Samsung is looking to beef-up its software offering by acquiring Silicon Valley startups, The Wall Street Journal is reporting.
The Korean company may be the strongest Android smartphone maker, but its users rely mostly on Google’s apps and services such as Google Maps, GMail, YouTube and so on.
Samsung has its own TouchWIZ UI that runs on top of Android and a number of software tweaks that come with its Android devices, but that may not be enough in the long run.
It is said that Sammy talked to Waze before the company was acquired by Google. In addition, it is also looking at game platform developer Unity Technologies, gaming controller company Green Throttle Games, and Atari, which sold off some assets earlier this year as part of a bankruptcy procedure. There are also other potential candidates such as location services company Glympse, Everything.me and video chat app Rounds.
However, we are still waiting for any investment or acquisition information.
Meanwhile, we do see where Samsung’s coming from. Although it still commands high margins, the fact remains that the whole mobile industry is facing commoditization, and at the end – only those with big software and services portfolio will enjoy high margins. We’ll see whether Samsung will use its huge cash pile in a good way or not…