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Samsung officially announces bada smartphone platform

First devices in Asia and Europe during H1 2010

Samsung officially announces bada smartphone platform
Demonstrating that software and media services are key, even for hardware manufacturers, Samsung has been releasing more details about its bada (meaning ocean in Korean) smartphone platform at launch event in London today.

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Bada is designed to make it easier for publishers, content creators and operators to get their games, applications and services working across Samsung's range of phones.

Based on Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface, bada provides user interface features such as flash control, web control, motion sensing, vibration control, and face detection. In this way, developers can make use of sensors such as accelerometers, tilt, weather and proximity within their applications.

Another piece of the puzzle is the platform’s backend sever infrastructure, which enables developers to support services such as social networking, device synchronisation, content management, location-based services, and different business models.

And to encourage everyone to make the most of the opportunity, Samsung has launched the bada Developer Challenge. This consists of a $27 million prize fund with $300k for first prize winner for applications that make the best use of the platform.

As part of this, a series of developer days will be held during 2010, with initial events in Seoul, London and San Francisco, and more planned as the year progresses.

Executive vice president of Samsung Electronics' Media Solution Center, Hosoo Lee, says the platform will provides an opportunity for developers "to get their applications onto an unprecedented number of Samsung devices across the world".

It will launch with Samsung's mid-range segment of touchscreen phones, mainly in Asia and Europe during the first half of 2010. Other markets will follow, although Samsung says a more detailed roadmap or set of targets has yet to be determined.

Despite the launch of bada however, Samsung will continue to release devices using operating systems such as Windows Mobile, Android and Symbian.

There's also the possibility that, over time, Samsung may open up the platform for other manufacturers to use.

You can find out more information at the bada website.

Contributing Editor

A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.