The smartphone revolution has till now come mostly in three flavors: iOS, Android, and Blackberry. Samsung Electronics’ bada powered smartphones, however, are making a major dent in the market. Samsung’s bada phones are gaining ground on their accessible interface, familiar development environment, competitive prices, and wide app selection.

1. CASE STUDY
Samsung’s Smartphone
Operating System: bada
CHOI Eunjeong
SMARTPHONE PLATFORMS ARE IT giants: those that entered the smartphone
CHANGING THE IT LANDSCAPE business successfully went up in the list while
those that failed to do so declined. Apple,
Smartphones are shaking up the global IT in- which unveiled the iPhone in 2007, jumped to
dustry as the market grows at the expense of 2nd place in 2011 from 681st in 2001 in terms of
feature phones.1 Smartphone sales grew at an market capitalization. Google, not ranked in
annual average of 34 percent, from 123 mil- the Global 1,000 companies list in 2001, came
lion units in 2007 to 297 million in 2010, and 17th a decade later, with its Android smart-
sales are expected to grow 46 percent year-on- phones (manufactured by Taiwan’s HTC)
year to reach 630 million in 2012, or 34 per- launched in 2008. In contrast, Nokia, a tradi-
cent of the overall mobile phone market. This tional phone powerhouse, plunged from 20th
has led to changes in the rankings of global in 2001 to 273rd in 2011.2
1 Where “feature phones” refers to all mobile phones other than smart phones
2 Global market capitalization figures for 2001 and 2010 are from Businessweek’s “Global 1,000” (published from 1988 to 2004) and
Forbes’s “Global 2000” (published since 2003), respectively.
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2. CHOI Eunjeong
At the heart of these changes are smartphone
operating systems (OSes). Mobile phones, whose
functions have previously been confined to re- bada 2.0 Highlights
ceiving texts and calls, have evolved into “hand- bada 2.0 supports applications that make life easier for
held computers” thanks to these new OSes. To- users. It is capable of multi-tasking and voice recognition,
day phone users can surf the web, send e-mails, with an advanced user interface framework. Diverse
play games, and shop on smartphones thanks applications are available for communications and multi-
to new phones that can run applications as so- media functions, including near field communication
phisticated as the ones on their PCs. Both Apple (NFC),* WiFi Direct,** Push Notification*** and 3D sound.
and Google, two of the most successful smart- Developer can build applications based on web standards
phone beneficiaries, have their own operating such as HTML5 and JavaScript.
Since the number of applications determines whether
a platform is successful, Samsung Electronics has
upgraded tools for developers to secure as many apps as
possible. Using the Emulator ensures that developers can
test in the same environment as the bada OS, while the
Performance Analyzer allows them to easily examine the
performance of their applications. Moreover, with In-app
Ads, developers can insert ads into their apps, helping
them secure stable revenue.
* NFC is a short-range wireless communications technology that
allows simple transactions between devices simply through
close proximity.
** “WiFi Direct” is a technology enabling Wi-Fi devices to
connect directly to each other at a speed of up to 300Mbps.
*** “Push notification” allows an application to notify users of
new messages or information without the need to actually
open the app.
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3. Samsung’s Smartphone Operating System: bada
|Figure 1 Smartphone Market Size & Share (in terms of sales)
(million units) (%)
700 40
34%
600
30 27%
500
400 19%
20
300 630 14%
11% 11%
468
200
297 10
100 172
123 140
0 0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Source: Gartner <http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1622614>.
system: iOS and Android respectively. bada OS has been steadily upgraded since its
release. Since its debut to the public at the end
bada, SAMSUNG’S OS of 2009, bada has gone from version 1.0 in May
2010 to 1.1 and 1.2, and then 2.0 in August 2011.
bada is Samsung Electronics’ homegrown The 2.0 version newly integrates around 3,000
smartphone OS. The name bada, meaning application programming interfaces (APIs)3 se-
“ocean” in Korean, was chosen to signify lected by feedback from users and developers,
boundless opportunities for all. Samsung Elec- and according to the results of technology trend
tronics intends to offer users new experiences, analysis. bada 2.0 is now a legitimate competi-
while providing developers with a development tor to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.
environment and market through its bada-pow-
ered smartphones and their applications. Its vi- In parallel with its version updates, Samsung
sion for bada is “A smartphone for everyone;” Electronics has released bada smartphones and
one that provides accessible, easy-to-use, af- applications. It rolled out Wave, the first bada
fordable smartphones with high-end features 1.0-powered smartphone model in May 2010.
