Samsung TV app store hits 2 million downloads

By Jeffrey Van Camp Published January 21, 2011

samsung-app-tv-platform — Image used with permission by copyright holder

It’s official: people love apps no matter what device they’re on. Samsung has revealed that more than 2 million apps have been downloaded from its Samsung Apps store, which is one of the first app stores made for televisions. After it launched its app store in March 2010, it took leader in Internet-enabled TVs until November to hit 1 million downloads, but it has already doubled that number to 2 million in under two months.

“This achievement and the short period in which it was achieved demonstrates the rapidly growing popularity of applications and content for Smart TVs,” said Sangchul Lee, SVP of Samsung’s Visual Display business. “Samsung’s leadership role in this category has paid off and allowed us to provide new experiences for consumers that are more rich and integrated than any before.”

Recommended Videos

The store currently has 380 applications and 259 of those are free. Big names like YouTube and Hulu Plus are the most popular apps, followed by ESPN’s Next Level, AccuWeather, and Google Maps. Samsung has been working hard to court developers, even holding contests to garner interest in the platform.

However, though Samsung’s TVs are Internet-enabled, they still lack full Internet access. “We don’t think people want the whole Web browser experience crammed in a TV,” Yahoo senior director of Connect TV marketing Russ Schafer told the AFP in November. “It is a best-of-the-Web not all-of-the-Web comparison; which is similar to how people consume television.”

Regardless, the platform is doing well; so well, in fact, that Samsung is planning on creating a unified platform that could run on their TVs, tablets, and smartphones.

Have you used a Samsung Connected TV? If so, how is the experience?

Jeffrey Van Camp

Former Deputy Editor

As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…

Topics

Emerging Tech

Pangram, the gold standard for AI text checks, releases Image 1.0 tool to sniff fake pics and videos

It can identify AI-generated pictures with an astounding 99.96% accuracy on its own evaluation set.

AI image detector tool pangram

Pangram, one of the most widely used and trusted AI text detectors out there, is finally releasing its multimedia detection tools to the masses. Pangram Image 1.0, which was previously available as a research preview, is now widely available on the web, through the company’s API, and via its eponymous Chrome extension.

The company claims its image detector can identify AI-generated pictures with an astounding 99.96% accuracy on its own evaluation set. Pangram also notes that it has improved the model’s accuracy over the past few months, especially against edited images, low-resolution pictures, and pictures made by the most advanced AI models out there. As far as the competition goes, TruthScan achieves an accuracy of 96.33%, followed by AI or Not at 91.38% and Sightengine at 88.33%.

Computing

Intel’s next laptop chips could make choosing a processor even more confusing

Intel reportedly has two new laptop processor families coming in 2027, but they're designed for very different kinds of PCs.

Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU inside Lenovo Legion Laptop

If you've tried buying a Windows laptop recently, you've probably noticed just how confusing processor names have become. Between different Intel Core and Core Ultra chips, figuring out which one is actually newer or faster isn't always straightforward. And judging by the latest leaks, things might get even more complicated next year.

Intel is reportedly preparing two new laptop processor families for 2027, called Moon Lake and Wildcat Lake Refresh. According to hardware leaker Jaykihn, Wildcat Lake Refresh could arrive in the second quarter of 2027, while Moon Lake is expected to follow sometime in the fourth quarter. Interestingly, despite launching later, Moon Lake might not necessarily be the more powerful option. That's because Intel appears to be designing these processors for two very different types of laptops.

Computing

Google is finally fixing Google Chrome’s cluttered three-dot menu with a handy search feature

Chrome's upcoming search feature lets you find settings, bookmarks, and browser commands with just a few keystrokes.

I use Chrome a lot, but I have never enjoyed opening its three-dot menu. Every time I need a specific setting, I end up clicking through submenus and squinting at long lists of options. The good news is that Google is fixing this, and the latest Chrome Canary build gives us a working preview.

Leopeva64 posted a demo on X of the search box inside Chrome’s redesigned menu. In earlier builds, the box was there but did nothing when you typed in it. That’s no longer the case. Type a few letters, and Chrome now pulls up matching browser commands, bookmarks, and websites you visited recently.