Samsung Launches Three New Initiatives for Developers and Partners

Samsung works with partners around the world who use the company’s mobile technology to develop innovative new solutions and take them to market. Central to the success of these collaborations is ensuring that partners can leverage Samsung’s unique offerings—like its market share, promotional reach, and expansive suite of partner tools and resources—to grow their businesses.

Now, in the spirit of helping developers seize bigger, better opportunities, Samsung is taking things a step further with a new partner program, app discovery mechanism, and online community.

Empowering Enterprise Developers with Knox Partner Program

The new and improved Knox Partner Program makes it easier than ever for our partners to create and sell applications on Samsung devices.

The Knox Partner Program improves on the previous Samsung Enterprise Alliance Program[1] by giving partners expanded access to webinars, dev tools, ticket support, marketing assets, and more. Partners can join the Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum tier. The higher the tier, the more benefits partners can unlock. Entering the Bronze Tier is free, and is as simple as registering with D-U-N-S® verified company information, while the Platinum Tier is an exclusive, invitation-only group for Samsung’s largest, most active partners.

Below are some key benefits available at each tier:

1. Open Access to Development Tools (Bronze+)

With Knox SDKs and APIs, as well as development and commercial licensing keys, partners have everything they need to start building their products. Right after signup, they can take advantage of the ability to customize the Samsung mobile experience without the device limitations normally associated with closed ecosystems.

2. Regional Support (Silver+)

It’s critical that our partners around the world have a directed and dedicated point of contact at Samsung. That’s why Samsung is stationing partner managers in 11 Samsung offices around the world, each of whom will cover a specific region, and will work with nearby developers to help them get the most out of the Knox Partner Program and the full portfolio of Samsung mobile technology.

3. Solutions Catalogue (Gold+)

As part of the Knox Partner Program, Samsung will use its platform to help grow partners’ businesses. Top solutions will be showcased on samsungknox.com, so the entire community can see what leading developers are up to, and so prospective customers can see how these innovative solutions can transform their organizations and operations.

There is also an internal solutions catalogue to promote partner solutions to internal Samsung sales teams globally. This is to enable Samsung teams to find the right solutions to meet customer needs, and promote these solutions to its customers.

4. Test Devices (Gold+)

It’s one thing to sketch out an idea for a new solution; it’s another to try it out on a device. The Knox Partner Program offers a supply of test devices centrally located with each regional partner manager. What’s more, each partner can decide where they want to allocate their devices—assign some to Silicon Valley and some to HQ in London. Whichever devices they need, wherever they need them, the Knox Partner Program can deliver.

5. Knox Validated (All Tiers)

Knox has been recognized across the industry for its security and manageability capabilities—so when a partner creates a solution that meets those high standards, it’s important to highlight them. With Knox validation, the Knox Partner Program manually verifies the technical implementation of Knox features in all partner solutions. This includes ensuring an EMM is properly supporting Knox features, confirming that an app or solution properly implements a Knox API or feature, and more. In either case, Samsung will test the app or solution against a comprehensive checklist of pre-set criteria, and, once validated, provide a logo that the partner can use with their solution. The validated app or solution will then be promoted on samsungknox.com in the solutions catalogue, so partners can leverage the Knox imprimatur as part of their go-to-market strategy.

These are just a few of the benefits available across all four tiers to Knox Partner Program members. To see the full list, and to learn more about the program, visit partner.samsungknox.com.

“BlackBerry and Samsung have enjoyed a long-standing partnership delivering innovative solutions that are the foundation for mobile business transformation,” said Vito Giallorenzo, BlackBerry Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategic Partnerships. “Together, Samsung and BlackBerry secure and enable key enterprise workflows, from the boardroom to the battlefield, exceeding the demands of highly regulated industries and government organizations. BlackBerry is proud to join the Knox Partner Program at the Platinum Tier.”

Changing the B2B App Delivery Paradigm with Project AppStack

Samsung’s mobility platform is made up of an industry-leading collection of devices, OS options, and security and manageability tools. Now, it’s adding another component, Project AppStack, a differentiated B2B SaaS and native app delivery mechanism.

AppStack enables the intelligent discovery and recommendation, and purchase or subscription, of B2B apps for direct delivery to Samsung devices. It works in the following two ways:

1. At the time of purchase of new Samsung devices, customers can select and bundle enterprise apps they need to run their business. These apps are then delivered to the device when it is activated.
2. Meanwhile, existing customers receive specific recommendations based on their vertical market, size of their business and usage patterns. They can then choose to accept and purchase the apps that are a fit for their current needs.

In either case, once purchased, the apps are delivered to the device. For an organizatino that manages their users’ Samsung devices, the administrator can deliver the applications to the device’s Workspace, a secure container designed to separate, isolate, encrypt, and protect enterprise apps and data. There they remain separate from personal apps. Emterprises can then also remotely manage the work environment, without accessing personal information such as photos and messages.

Samsung’s enterprise mobile device customer base and market scale will enable the company to deliver the data-driven recommendations that sit at the core of the solution.

Enabling Collaboration and Partnership with the B2B Community

To supercharge this effort, Samsung is also launching a new B2B community. It’s a next-gen forum that enables peer-to-peer collaboration and distributed partnerships for solving complex B2B challenges. The community gives companies a chance to do a quick evaluation of whether they should build, buy or collaborate to create their mobile business solution.

Samsung has begun working on the sophisticated app activation and analytics engine that will power Project AppStack and B2B Community. The company is also kicking off a series of design thinking workshops across the country later this year. Developers, entrepreneurs, and businesses can participate and help shape how AppStack and B2B Community serve their needs. For more information on these new initiatives and how to get involved, sign up at Samsung.com/AppStack.

[1]Users of Samsung Enterprise Alliance receive automatic enrollment into Knox Partner Program.