Samsung has marked the first anniversary of its Samsung Apps store by announcing that it is now available in 109 countries. First launched in September 2009 in “select European and Asian countries”, the company says the store has been growing “at a rapid pace, riding on the successful global launch of the Samsung Wave smartphone.” It also said that since the launch of Wave in June 2010 (the first smartphone based on Samsung’s own bada platform), more than 14 million bada apps have been downloaded from the store (although it did not state how big its catalogue for the operating system is).

The company’s strategy for expanding the store includes “the creation of more locally-customised applications,” with the intention to use relevant local information to “provide more enriching, tailored services to users globally.” The proposition will also be strengthened by the introduction of additional bada-powered devices. Samsung Apps will be extended to support new smartphones and to automatically display the relevant application catalogue for a user’s specific handset model.

At present, Samsung Apps is primarily supported by phones running the bada and Microsoft Windows operating systems. Samsung’s high-profile Galaxy S smartphone runs the Android operating system and as a result offers access to Google’s Android Market application store. Samsung also recently began promoting Samsung Apps as its catalogue for television applications, and indeed now describes the store as its “mobile and TV application store.”