Samsung announces Bada mobile OS, SDK sets sail in December

Because what the world needs now is yet another mobile operating system, Samsung has announced its foray into the field with Bada. Not much to reveal at this point other than some key PR speak: the name means "ocean" in Korean, the company's committed to "a variety of open platforms" in mobile industry and it plans this to be easy to integrate / customize based on carrier's experience. All real news should be coming sometime in December, when Sammy is saying it'll have a London launch event and reveal the SDK. Full presser after the break.

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Samsung bada – The Next Wave Of The Mobile Industry

Developers get the chance to create mobile applications for millions of new Samsung handsets

November 10th, 2009, Seoul, Korea– Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a leading mobile phone provider, today announced the launch of its own open mobile platform, Samsung bada [bada] in December. This new addition to Samsung's mobile ecosystem enables developers to create applications for millions of new Samsung mobile phones, and consumers to enjoy a fun and diverse mobile experience.

In order to build a rich smartphone experience accessible to a wider range of consumers across the world, Samsung brings bada, a new platform with a variety of mobile applications and content.

The name 'bada', which means 'ocean' in Korean, was chosen to convey the limitless variety of potential applicationswhich can be created using the new platform. It also alludes to Samsung's commitment to a variety of open platforms in the mobile industry. Samsung bada also represents the fresh challenges and opportunities available to developers, as well as the entertainment which consumers will enjoy once the new platform is open.

Based on Samsung's experience in developing previous proprietary platforms on Samsung mobile phones, Samsung can create the new platform and provide opportunities for developers. Samsung bada is also simple for developers to use, meaning it's one of the most developer-friendly environments available, particularly in the area of applications using Web services. Lastly, bada's ground-breaking User Interface (UI) can be transferred into a sophisticated and attractive UI design for developers.

Samsung will be able to expand the range of choices for mobile phone users to enjoy the smartphone experiences. By adopting Samsung bada, users will be able to easily enjoy various applications on their mobile.

Samsung bada also offers an easy-to-integrate platform for mobile operators so that mobile operators can provide unique and differentiated services to their customers.

Samsung established its mobile application ecosystem through the launch of Samsung Mobile Innovator in 2008 and the Samsung Application Seller Site followed by Samsung Application Store as another key element of this offering.

Dr Hosoo Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Media Solution Center at Samsung Electronics said, "By opening Samsung's mobile platforms we will be able to provide rich mobile experiences on an increasing number of accessible smartphones." He added, "bada will be Samsung's landmark, iconic new platform that brings an unprecedented opportunity for operators, developers and Samsung mobile phone users around the world."

The official website (www.bada.com) will open on November 10th and will feature a range of information on bada including updates on product launches, features, and event notices. Samsung will also host an official launch event for bada in London, UK in December and will also unveil its bada software development kit (SDK) to developers for the first time on this date.

About Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2008 consolidated sales of US$96 billion. Employing approximately 164,600 people in 179 offices across 61 countries, the company consists of two business units: Digital Media & Communications and Device Solutions. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com

[rainbury Posted Nov 10th 2009 4:46AM]

STUPID Samsung. Do normal android phone with Tegra or SnappyDragon, but, of course, let's make another OS, so developers will make software for it. It's ridiculous! Some years ago we had Java, so all the programms were actually the same for different phones, but we've got Java, WinMo, WinMo for non-touchscreen smartphones, WebOS for pre-Palm and pixi-Palm, OSX for iphone, Android, Maemo for Nokla N900, Symbian for old-nokies-samsungs-ericssons. It's 8 mobile oses and im sure that i forgot some more. Even computers have less oses (if we put all those great linux-based oses together). U guys, CEOs, doing it wrong!

[Dalvik Posted Nov 10th 2009 5:29AM]

I think it's actually a clear move for Sammy. They've already proved they can put the Sense UI (even if it's pretty crappy right now) on top of different OS's - WinMo, Android and probably Symbian. It seems that they want to kinda "bundle" their UI layer (and its API) with all the phones they make, no matter which OS they ship with. In the end, everyone who has a Sammy phone will be able to download and use apps from Sammy's store, regardless of the builtin OS.

[Goc Posted Nov 10th 2009 8:13PM]

No Sense UI in any Samsung. It's called Touchwiz and in my opinion it's very bad.
No comparison to HTC's Sense UI.

[FlasH Posted Nov 10th 2009 7:01AM]

I actually like the LiMO Operating System Lots. If you saw youtube videos of the Samsung H1, the touchscreen was VERY sensitive with no lagginess whatsoever. I definitely think LiMO needs to be pushed more by the mainstream, because the software is quite excellent and of course, it's an open source system..

As for Samsung themselves. If they want to be leaders in the smartphone gold mine they need to do to this.

1. Stop selling hardware to your competitors, unless the competitor is willing to pay a BIG price for it. 500 million dollars for flash ram is small potatoes.

2. Continue to us Android and support it with the latest advanced smart phones. Android will be supported in the future. With Samsung's OLED, 8MP, Optical Zoom, FLASH RAM, Battery technology, they clearly have a HARDWARE advantage compared to the rest of the field.

