It's no secret that Samsung is a hardware company first. The Korean firm became dominant in televisions and then mobile through efficiency and vertical integration in hardware development and production — not the software on its machines. In a world where a joint Google-Motorola and Microsoft-Nokia are following Apple as masters of both hardware and software, however, Samsung is starting to take the latter seriously. "The future for us is about the thoughtful integration of hardware and software," the head of the company's new startup incubators in San Francisco and New York told The Verge last month.

The extent of Samsung's interest in software startups is now clear, thanks to a document obtained by The Wall Street Journal elucidating the company's possible acquisition targets. The biggest name on the list is Waze, an Israeli startup that offered a mapping service that used crowdsourced traffic and gas data. A source tells the paper that Samsung was in discussions to form a partnership with the startup before acquisitions discussions began. It ultimately lost out to Google's $1.1 billion bid.

The document also reveals that Samsung looked into Unity Technologies, which makes the game engine behind many mobile games. Also on the gaming front, the Korean company showed interest in possibly buying Atari's classic game catalog as well as Green Throttle Games, which is attempting to turn Android phones into game consoles.

Glympse, the Seattle startup behind a location-sharing service similar to Apple's Find My Friends and Google's now-defunct Latitude, is also on the list. A source tells the WSJ that Samsung first made overtures to the company in 2012, and discussions are said to be ongoing. Samsung says in the document that it would use the location-sharing service in its contacts and maps apps on its Android smartphones.