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Abstract: Report SummaryAs an open platform, Samsung's bada is following the same trend that is nowadays supported by many smartphone operating systems (OS). Accordingly, it is assumed to be equipped with a user interface (UI) providing an innovative user experience (UX), based on Samsung's know-how in handset design, as well as support applications that connect with service-centric network applications and handset's core functions. It can also be interpreted as Samsung's intent to provide various user experiences by creating a handset ecosystem through cooperation with developers and its own app store.However, bada is not exactly Samsung's own platform, but a customized version of Mentor Graphics' Nucleus real-time operating system (RTOS). This is similar to the recent customization of Android platform by handset vendors. Samsung's strategy is to support all the existing multi-operating systems, as could be widely assumed. The reason for this is that in the future, more operating systems might emerge and it is difficult to predict what kind of operating systems the end-users will prefer. On the surface, bada has the advanced RTOS and UI framework to ensure that applications can be installed and run on it. Samsung has announced that the kernel layer can also be based on Linux kernel. According to the official Samsung's bada webpage, the initial target of bada is touchscreen-based mobile phones. But it is expected that in the near future, the platform will be extended to a wide range of devices (emerging devices). In other words, it will play a significant role in Samsung's multi-screen play services and app store. By adopting its own platform, based on RTOS, it is expected that the Samsung Application Store will feature multi OS-based applications, similar to that of Vodafone or other operators' app stores. Since the software development kit (SDK) or user interface development kit, simulator and others provided by Samsung will support multi-operating systems, the developers need to consider marketability and preferences when developing apps. This could also become a burden for the developers, because they are not closely connected to any particular operating system. In the future, bada will have a considerable importance in Samsung's multi-platform strategy, and it is expected to reach the similar level to that of Windows Mobile or Android. Since bada is based on RTOS and it supports other universal OSs, phones that use bada will fall under the category of smartphones. Therefore, it is estimated by many analysts that bada can be interpreted as a strategy that aims at increasing Samsung's share in smartphones. Since Samsung is a mobile device manufacturer, it is expected to also allow operators to embed their services on bada to maintain friendly relations with them. But if the operator partners of Samsung do not prefer bada platform, Samsung will be in a difficult position to decide whether to use it at all. Therefore, it is highly likely that Samsung will customize the platform by closely cooperating with the operators and support connectivity with operators' own app stores. Or the operators’ services could be ported on bada platform, which is a very operator-friendly strategy. It will be tested in the days ahead whether bada will be able to secure all the innovative functions and contents provided by smartphone OS. But it is difficult to estimate at this point, how well the markets will receive Samsung’s open smartphone-oriented strategy. Integration is the keyword in Samsung's strategy, however it cannot be acquired at once but needs to be carried out progressively based on experience. ROA Group predicts that Samsung's multi-platform strategy will be carried out following the order of bada – Android – Windows Mobile – Symbian. What comes to target segment in Samsung's platform strategy, it is highly likely that bada will be aimed at high-end phones, while Android will be used adequately for the mid-range segment. |
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