An open platform to enhance development and experiences

Dec 9, 2009 11:29 GMT  ·  By

South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung Electronics unveiled officially on Tuesday its new smartphone platform, called Samsung bada. During the unveiling event, held in London, the company also showcased the bada SDK (Software Development Kit), and talked about the unique benefits and the opportunities the new operating system can offer to developers, mobile operators and consumers.

Dr Hosoo Lee, executive vice president and head of the Media Solution Center at Samsung Electronics said, “In providing Samsung bada, I believe that Samsung will become a true leader in the mobile industry; offering a wider range of smartphone choices for consumers.” He added, “at the same time, Samsung bada presents a powerful opportunity for developers to get their applications onto an unprecedented number of Samsung devices across the world“

According to the handset vendor, the new platform comes to the market as part of its vision of a ‘smartphone for everyone.’ What Samsung bada can offer in this direction includes a feature-rich platform that enables leveraged mobile experiences, as well as a complete mobile ecosystem with a developer support program.

The name of the OS, 'bada' comes from Korean and means ocean. According to Samsung, the main features of the platform are: - User-interactive (bada is built on the experience Samsung already has with its TouchWiz UI, and can deliver “an easy, simple, and intuitive UI without compromising efficiency”) - Service-oriented (supports social networking, device synchronization, content management, location-based services, and other more) - Open and configurable (the full advantages of mobile device capabilities come towards developers with bada, opening the door for call making apps, messaging, services, and more).

“Our heritage is games machines and arcade machines but we’re eagerly branching out to make the most of mobile,” said General Manager of Online Business Division, Yasuhiro Sumida from CAPCOM. “We recognize our customers aren’t all about games in their homes but want them when they’re out and about, in the palm of their hand. To help us make this move into mobile we want to make sure we are working with the right partner. bada is accessible, open to all and very easy to use.”