maybe the newer models will come with an app that wins this contest.
Nicole
This reminds me of the class action law suit against Samsung TV's. Likewise, Oracle is on a bit of a marketing attack against Cent OS, the free Linux distribution that derives from Red Hat Enterprise Linux. To see Oracle promote its own Linux distribution and attack a rival is pretty much a joke. It can only be viewed as the hubris we have come to expect from Oracle.
Reed
I think it would have been a great concept to develop a cell phone app that can help provide some type of service for voters on election day. An app that enables voters to report on things like the waiting time for a line in a given voting center. That way, others can get a heads up on how long they are going to have to wait at any given voting center.
Richard
Ingrid you are right they can afford to do this even with out endorsements like that. This is off the hook and I haven't seen the commercial you are talking about but it doesn't surprise me. Have you heard who won this contest yet because I have been trying to find the information for awhile now, I had some friends involved in it so I am naturally curious.
John
Thank you to the readers that left comments, I actually learned quite a bit from you as well as the people that posted this article. I am looking forward to the new contest they are talking about releasing soon and I hope to get involved with this one as well. Thanks again everyone, please post the winner if you would.
Sam
I thought this was awesome and I hope that you will do it again someday soon. Thank you for doing this in the first place and I hope to see the winner posted soon. Will they do it again soon you think? I heard something about them releasing another one when NBA starts back up again, is why I ask.
Mabel
This was an awesome contest and I hope that you will be doing it again because ever sense this one I have been working on an app. and it is just about ready but I am hoping for a contest before I release it because I really think I could win some money with this.
Maurice
I have heard a lot about this and I really wanted to get in on it but I was too late. I'm hearing rumors that you are going to do it again sometime soon so I was hoping that you would be posting that on your next blog so that I can get in there as early as possible this time. Thank you so much for doing all this hard work in putting this together.