Samsung is realising its vision of deploying the same application to multiple devices with the release of Bada, a software platform designed for mobile devices.
So said Brett Loubser, product manager for Samsung mobile phones SA, speaking at the Samsung Bada Developer Day held in Johannesburg, yesterday. He explained Bada is the Korean word for ocean, representing “oceans of opportunity” for Samsung.
“Samsung has been working on its own smartphone operating system, Bada, with the goal of releasing around 10 million Bada-enabled devices in 2010.”
He explained that Bada is more of a software platform that an operating system. It consists of a multi-kernel operating system that is also an open and configurable platform.
“Applications are created off the same software development kit and can be targeted towards different platforms, with the goal of being able to target single and multi-core devices.” He added these are segmented into three hardware profiles: high-end, mid-range, and low-end.
“Application programming interfaces (APIs) deliver a richness in capabilities in smartphones, with features including Flash UI support, multi-touch, OpenGL development and many others.” Loubser noted the API has been built around being able to plug into popular social network sites.
Local perspective
According to Loubser, Samsung is in a unique position, as it is relatively new to the smartphone market. ”Samsung already has dominance with TVs, digital cameras and other devices. We have the vision of incorporating Bada into all these systems and not just the smartphone.”
He added that other smartphone providers don't have a localisation benefit when it comes to their smartphones. According to Loubser, Samsung is working with Bada on a global scale, as well as engaging with local content providers.
“The mobile phone is already the computer of SA due to the high penetration of mobile devices in the country. There needs to be relevance to local content, so Samsung is taking an aggressive approach as it starts its transition to Bada-enabled devices.”
Loubser highlighted that the key to Samsung's success lies in providing localised content in its app store, such as TV guides and local news.
Samsung is also setting up a local app certification centre to handle applications submitted to the store from this region. ”The certification process is designed to curb the distribution of apps that could impact the usability of the mobile devices.
“The Bada App store will initially be released with credit card billing, but we hope to release it into operator billing.” He added, however, that there are technical hurdles which need to be overcome before it can incorporate operator billing.
“The app portal currently only works with credit card purchases, although Samsung is in talks with local operators to enable billing from the network account.
“The Bada App Store is based on an open marketplace model. It features three distribution models: direct download on the device, download through the Web, and download through the Samsung KIES application, which is installed on a computer,” he concluded.
Share