(relative to the price). While the smartphone Since then, under its Wave brand, it has released
user base is fast expanding from early-adopters six different models powered by bada 1.1 or 1.2,
to the general public, unfamiliar interfaces and and three models powered by bada 2.0. Wave 3,
high prices remain obstacles. This is where bada one of the latest arrivals, was first unveiled in
phones could gain the upper hand among first- France in November 2011. In the meantime,
time smartphone buyers with their familiar in- bada applications have been distributed
terface, diverse functions, optimized perfor- through “Samsung Apps,” the bada applica-
mance, and price competitiveness. tions store, in 120 countries around the globe.
3 “API” refers to a set of routines, protocols and tools for building software applications.
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4. CHOI Eunjeong
|Figure 2 Wave Phones by bada Version
1.0 1.1 1.2 2.0
Wave Wave 525 Wave 533 Wave 575 Wave 578 Wave 723 WaveⅡ Wave 3 Wave M Wave Y
bada 1.x ( 7 phones ) bada 2.0 ( 3 phones )
Source: bada <www.bada.com>
bada, THE FIFTH LARGEST Android and Apple’s iOS performed well(in
SMARTPHONE OS terms of sales volume) in the second and third
quarters of this year, while Nokia’s Symbian
One year after its debut and the roll out of ap- and Research In Motion’s (RIM) Blackberry
plications, bada has become the fifth-largest lost share during the same period. Samsung’s
smartphone platform in the world. According bada overtook Microsoft’s Windows Mobile to
to Gartner, a market research firm, Google’s jump to fifth place.
|Figure 3 Wave 3 Applications at Samsung Apps
Source: Samsung apps <http://www.samsungapps.com/>
January 2012 | SERI Quarterly | 87

5. Samsung’s Smartphone Operating System: bada
|Table 1 World Smartphone Sales to End Users by OS
(Unit: 1,000 units, percent)
2Q 2010 2Q 2011 3Q 2011
OS (Manufacturer) Units Market Share Units Market Share Units Market Share
Android (Google) 10,652.7 17.2 46,775.9 43.4 60,490.4 52.5
Symbian (Nokia) 25,386.8 40.9 23,853.2 22.1 19,500.1 16.9
iOS (Apple) 8,743.0 14.1 19,628.8 18.2 17,295.3 15.0
Blackberry (RIM) 11,628.8 18.7 12,652.3 11.7 12,701.1 11.0
bada (Samsung) 577.0 0.9 2,055.8 1.9 2,478.5 2.2
Windows Mobile (MS) 3,058.8 4.9 1,723.8 1.6 1,701.9 1.5
Others 2,010.9 3.2 1,050.6 1.0 1,018.1 0.9
Total 62,058.1 100.0 107,740.4 100.0 115,185.4 100.0
Source: Gartner <http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1848514; http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1764714>
Sales of bada phones skyrocketed to over rise is more notable in that the wins were
2,055,000 in the second quarter of this year from achieved in only one year in competition with
less than 600,000 a year ago, with market share dominant players like iOS and Android.
gaining 1 percentage point to 1.9 percent.
Growth momentum continued into the third As bada attracts more users, its ecosystem is
quarter—sales grew by 21 percent from the sec- also gradually taking shape. Cumulative sales
ond quarter to reach 2,478,500 with the market of bada phones, a demand-side indicator, ex-
share picking up 0.3 percentage point to 2.2 per- ceeded the 10 million mark, a point generally
cent. bada was also classified into a single cate- accepted as successful for a handset model.
gory on its own for the first time (previously, it Sales volume was not achieved by a single mod-
had been lumped together with other platforms el, as was the case for Samsung Electronics’
because of its small market presence). bada’s Galaxy S, demonstrating that a worldwide mar-
|Figure 4 bada Ecosystem
Source: bada <www.bada.com>
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6. CHOI Eunjeong
ket of more than 10 million applications users
exists.