3. Continue to support Windows. Next year, Windows mobile 7 will come out. I bet the software will support 16 million colors. As well, WM7 will feature capacitive touchscreens. That will be great for Samsung, since they already have the hardware advantage compared to the rest of the field.

4. Support LiMO. It's a great Operating system. Continue to push Application support for LiMO
I actually like the LiMO Operating System Lots. If you saw youtube videos of the Samsung H1, the touchscreen was VERY sensitive with no lagginess whatsoever. I definitely think LiMO needs to be pushed more by the mainstream, because the software is quite excellent and of course, it's an open source system..

As for Samsung themselves. If they want to be leaders in the smartphone gold mine they need to do to this.

1. Stop selling hardware to your competitors, unless the competitor is willing to pay a BIG price for it. 500 million dollars for flash ram is small potatoes.

2. Continue to us Android and support it with the latest advanced smart phones. Android will be supported in the future. With Samsung's OLED, 8MP, Optical Zoom, FLASH RAM, Battery technology, they clearly have a HARDWARE advantage compared to the rest of the field.

3. Continue to support Windows. Next year, Windows mobile 7 will come out. I bet the software will support 16 million colors. As well, WM7 will feature capacitive touchscreens. That will be great for Samsung, since they already have the hardware advantage compared to the rest of the field.

4. Support LiMO. It's a great Operating system. Continue to push Application support for LiMO



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGbMsH6i60A


5. Invest tons of money into BADA(SS). make sure tons of applications like epocrates, dictionaries, and enterntainment applications will be easily downloadable onto the Virgin OS that Samsung is trying to get into. I don't mean spend millions for the OS. Samsung, you got to spend hundreds of millions to make the OS, smooth, lag-free, easy to use, and Application supported.

[FlasH Posted Nov 10th 2009 7:04AM]

Sorry, cut and paste is going crazy on me... here is a more refined version.

I actually like the LiMO Operating System Lots. If you saw youtube videos of the Samsung H1, the touchscreen was VERY sensitive with no lagginess whatsoever. I definitely think LiMO needs to be pushed more by the mainstream, because the software is quite excellent and of course, it's an open source system..

As for Samsung themselves. If they want to be leaders in the smartphone gold mine they need to do to this.

1. Stop selling hardware to your competitors, unless the competitor is willing to pay a BIG price for it. 500 million dollars for flash ram is small potatoes.

2. Continue to use Android and support Android with the latest advanced smart phones. Android will be supported in the future, with lots of applications. With Samsung's OLED, 8MP, Optical Zoom, FLASH RAM, Battery technology, they clearly have a HARDWARE advantage compared to the rest of the field.

3. Continue to support Windows. Next year, Windows mobile 7 will come out. I bet the software will support 16 million colors. As well, WM7 will feature capacitive touchscreens. That will be great for Samsung, since they already have the hardware advantage compared to the rest of the field.

4. Support LiMO. It's a great Operating system. Continue to push Application support for LiMO. I think LiMO is just as competitive as OS X.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGbMsH6i60A


5. Invest tons of money into BADA(SS). Make sure tons of applications like epocrates, dictionaries, and enterntainment applications will be easily downloadable onto the Virgin OS that Samsung is trying to get into. I don't mean spend millions for the OS. Samsung, you got to spend hundreds of millions to make the OS, smooth, lag-free, easy to use, and Application supported.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 10th 2009 7:11AM]

LiMO stands for Linux Mobile.

Bada will probably be an evolution on LiMO..

Open Source of course. And Samsung is willing to spend the $$$ for Application support which is SMART.

[matthew2 Posted Nov 10th 2009 7:18AM]

I was thinking about getting the upcoming Behold II.... this really makes me worried that they are going to abandon it once released.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 10th 2009 7:24AM]

Why would they abandon the behold II? The phone is android and when the latest firmware update is released for Android 2.0, Samsung will probably release it on their website.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 11th 2009 1:05AM]

Nada.

[artshark Posted Nov 10th 2009 10:37AM]

so is this just a featurephone OS, or...

[Fteo64 Posted Nov 11th 2009 9:59AM]

Not another new Mobile OS!. Android 2.0 is the new "star" child looking like it could kick the iPhone in due time. WebOS is a strong under-dog disadvantaged by Palm which is a small player compared to the rest. LiMO needs to come of age to displace WinMO (sorry WinMo fans but WM7 could save it but I do not think the market can wait that long...)

Symbian is dead dead deader ... or ditched to "second-class" status on low-end handsets. SO Sammy, why not buy Palm and give us many variants of GSM/HSPA Pixies at lower prices and put back wifi there. This could just send the Nokia handsets (mid-to-lower end models) to their early graves!. So that's revenue potential enough.

SO guys, if SamSung rides on Android 2 and WebOS, it could be a serious market leader. But they got to buy Palm or somehow license WebOS. Make sense ?. I think so.