The Best of Galaxy Store awards launched in 2018 when the company recognized five winners for the best App, Game, Theme, Galaxy Watch App and Galaxy Watch Face.

Cambridge Mokanyane, Chief Marketing Officer at Samsung South Africa, says, “Samsung is all about innovation, especially innovation that celebrates and enhances the way people go about their daily lives – there are so many inspirational developers and designers out there and it is such a privilege to be able to honour their work.”

Samsung expanded the awards this year, recognizing 25 developers and designers of games, apps, watch faces, and smartphone themes. The award celebrates both the top performing apps of the year and those who best embrace the Samsung spirit of innovation, quality, and creativity.

Best of Galaxy Store Awards winners were invited to SDC to participate in the Best of Galaxy Store Awards Ceremony, where they received their Best of Galaxy Store 2019 Award. Winners also received a Best of Galaxy Store Award 2019 banner, featuring on the Galaxy Store as well as other benefits.

This year saw the Galaxy Store get a makeover, bringing with it a new look and a rebrand along with a number of improvements and new features. Better personalized recommendations, enhanced search capability, and integration with Samsung Rewards give users a much better experience. But perhaps the most exciting new feature are the editorial pages to more effectively promote the content and apps available in the Galaxy Store to more than 400 million monthly active users around the world.

“We believe the hardworking and dedicated community of developers are the heart of the Galaxy Store,” said Chris Jo, VP & GM, Head of Store Mgmt., Biz Dev & Biz Operations. “Over the last few years the store has made some incredible strides forward and our developers have contributed to this success. Therefore, we wanted to both recognize and reward the best work that this community has to offer.”

Here are some of the winners from the Best of Galaxy Store 2019.

Best Racing Game 2019: Asphalt 9: Legends

Put the pedal to the metal and race the streets in the latest edition of Gameloft’s blockbuster racing game, Asphalt 9: Legends. Gamers can pick their dream car from a roster of cars based on real vehicles from the world’s top race car manufacturers.

The immersive graphics bring a console-like experience to the palm of your hands, taking full advantage of Samsung’s best-in-class display technology to deliver a premium mobile gaming experience. The game also features social elements, such as the racing club, to allow players to connect and collaborate.

Download from the Galaxy Store here.

Best Social App 2019: TikTok

Celebrating the internet’s most authentic moments, TikTok is a popular short video app for creating and sharing bite-sized content. From videos showcasing creative entertainment, dances and sketches, to DIY skills, TikTok has taken the world by storm.

The app allows users to create short videos, often including music, which can be enhanced with a variety of filters and in-app editing tools. Videos are typically 15 seconds long and can be shared directly on TikTok or on other social media apps.

“Millions of creators use TikTok to showcase their creativity and skills in short videos that are exciting, spontaneous, and authentic,” said Edward Chou, Head of Marketing, TikTok US. “We’re honoured to be recognized by Samsung’s Galaxy Store Editorial Team and excited to continue delivering creative opportunities and a joyful experience to our global community of users.”

Download from the Galaxy Store here.

Best Themes Brand Collaboration 2019: Cogul Planet MLB Theme

Partnering with US Major League Baseball, Korean digital content provider, Cogul Planet, launched MLB smartphone and watch themes on the Galaxy Store in April 2019. The themes celebrate the World Series winning teams, featuring ringtones of broadcaster commentaries from major game moments to recreate the excitement of the championship games.

“We are expanding MLB’s brand power in the US with over 100,000 downloads since the release of the MLB theme in the Galaxy Store last April,” said a CEO Bo-mook Choi. “In the future, we are planning to release more diverse MLB themes so that we can get closer to fans around the world.

Download from the Galaxy Store here.

Best Watch Designer 2019: Matteo Dini

Featuring a range of digital and analogue watch faces for Tizen smartwatches like the Samsung Galaxy Watch, Matteo Dini is celebrated by users for his mix of modern and classic designs.

“Working with Samsung is something exceptional,” said Matteo Dini, Designer and CEO. “Every day I am in contact with people from all over the world who appreciate my watch faces and use them daily. It’s very exciting!”

Download from the Galaxy Store here. http://galaxy.store/matteodini, http://apps.samsung.com/gear/

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – 04 November, 2019 – Today announced, at the Samsung Developer Conference 2019 (SDC19), new ways its platforms will enable developers to introduce simpler, more powerful experiences to consumers around the world. Samsung shared its vision for the next era of mobile and connected living, offering inspiration to developers, enterprise leaders, and consumers through innovative experiences with the devices they rely on every day.

DJ Koh, President and CEO of IT & Mobile Communications Division, Samsung Electronics said, “We are fortunate to work with the world’s best developers and designers. Together, we have built an extensive and secure ecosystem of devices and services. We continue to make progress toward our vision to be the innovator of new mobile experiences that flow seamlessly and continuously wherever we go.”

