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Sep

6

2011

Rumor: Samsung Ditching Android for Bada Development? (Not Likely)

3

by Mitch Wright
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How much salt do you have? Is it less than five pounds? If so, go buy five pounds of salt and then dump all of it on this rumor before consumption.

A bit ago, Samsung rather quietly hired the creator and lead developer of Cyanogenmod, one Steve Kondik, presumably to work on the software side of their Android handsets. According to a tipster to AndroidSPIN, this wasn’t the case. Apparently (says tipster), Kondik was hired to help develop Samsung’s own bada platform and to help integrate a Linux base into the fledgling OS, so that Samsung could move from Android to bada for their future devices, as early as the end of next year. Samsung was none-too-pleased, so postulates said tipster, with Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobile, thus moving them to begin a departure from the Android platform.

There’s plenty wrong with this, of course. First off, Samsung is Android’s number one handset manufacturer and Android is Samsung’s number one cash cow. Google knows this and Samsung knows this. And while I’m sure there’s a bit of contention regarding the Motorola buyout, I’m equally sure that there were plenty of reassurances, both written and verbal, between Google and Samsung behind closed doors. Google wouldn’t frighten away its main source of handset sales, and Samsung wouldn’t either, particularly for a mobile OS that has yet to even make an appearance in most of the world. I wouldn’t be surprised if Samsung is shoring up its bada platform to make it usable for a wider audience, but they wouldn’t abandon the jolly green giant for it.

Care to throw in your own two cents? Please feel free in the comments section below!

[via androidspin]

» See more articles by Mitch Wright

Categorized as Android Leaks & Rumours, Android Manufacturers

Comments

  • Curt

    To me, it would make more sense to buy WebOS from HP and adapt that to their handsets/tablets, than to make an unknown OS work from scratch.

    Either way, it would not be an across the board change, but a gradual launch on a couple of handsets/tablets until they see how well received the OS would be.

    I can see them hedge their bets on having something in there back pocket for possible future use, but no wholesale changes for the foreseeable future

  • Mitch Wright

    @Curt
    I’m completely with you on a webOS integration, however Samsung has already gone public with a very emphatic announcement that they have no interest in any sort of acquisition there. A sad thing, because I was sort of hoping for it. Hopefully, one of the Android manufacturers or Google themselves will consider acquiring webOS just to integrate some of the great ideas there.
    Thanks for commenting!

  • Curt

    Here is another thought.

    If they do their own OS from scratch, then they can be just like Apple. They control the hardware and the software.

    Smartphones took off because of the variety of apps. There are good apps, and there are bad apps, but the whole appeal is that you can do so many things with a smartphone.

    Palm and Microsoft both took big chances to rewrite their OS from scratch. The biggest problem is that they cut off legacy support from all developers. Palm had a developer do Classic, which old Palm software ran on WebOS, but they eventually cut them off too with updates. That angered a LOT of smaller developers, because they have mountains of code that no longer can be used. They also have to invest in new IDE’s, training for the new SDK and OS. Thus, the amount of new innovative apps for both platforms took a dive. Microsoft is big enough to weather this storm, Palm was not. I thought HP was big enough to weather the storm with WebOS, but nope, they decided to get out of the consumer PC/smartphone business.

    Perception is key. Windows 7 mobile and WebOS have no marketshare to speak of. Developers look at marketshare to see where their efforts might pay off, since they write code to make money. If a platform has basically no marketshare, then they will not put the resources into that platform, and focus their efforts to other platforms where the potential to make money is greater.

    There is where Samsung could be taking a huge risk with their own OS. Right now, if they would launch their own OS, there is no marketshare. They will create some marketshare just from their name alone, but there would not be that many apps for their OS. They will subsidize larger developers to create apps for their OS, but that will not have the amount of apps that Google or Apple have. They might get some other developers to do some apps, but the time it will take to create a decent catalog of apps.

    If Samsung would look at WebOS, the catalog of apps is not that great, but it would have a built-in catalog, infrastructure to deliver the apps, and a small amount of developers that already do apps and do not have to retool. They would hit the ground running.

    Doing their own OS, they have to build the OS, build the infrastructure to deliver the apps, and then try to get people to take a chance on their phones. I see this as a big stumbling block for them.

    I know they don’t like Google owning Motorola Mobility, but Google will not just give Motorola the inside track of Android. They will help them build a better Android phone, they have the resources to tweak Android to work better, the hardware test bed, but Google will not cut off the other manufacturers that helped make Android one of the best selling mobile OS’s in the world.