The large consumer-facing platforms like Facebook Inc., Google LLC, Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics America Inc. are all vying to gain market share and attract more sources of valuable consumer data. These platforms interface with everything from smart home appliances to augmented reality gaming on mobile devices. The key to platform growth is a healthy developer community creating exciting new applications for consumers to engage with.

“I see a really big war going on among all the platform owners. They’re trying to get the hearts and minds of those developers … trying to do what Samsung is doing, which is integrate a lot of different things onto their platform,” said Dean Takahashi (pictured), lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat, a technology editorial. 

Takahashi spoke with John Furrier (@furrier), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, about the latest in AR gaming technology during the Samsung Developers Conference in San Francisco, California.

Leverage existing install base for growth

Samsung is in a prime position to capture the augmented reality market as the world leader in mobile phone shipments, according to the IDC Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. Developers can take advantage of a huge install base of phones without having to rely on a new piece of hardware bringing their applications to market.

“Augmented reality has a nice launch pad, right. It’s got a long runway off of smartphones. You create your app for smartphones, and, eventually, it’s going to run on all these other new things that come out, like the glasses,” Takahashi said.

The challenge for huge companies like Samsung with a worldwide consumer base is a lack of focus or prioritization on niche markets. This can inhibit community growth in targeted areas like AR gaming, according to Takahashi.

“I think Samsung needs to decide whether it’s going to step up in that [AR] space. Other territories, yeah. It’s on a very good march. … They’re doing well in VR. But, I think, it almost seems like they’ve embraced 360 video a lot more than they have on the game side,” Takahashi said.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Samsung Developer Conference.

Photo: SiliconANGLE