Samsung debuts bada mobile handset platform

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 09 December 2009 06:45

Business IT - Technology

Samsung has unveiled its mobile handset platform bada - with inbuilt support for a wide range of 'context' parameters and from backend servers as key features - saying it aims to make smartphone features available to everyone.

Samsung is banking on attracting a large number of application developers to boost the popularity of bada, some details of which were released last month. It also unveiled the bada software development kit and launched the Samsung bada Developer Challenge, offering application developers the chance to share in a $US2.7m prize fund by building applications on the bada platform. "The competition is one of the largest ever for developers of mobile software and is testament to Samsung's commitment to the new bada platform," the company said.

Samsung also plans to hold a series of Developer Days across the world during 2010. The initial events will be held in Seoul, London and San Francisco and will be open to all developers.

Samsung also named the first bada development partners: Twitter, movies and games rental outlet Blockbuster, and game developers CAPCOM, EA Mobile, and Gameloft. Samsung says the first bada phone will be available in H1 2010 and bada applications will be available through the Samsung Application Store starting in the first half of 2010, with the store being rolled out to about 30 countries throughout the year. Samsung claims that bada-powered devices will become a significant force in the market in 2010.

Bada is based around Samsung's existing TouchWiz user interface and supports flash control, web control, motion sensing, fine-tuned vibration control, face detection and "sensor-based, context-aware applications." According to Samsung, "By using various sensors such as accelerometers, tilt, weather, proximity, and activity sensors, application developers can easily implement context-aware interactive applications."

Samsung says that bada "differentiates its position by supporting various service-centric features such as social networking, device synchronisation, content management, location-based services, and commerce services – all supported by back-end bada servers. These ground-breaking developer-friendly features support developers to implement various services without additional effort."

CONTINUED