Samsung To Release New Smartphone OS 'Bada'

Samsung's mobile division has been going through some tough times lately. Profits are down, and they're watching companies like Apple devour their market share. It's clear that something needs to be done if Samsung is going to survive as a major handset player. They got into the smartphone game too late, and they've yet to put out a release that's grabbed consumer interest in the same way as the iPhone or Droid.

In order to try and gobble up some hype for themselves, Samsung's decided to take a page out of Google's book. They're creating their own open mobile operating system. (Fierce Wireless) This new platform will be called "bada", which means ocean in Korean. Bada is being built to make it simple for developers to create apps for. While the OS will only work on Samsung phones, it will be heavily customizable for carriers.

IDG News Service states that bada will run on top of Linux. It will feature one central app store and have a 'next generation' user interface, whatever that means. We should start to see the first badaphones in the first half of 2010, with the app store opening initially in 30 countries. Samsung intends to host a developer conference in the later half of 2010.

If you're curious, Samsung has launched several websites dedicated to explaining the new OS to customers and developers. So far, we've heard no hard information about what bada will do differently from every other OS out on the market. When we start to see screenshots, we'll have a better idea of just how likely this wild plan is to succeed.

I hate to say this, Samsung, but this whole scheme sounds like a 'bada' idea to me. (I apologize profusely for that.) You're joining into the OS game too late, and it doesn't look like bada will have any of the features which have made Android such a success. If the OS is ONLY open for Samsung made smartphones, it isn't truly open. It's perfectly possible that Samsung will put out a very solid product, but Bada is going to need to be more than 'good' to survive.

There are several really good OSes out right now. Android, Maemo, and the iPhone OS are all fantastic platforms. Being 'just as good' as any of them isn't going to be enough to make bada profitable for Sammy. Unless bada can do something new and exciting, something that creates a hailstorm of hype and makes people want it more than they want other platforms, I don't have high hopes for its future. Best of luck though, Samsung.

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