Samsung to Close Bada OS Developers’ Site

Samsung recently announced that it would stop running the Bada developers’ forum on its Bada developers’ site. (image: Samsung Electronics)

SEOUL, Dec. 25 (Korea Bizwire) – Samsung Electronics will cut support for its proprietary mobile operation system “Bada,” proving that it failed in its development of the OS.

According to industry watchers, Samsung recently announced that it would stop running the Bada developers’ forum on its Bada developers’ site (http://developer.bada.com). Last year, Samsung officially declared that it stopped developing the OS, and with the recent announcement, Bada developers will no longer receive any support from the electronics giant.

At the MWC, held February in Barcelona, Samsung said that the Bada OS would be migrated into Tizen, another OS being developed by the company. Samsung introduced the Bada OS in response to the arrival in Korea of the iPhone in 2009. By launching the “Wave Series,” Samsung ambitiously sought partners to develop the OS, but made little progress.

As Samsung has stopped supporting Bada, related services are also disappearing. The Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute and commercial banks will stop mobile banking services for Bada OS smartphones starting next year. Although there are very few Bada OS users, mobile security on the OS became vulnerable due as Samsung cut its support. The KakaoTalk service for Bada already stopped last June.

Instead, Samsung is developing Tizen as its next generation OS platform. It will introduce Tizen-based TVs at the forthcoming CES 2015, and its first Tizen smartphone in India soon. Samsung plans to develop Tizen not only for its smartphone platform but also for its Internet of Things strategies.

As such, Samsung Electronics’ software business is in a state of upheaval. Samsung disbanded the Media Solution Center responsible for content and software businesses, and dispatched its workforce to other related business sectors earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Samsung officially announced that it would shut down its ChatOn messenger service by February in all markets except for the US after its launch three years ago in October, 2011.

By John Choi (johnchoi@koreabizwire.com)