Samsung’s Bada
I have been looking today at Bada, Samsung’s new mobile platform. I have been trying to work out what it is, I have examined the developer APIs and have been thinking about Samsung’s aspirations.
First of all, I noticed that Samsung call it a platform rather than an operating system. In fact…
"The bada platform is kernel-configurable so that it can run either on the Linux kernel or real-time OS kernels, which makes bada applicable to a wider range of devices than any other mobile operating system."
So, I don’t think it’s an operating System. It’s a layer of abstraction on top of whatever hardware operating system Samsung want to use.
I took a look at the APIs and there seems to be something there for almost everything I would want to do. There was nothing obviously missing. The UI builder will speed up development as will the telephony and sensor simulation under emulation.
While not as complex as Symbian c++, there are ideoms to be learnt for 2 phase construction, strings, error handling, app framework and the UI framework.
One disappointment is that, like the iPhone, the platform enforces single tasking. Only one Bada application can run at a time. I suspect this is a compromise due to allowing Bada to run under any OS, in particular, those less powerful. This prevents Bada from being used for many of the types of application I have written for customers over the last few years.
In terms of security, testing and signing of applications, there’s just a mention of ‘Certification for Quality’ before applications can be released - whatever that means.
What are Samsung’s motivations? Why has it produced Bada? Why not rely on other platforms?
The Inquirer said this today…
"According to Samsung it avoided opting for existing operating systems like Android or Symbian, saying they are too complicated, expensive and geographically limited, so instead it has decided to simplify matters by adding another player into the market for punters to consider."
Simplify matters for Samsung perhaps, but not for the rest of us! Another platform does not simplify matters.
Samsung want ’smartphone experiences available to everyone’ and predict ‘The bada-powered devices will become a significant force in the market in 2010′.
I think that Samsung might have produced Bada as a direct competitor to the iPhone OS and Apple. The unique selling point is being able to scale down to less powerful hardware that, in turn, scales up to more end-users.
We have seen that Apple’s model of owning the whole solution has some advantages in terms of control. Noone knows the future of Android and Symbian. Bada might be a different bet in case a controlled, owned platform does become important.
Meanwhile, I guess developers won’t be using Bada for serious applications until there are significant devices in the market. Today, people might not buy smartphone devices unless there are applications. Hence, Samsung might have an uphill struggle. However, Samsung may succeed as they are very tenacious.
The Samsung Bada developer site gives lots more information.
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