Bada-bing! Samsung Reveal New Mobile OS

Samsung have announced they will be debuting a new mobile phone operating system in 2010, with a full unveiling to come in early December at an event to be held in London.  The new open mobile platform is to be called ‘bada’ from the Korean word for ocean, but we do secretly hope some inspiration came from someone wearing an Ivy League suit at the meetings too.

Samsung already make smartphones with Windows Phone, Android and Symbian operating systems, but according to the new bada website, their new platform represents the ‘future of their smartphone experience’.  They go on to say that the demand for applications and a smartphone-like experience on non-smart phones is growing and that bada will bring this to everyone, indicating it will be used across a range of different phones.

A new arm of their application store is also going to be a big part of bada, with Samsung encouraging developers to write applications which make use of not only the web, but internal features such as the address book and the dialer.  An SDK will also be available at the upcoming London event along with various developer days in the future.  This ease of customisation is also important to network operators, and Samsung’s openness of the fact should make it popular with them too.

Samsung are giving nothing concerning bada’s look away, however they have published a vague timeline.  December will see the official launch, with the first phone running the OS available during the first half of 2010, with more appearing in the second half.  No other details on the phones are stated, however it does indicate that bada is for use with touchscreen phones.  Also during the first half of 2010, applications will go on sale in the Samsung Application Store, with a UK rollout coming later in the year.

We’re not quite sure if the world needs another smartphone OS, and we would imagine there is a degree of competition between Samsung and LG’s S-Class UI here, but judging by the impressive job Samsung have done with TouchWiz recently, it does bode well for bada.