Samsung launches Bixby Marketplace in the U.S. and Korea

You can use the marketplace to download "capsules" for third-party services.

What you need to know

• Samsung has launched the Bixby Marketplace with capsules such as Google Maps, Spotify, iHeartRadio, NPR, Yelp, and more.
• The marketplace can be accessed by pressing the Bixby button on your Samsung phone and swiping left.
• You will be able to use it to set your default service provider for services such as ride-sharing or music.

Samsung has officially launched the Bixby Marketplace in the U.S. and Korea. The Bixby Marketplace will allow you to add services in the form of "capsules" such as Google Maps, Spotify, iHeartRadio, NPR, Yelp, and more.

Capsules are used to expand what Bixby is capable of, as well as setting your default service provider. An example Samsung gave of this was asking for a ride to the airport, to which Bixby would prompt you to pick your favorite ride-sharing service capsule. After making your selection, Bixby would then save that service as your default for all future ride sharing queries.

To check out the available capsules for yourself, simply press the Bixby button on your Samsung phone and swipe left to the Bixby Marketplace. Here you will find the capsules arranged in categories, such as Productivity, Business and Finance, Sports, Shopping, and so on.

The marketplace has all the usual features we've become accustomed to over the years like staff picks, user reviews, and the ability to search capsules.

By adding access to third-party services through capsules, Bixby will now be able to better compete against other digital assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistant. This could be the next step in Samsung's plans to launch the delayed Galaxy Home Bixby smart speaker, because without access to a wide range of third-party services, it would have been dead on arrival.

However, at this time, Bixby's selection of capsules pales in comparison to Alexa's number of skills or Google's ever-growing selection of actions. Both of these digital assistants have had much more time to build up a reservoir, while Bixby is still the new kid on the block.

Samsung is looking forward to growing the marketplace though and will share more updates on it during the Samsung Developer Conference which is being held on October 29 and 30 in San Jose, California.

How bad is Bixby in early 2019?