Samsung was at the forefront of this trend when it announced the launch of a multi-device apps store, Samsung Apps, at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month.

The store will allow applications to be developed for select high-definition TVs, Blu-ray players and home theatre systems, some of which will also work on mobiles.

That means the television will now be the conduit for everything from news tickers generated by Associated Press to movie downloads from Netflix, streaming internet radio Pandora, social networking feeds from Twitter, and a lot more besides.

The move is being billed as an extension of the company’s Internet@TV television widget content service, announced last year and now available on some products in Australia.
In the US, the company foreshadowed availability of a number of free apps from its open-source store from March, with paid apps to follow from June.

“We’re not about a single device or a single platform,” Samsung marketing executive David Steel said at CES. “We plan to deliver applications to a whole range of platforms and devices.”

The concept is similar to Sony’s Bravia Internet TV, which enables a range of content channels to be accessed using the company’s cross-media bar.

Microchip producer Intel also launched…