On the other hand, bada’s developer base, a sup-
ply-side indicator, is expanding through up-
grades, developer support, and the operation of
Samsung Apps. As of November 2011, the num-
ber of applications registered at the app store is
over 70,000 and the cumulative number of
downloads over 300 million. More than half the
apps registered in and downloaded from the
store are based on bada OS. Given this fact, it is
fair to say that the bada ecosystem, consisting of
the two pillars of application supply and de-
mand is now complete.
bada is more popular in
SUCCESS FACTORS Europe and emerging
Targeting of Former Low to markets. J’son &
Mid-range Feature Phone Buyers Partners Consulting, a
bada is more popular in Europe and emerging market research firm,
markets. J’son & Partners Consulting, a market
research firm, forecast bada would lift its share forecast bada would lift
|Figure 5 Key Success Factors
its share from 3.8 percent
in 2010 to 13.5 percent of
Targeting of for- the Russian market in
mer low to mid-
range feature
phone buyers
2011.
Fifth most
Differenti-
Localized widely used
ated developer
applications smartphone
incentives
OS
Technological
lead in mobile
platforms
January 2012 | SERI Quarterly | 89

7. Samsung’s Smartphone Operating System: bada
|Figure 6 bada’s Share in the Russian Market
8.3% 2.4% 3% 2% 2% 3%
15.4% 5.0% 4% 4% 5% 6%
26..3% 4.5% 10% 11%
3.8% 13.5% 15%
2.8% 16%
6.0% 11.4% 17%
25%
0.8% 33.9% 37%
45%
81.2% 71.6%
66.7% 67%
45.1% 58%
42%
30%
2008A 2009A 2010A 2011E 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q
2011A 2011A 2011E 2011F
WM Apple bada Android Symbian
Source: bada’s Russian blog <badablog.ru>
from 3.8 percent in 2010 to 13.5 percent of the others do on their more expensive smartphones.
Russian market in 2011. By then, it will be be- A survey found that 90 percent of bada phone
hind Symbian (45.1 percent) and Android (33.9 owners in France had used feature phones pre-
percent), but ahead of iOS (5 percent) and Win- viously.5
dows Mobile (2.4 percent). In the first quarter of
2011, it took up 10 percent of the market, which Differentiated Incentives for
rose to 11 percent and 15 percent in the two suc- Developers
ceeding quarters, and is expected to rise further
to 16 percent in the fourth quarter. Kantar One of bada’s biggest strengths is its use of C/
Worldpanel ComTech’s consumer panel showed C++, the most widely used programming lan-
that in the second quarter of this year, bada ac- guages for several decades. This allows C/C++
counted for 11.2 percent of the market in programmers to easily jump into the develop-
France, 4.1 percent in Germany and 3.6 percent ment of bada applications. bada’s support of
in Italy, hovering at a global market share of 1.9 web standards, including HTML5, JavaScript,
percent as estimated by Gartner.4 and the Wholesale Application Community
(WAC), is also a significant attraction for web-
bada phones are popular in areas where feature based applications developers. Web-based ap-
phones are still the norm because they provide plications have significant growth potential be-
users with a smartphone experience at an af- cause they run on any OS or device with a web
fordable price. In France, iPhones sell at €163 browser.
and Android phones at €71, but bada phones
only cost €47. bada phone owners can browse The second incentive for developers is bada’s di-
the Internet and install applications just like verse promotional events. bada Developer Day,
4 Guardian <http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jul/11/ios-android-blackberry-smartphone-data>
5 Cellular-news.com <http://www.cellular-news.com/story/49186.php>
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8. CHOI Eunjeong
|Table 2 Programming Languages by Smartphone OS
Ranking by number of developers
OS (Manufacturer) Languages Release Year
1996 2006 2011
bada (Samsung) C/C++ 1972/1983 1/2 2/3 2/3
Android (Google) Java 1995 5 1 1
iOS (Apple) Objective C 1983 - 42 5
Windows Mobile (MS) C# 2001 - 8 4
Source: TiOBE <http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html>
a showcase for developers, was held in 40 coun-
tries in 2010 and is scheduled to be held in 18
countries this year. bada applications develop- AlloCine
ment contests have been held both locally and AlloCine is a free movie guide application available in
globally since 2010. The Global Developer France. It provides access to 80,000 films, filmographies
Challenge 2010, in particular, attracted 2,077 in- for 350,000 actors/actresses, high quality movie trailers,
dividuals or corporate teams from 54 countries and a GPS-based theater finder. In the future, a database
who competed for $2.7 million in cash prizes. of about 6,000 TV shows and ticket buying in advance
The bada 2.0 Power App Race is now being will be available on the app.
held globally for bada 2.0 developers.
