Bada (meaning “ocean” in Korean) is the new cutting-edge operating system (or, more precise, a platform) for mobile devices announced at the beginning of November 2009 by Samsung. Samsung, with about 20% of the phones market share, is the second most important market leader (after Nokia) (source).

The first devices with this platform are expected to appear in the first half of 2010. Following the example of Apple iPhone and Android it is supposed to have a central app store, which is expected to open at first in about 50 key countries. It is said to give developers a whole range of freedoms (like using the contacts or dialer and even extend them with own features). Besides the mobile operators can adapt the look&feel and functionality to their own gusto. (More here)

Bada will be a platform for the masses. It stands somewhere in between of “smart phones” and “feature phones”. Further, Justing Hong, Presindent of Engineering for the bada platform, made a statement saying that “The lowest cost range of Bada is going to be lower than the lowest point of Android.” – indicating that Samsung is actually trying to deliver lowest-cost feature/smart-phones to a very broad market.

As an important player on the mobile market, Samsung’s new platform will play a big role on the market of smart-phones and therefore this new technology offers many opportunities to mobile developers. BadaDev will provide independent news, reviews, tutorials and other resources for all developers willing to give this platform a try.

More information about bada can be found on the newly opened official developer’s website.

Here is more suggested reading material:

• Bada – Samsung’s strategy in the new market (a must-read!)
• 10 things to know about Samsung’s Bada platform
• Samsung to ship 10 Million Waves by the end of 2010, 1000 Apps in the App Store

Known SDK/IDE versions

• pre-alpha … (not public, release date unknown)
• 1.0.0 alpha 3 (not public, released on 30. November 2009)
• 1.0.0 beta 1 RC1 (not public, released on 26. January 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 1 RC2 (not public, released on 03. February 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 1 RC3 (not public, released on 08. February 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 1 RC4 (not public, released on 11. February 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 1 RC8 (not public, released on 27. February 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 1 RC13 (not public, released on 07. March 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 1 RC14 (not public, released on 08. March 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 1 RC15 (not public, released on 11. March 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 2 RC1.1 (not public, released on 20. March 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 2 RC1.4 (not public, released on 25. March 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 2 RC1.8 (not public, released on 30. March 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 2 RC2 (not public, released on 6. April 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 2 RC2.3 (not public, released on 9. April 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 2 RC2.16 (not public, released on 16. April 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 2 RC3 (not public, released on 23. April 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 2 RC4 (not public, released on 27. April 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 2 RC5 (not public, released on 29. April 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 2 RC6 (not public, released on 1. May 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 2 RC7 (partners only, released on 6. May 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 2 (public!, released on 6. May 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 3 RC1 (not public, released on 13. May 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 3 RC (not public, released on 31. May 2010)
• 1.0.0 beta 3 (public!, released on 1. June 2010)
• 1.1.0 alfa 1 RC (not public, released on 09. August 2010)
• 1.0.0 (public!, released on 19. August 2010)
• 1.1.0 alfa 1 RC2 (not public, released on 19. August 2010)
• 1.1.0 alfa 1 RC3 (not public, released on 31. August 2010)