Wtf Is Bada?? [Ask the Readers]
So the other day Gil (guest dude and WP owner from mobilespoon) posts some platform market share stats, and this Bada thing, Samsung’s pet platform, has overtaken WP. Excuse me? Where did this thing come from and how is it already leaving WP in the dust?
And what does that mean for Samsung and WP? Putting myself in the shoes of Samsung (which are too small, I’m a size 13 and Koreans, well,..), I’m thinking one experimental OS venture at a time just sort of makes more sense than two, and at this point, might as well go with the one that belongs to you, the one that’s on more phones than WP, the one you not only don’t have to pay licenses to use but could conceivably license out one day, the one that’s headed north, the one that’s not sliding down, the one that doesn’t have Microsoft and Windows and the number 7 smeared on its name that the kids these days just don’t seem to find hip for whatever reason, the one that wasn’t dumped (divested) onto a desperate Nokia which in spite of everything we were told has no apparent attention of slowing down their Symbian and MeeGo phone development to be pretty much fully displaced by WP…
You get the idea, where I’m coming from, that it’s obvious Samsung sees something special in Bada that it does not in WP.
Why though? WP is sweet! How can you top Metro UI and them lives tiles? Crazy Koreans with their pandas and their superfluous mobile platforms. But if you’re going to ditch WP, fine, sure you have your reasons (probably a healthy amount of them from what keeps popping up in the news), but why not stick with Android? Why make yet another platform? What the hell is this OS, what’s unique about it, what’s good about it, what’s bad, does it have legs, where could it go?
Anybody try it? Are we going to be hearing about Bada a lot more soon or is this going to sort of, you know, fizzle? Might Samsung reserve their next ultimate phone with their Super Duper AMOLED technology for the platform exclusively? Android app compatibility? WTF????
Do you see Bada as a serious competitor to WP? How about a serious contender to the bigger players? Thanks, readers. And thank you Gil from mobilespoon.
Regarding pandas being more of a Chinese thing than Korean, there’s gotta be at least a couple pandas in South Korea. Probably gifts to North Korea that made it through, after eating some bamboo and sort of relaxing and sneezing, the DMZ to the happy Korea.
Speaking of North Korea and China, they’re old pals and Microsoft is super friends with China, and I don’t need to tell you how North and South Korea get along – you see where I’m going with this? Nah, that can’t have anything to do with it, forget I said that.
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About The Author
Doug Simmons
Biographical info.. hmm. I have a history of not being able to strike the balance between what is "safe" to put into these forms and what is, in my mind at least, funny. Can't do it.
Bada is the equivalent to Nokia’s Symbian… but from Samsung and only for Samsung. It is catered to low end phones and low end smart phones. It’s a POS to be honest. But because they are on VERY cheap samsung phones, that is how they’re popular.
Once Windows Phone hits the bottom price point as well, it will pick up like that too. Bada being a Samsung only OS, means that it won’t get all too far because they will definitely keep Android for anything decent (e.g. Galaxy series, even the Galaxy Mini is a competitor to their own Bada platform), and well there is Windows Phone as well. Bada has also been around for quite a while longer than Windows Phone 7 (i think 3 years now?), and well… being it’s for the cheap end it picks up well in the markets that cater for that.
@soundman: You see that Simmons, i’m not the only one who uses the term “price point.” The biggest thing Samsung would have to overcome if they chose Bada as its main platform is not Windows Phone competition but app compatibility. If they wished for Android app compatibility why not just stick with Android?
Ecosystems matter more and more each day. Its the reason why the iPad and iPhone wins big against any single OEM. Its the reason Google seems to be serious about reigning in their free willy days and getting down to core, essential business. Of course Microsoft and yes with Windows Phone is integrating and unifying their products and services.
Samsung seems really interested in being the chief competitor to Apple in the tablet game. To do that they are waging a two front attack on Apple. With their place among chief Microsoft tablet partners seemingly getting better by the day do you think they will risk ticking off Microsoft by dumping Windows Phone and touting Bada?
Here’s some twilight zone shit for you Murani (inspired by how I misread your last sentence), can you imagine if Microsoft dumped Windows Phone and touted Bada?
@Simmons that would be some funny shite.
Chris I was in the wilderness today, spinning around, looking up at the sky through the majestic trees, asking “Why, why can’t Windows Phone catch a break? I mean, friggin’ Bada? Wtf!”
marketing.
Sorry, but without a “required” data plan, Bada and Symbian (and whatever) phones should not be part of the same smartphone conversation. While they might meet the definition of a smartphone (what is the definition, really) they can’t be compared equally to “real” smartphones.
For example, if someone is currently using a Bada or Symbian, I can’t suggest they switch to an iPhone or WP (or even Android, well not really) without adding $25-$30 (the $15 plan is a not reality) to their monthly bill, which is cost prohibitive for many. So Bada and Symbian phones are in a class by themselves. Like saying a Power Screwdriver is in the same class as a DeWalt 24v Cordless Drill. They can both drive a screw, but…..
Don’t know if or how WP will pull off the low end phone, no data plan, trick. But if they do it will attract an entirely separate market.
Apology accepted, Jim! 🙂
Samsung is a strong brand in several consumer markets. Bada is how Samsung can control their own platform and ecosystem, so they can have their cake and eat it, like Apple does, with a range of consumer hardware, iOS and related services. Bada is part open source with little to no license fees and legal issues. So far..
The smartphone market grows very fast. Chances are that happy Samsung feature
phone consumers get a Samsung smartphone, including something called ‘Android’, ‘Bada’ or ‘Windows Phone’. Most don’t know or care about the OS, as long as their Samsung smartphone provides entertainment and let’s them communicate.
As such, like Android, Bada doesn’t have to be unique or good. Not bad is good enough. Samsung can and will slap Bada on a wide range of hardware. That is why it has left Windows Phone ‘in the dust’. We will hear more about Bada. However, unless Samsung drops Android, they probably won’t reserve their ultimate hardware.
Samsung could also drop Windows Phone. Other than that, Bada is no threat. Windows Phone improves faster, already has more and faster growing numbers developers and apps and is better integrated in a much bigger ecosystem, with consumer and business products and services from Microsoft and 3rd parties.
It’s hard for Samsung to compete with a software company like Microsoft on things like OS architecture, R&D, IDE, SDK etc. In time Windows Phone will run on a wide range of hardware, like Android and Bada, to level that playing field.
If anything, I see Bada as a competitor to iOS marketshare, behind Android and Windows Phone. Only so much people want an Apple or a Samsung, while both Android and Windows Phone have multiple OEMs. For Bada, like iOS, control and profit margins are probably more important than #1 marketshare.
At risk of sounding harsh and “Anti MS”, I think Microsoft deserves to have Windows 7 Phone fail after leaving all the remaining Windows Mobile 6 customers in the dark and pretty much no other choice beside Android (which is its own conversation). I’d be curious to see what Samsung brings to the table with “BADA” Beta ☺.
::AB