Samsung aims to better compete with the Apple iPhone and its large catalog of software apps by launching its own mobile platform, although analysts are still unsure if offering yet another open platform will be successful.
As expected after the platform was announced last month, the actual usefulness of the OS remains doubtful.
To coincide with the announcement, Samsung publicly launched Bada, its custom-made software platform designed only for Samsung phones. Bada offers new API's so that third party developers are able to develop advanced, robust apps that couldn't be created for previous Samsung phones.
Reuters asked Vassili Filippov, from the Russian company SPB Software, about his opinion on Bada. "There are basically two conditions under which we can start coding for Bada. First, and it's obvious -- it should gain enough market share. Second, we want to make sure that Bada is capable enough to allow us to port our key, and quite complicated, applications."
I applaud Samsung as it tries to better compete with the iPhone, but offering custom apps to consumers is only half the problem. Samsung, which remains the second largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world, still lacks appealing smartphones that can draw consumers away from the iPhone and RIM BlackBerry devices.
Samsung currently has several somewhat appealing phones, such as the Rogue smartphone, but developers can only create apps in Java or Brew. As stated by many mobile application developers, coders want to be able to develop apps in the language environments they are most familiar with.
To help convince developers to begin working with Bada, Samsung also announced a $2.7 million contest, with the prize-winning apps securing funding for future projects.
Bada will be offered on a single touch screen device sometime in the first six months of 2010, with Samsung slowly rolling out other Bada-powered phones. If you're a fan of Samsung smartphones, does a Bada-powered phone sound appealing?
