With over 1 billion phones sold per year, 15 million doesn't sound like a large number.

However, when Samsung first showcased its bada OS at Mobile World Congress in February 2010, it predicted it would ship around 10 million of its launch Wave devices during the year.

Talking to middleware company Ideaworks, which is working with Samsung to help developers port existing content to bada and the SamsungApps store, it seems that number has been increased.

Now we hear that Samsung expects to ship 15 million bada devices in 2010, with the number reckoned to climb to 50 million by the end of 2011.

Going for gold

If fulfilled, it would be impressive as Apple has only sold around 50 million iPhones of various types since the original 2G version was launched in June 2007.

However, current market leader Nokia shipped 21.5 million smartphones during its first quarter in 2010, so depending on the price of bada devices in 2011 and how aggressively Samsung markets them, it's certainly not an impossible number to hit.