Samsung keeps inching away from Google, wants more Galaxy-exclusive apps

We’ve known for a while that Samsung wants to significantly decrease its dependence on Google and its Android platform, and now The Wall Street Journal reports that the company “will be hosting a global competition to lure developers to create apps for its Galaxy smartphones” that will pay 10 winners a combined $800,000 in prize money. The Journal says that Samsung is “particularly looking for apps that can be coordinated with” its new Group Play feature that debuted on the Galaxy S4 and that lets users quickly zap music, photos and other content via NFC from one phone to another. Samsung’s strategy with the Galaxy S4 hasn’t just been to deliver improved specifications from earlier models but to add several new software features that the company thinks will help its devices stand out in a crowded Android market.

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This article was originally published on BGR.com