Dubai: Samsung is hoping aggressive pricing and a variety of platforms will help it increase its market share in the UAE, according to Sandeep Saihgal, the company's general manager for its telecommunications group.

Samsung, which entered the smartphone market three years ago, is planning on launching a number of phones using Windows mobile, Google's Android operating system, and its own operating system, called Bada, which was launched in November.

Saihgal said the larger number of operating systems will help the company compete with dominant markets players such as Research in Motion and Apple.

"If we were going with one platform, it would be much tougher for us, but if we're going with two to three platforms — and I'm taking care of segments of people with different need — I think that puts us in a stronger position," he said.

He still describes the task of taking market share away from well established competitors in the mobile phone market as "not easy."

The company will launch a minimum of five more Bada-based handsets this year with a starting price of Dh1,999, although some model could go as low as Dh900. Samsung will also be introducing a Galaxy phone, which used the Android OS, for around Dh1,000, with three of four other Android-based models also planned.

"We thought we needed a product at this segment because there are a lot of people in that segment who would like to have a smartphone experience and are missing out," he said.

The company will also continue to push the Windows Mobile platform to enterprise customers.

Online store

In June, the company also launched an online store, which offers apps for its Bada and Android-based smart phones. The company said it is hoping to offer as many as 10,000 applications on the site, with about 400 to 500 localised applications.

"We're going all guns," he said. "We have held competition between developers to make sure we get application on there. We have tied with certain applications and we are also doing it internally."

According to a report by Gartner, an industry research group, Samsung sold 65.3 million mobile devices in the second quarter of 2010 that translated into a 20.1 percent market share. Smartphone sales to end users accounted for 19 per cent of worldwide mobile device sales.

Samsung's sales were strong in developing markets, the report said. A more aggressive strategy toward the mass market enabled the phonemaker to reduce inventory in the second quarter of 2010.

Samsung will also be one of the first manufacturers to bring Windows Phone 7 devices to market, in time for the fourth quarter of 2010, showing that this manufacturer continues to keep its platform options open, even as it works on its own Bada platform.

"Launches of updated operating systems will help maintain strong growth in smartphones in the second half of 2010 and spur innovation," according to Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.