Creating Opportunities for Developers through Open, Scalable AI and IoT Platforms

To help consumers discover new ways Bixby can work with them to get things done more quickly and easily, Samsung launched Bixby Marketplace earlier this year, creating a way for developers to introduce their Bixby capsules to millions of Bixby users. In the past six months, the size of the Bixby developer community has doubled. And starting in 2020, the Bixby Marketplace will expand gradually, enabling developers to offer their services across more Samsung devices.

To make it easier for developers to create new experiences on its AI platform and ensure consumers have a more intuitive experience, Samsung announced enhanced capabilities in the Bixby Developer Studio at SDC19.

• New Bixby Templates make it easy for developers to create capsules using pre-existing forms so that they don’t have to start from scratch.

• Enhanced Bixby Views enable developers to build capsules with a consistent design even beyond smartphones – to televisions, tablets, smartwatches and refrigerators.

• Developers can now register their capsules under Natural Language Categories. When users ask Bixby for help related to a category

– such as radio, news, or navigation – Bixby suggests a capsule that can help them get what they need more quickly and easily, even without having to call out the exact name of the capsule.

More consumers than ever are seeing how seamlessly connected devices and services can make everyday life easier. Developers can scale their device and service offerings through Samsung’s IoT platform, SmartThings. Already, developers and partners have brought connected experiences to more than 45 million monthly active users and thousands of compatible devices, and the platform is expected to grow further with the Work as a SmartThings Hub (WASH) program, which allows partners like network operators to embed SmartThings Hub software into their devices.

To help developers build on and integrate existing devices with the SmartThings platform, Samsung announced new capabilities for developers:

• The new Rules API brings to life more automated smart home experiences to reflect individual daily routines across a broad range of SmartThings devices.

• Samsung is launching the SmartThings Device SDK Beta program in early 2020 to enable more third-party manufacturers to create SmartThings-compatible devices.

Samsung continues to invite developers to actively participate in its ecosystem and supports the developer community with several incentive programs—including the Best of Galaxy Store Award, the Samsung Mobile Design Competition, Bixby DevJam and the Samsung Mobile Security Reward program.

Inspiring Developers with New Experiences Across Devices

Samsung continued to refine the mobile experience to allow users to focus on what matters most to them. One UI 2 includes new features that declutter the user interface – making it easier for people to interact naturally, while also making it easier on their eyes. And now, to make both the developer and the user experiences consistent across devices, Samsung is expanding the use of One UI 2 beyond smartphones to tablets, wearables, and new form factors, including foldables.

With the launch of Galaxy Fold, Samsung designed a first-of-its-kind mobile experience that is much more than a foldable device. Samsung, alongside hundreds of developers and partners, created an entire foldable ecosystem that continues to grow and opens up new possibilities to the mobile experience. As promised at SDC last year, Samsung will continue to explore a range of new form factors in the foldable category. And at SDC19, Samsung invited developers and users alike to join the exploration of exciting new use cases and user experiences.

To deliver the best possible TV viewing experience, Samsung is also investing in 8K technologies. With AI ScaleNet, Samsung has made it possible to stream high-quality 8K videos on networks with lower bandwidth capabilities. Samsung has also announced new tools that make it easier for developers to bring new experiences across the nearly 100 million Smart TVs that are powered by Tizen.

• Wits automatically uploads a code edit to the TV, so developers can see their update almost immediately, significantly trimming development time.

• EasyST makes testing content playback much easier because developers don’t need to build their own test app to make sure their content is streaming as intended

• TIFA (Tizen Identifier for Advertising) gives consumers the option to limit ad tracking or opt-out of targeted advertising

• Samsung is making Tizen TV OS available to third-party TV makers for the first time.

End-to-End Security Built-in Every Solution and Experience

Emerging technologies, such as IoT, AI and 5G, are bringing new capabilities and opportunities to the developer landscape. For Samsung, it means providing the community with the tools and programs necessary to deliver secure and reliable solutions.

Secure Development Lifecycle delivers systematic reviews at every phase of the development, supply chain, and manufacturing process. To give both developers and users peace of mind, Samsung offers the Knox SDK, allowing partners and app developers to integrate advanced security solutions to their apps and services. In addition, Samsung has been working with German government agencies, especially BSI, and industry partners on developing a mobile-enabled eID for digital services to support customers and governments by developing a solid foundation for trusted identity services.

Samsung invites developers and partners on its journey to bring new and secure experiences to life. For more information about working with Samsung and the Samsung Developer Conference 2019, please visit sdc.developer.samsung.com. Further information can also be found on Twitter (@samsung_dev) and using the hashtag #SDC19.

* All services and programs mentioned above may vary by region.