Samsung has a support program for developers, TV and movie guide apps were ranked first and
an incentive that is not available if they develop third for some time in France, respectively.
apps for other platforms. In the program, indi- Train schedule applications topped the list in It-
vidual developers or small firms can borrow aly, followed by movie and recipe apps. In the
necessary devices after a simple evaluation pro- Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe,
cess, and access free one-on-one services if they Quran and prayer apps for Muslims are popu-
face difficulties while developing apps. To sup- lar, and in China, a country with vast land, por-
port the developer community, Samsung oper- tal apps offering regional information have be-
ates an “Ocean Center” in Korea where devel- come popular. This popularity is a result of
opers can secure office space, devices, training Samsung’s commitment to tailored apps that
opportunities, and other necessary support. reflect each country or region’s distinctive cul-
ture and lifestyle.
Localized Applications
What is more notable is the quality of the apps.
In countries with a high percentage of bada us- Unlike Google’s Android Market, Samsung
ers, localized applications rank higher in Sam- Apps offers tested and proven apps only, in-
sung Apps’ most popular apps list. For instance, creasing the public’s awareness of bada apps as
January 2012 | SERI Quarterly | 91

9. Samsung’s Smartphone Operating System: bada
a “necessity with proven quality”. This, in turn as a multipoint touch screen, 3D graphics, an
encourages the use of bada apps and the pur- enhanced user interface (UI), and application
chase of bada phones. downloading/installing. In other words, bada
was built upon SHP, the DNA for success of
The development and distribution of applica- Anycall, Samsung’s most successful mobile
tions determines the viability of a smartphone phone brand, based on expertise in mobile plat-
OS. Given this, the popularity of locally-spe- forms the company accumulated over the last
cialized apps can serve as the main locomotive decade.
for bada OS in its rise in the global smartphone
market.
OUTLOOK & IMPLICATIONS
Technological Lead in Mobile
Platforms The outlook for bada is bright. Google’s acqui-
sition of Motorola Mobility last August raised
The origin of bada dates back to 2000 when the possibility that the global IT giant will
Samsung Electronics’ software center devel-
oped the Mocha (Modular & Configurable |Figure 7 Samsung’s Proprietary Mobile Platforms
Handset S/W Architecture) mobile platform.
Mocha was capable of 3G video calls in the ear-
ly 2000s when 2G was the mainstream mobile
technology. The platform played an essential
role when Samsung Electronics launched the
first 3G handset (SGH-Z100) in Europe in 2003. Mocha
After that, Samsung rose from being a minor
player to a leader of 3G mobile communica- SGH-Z100 (2003)
tions in the region’s mobile communications First 3G mobile phone in Europe
market. This provided the opportunity for the
global mobile industry to recognize Samsung’s
technological expertise in mobile platforms.
Later, Mocha evolved into SHP (Samsung
Handset Platform), one of the company’s major SHP
mobile platforms. SHP was used for 50 to 60
million handsets (25-30 percent) out of 200 mil- ‘Star’ GT-S5230 (2009)
Sales of over 30 million
lion units the company produces a year. Benz
(SGH-Z500), Soul (SGH-U900) and STAR (GT-
S5230) are examples of such mobile phones. So
far, STAR has sold over 30 million units, next
only to E250 in the list of best-selling mobile
phones by Samsung Electronics.
bada
SHP, a platform that spearheaded Samsung’s ‘Wave 3’ GT-S8600 (2011)
spectacular success in the mobile phone busi- Powered by bada 2.0
ness, led to bada, with augmented features such
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10. CHOI Eunjeong
launch a hardware manufacturing business. ties for the expansion of the Android OS. Still,
Samsung Electronics who had until then de- this does not mean that bada is immune to all
pended heavily on the Android platform, re- patent infringement possibilities. Before open-
sponded by announcing its intention to use ing bada, the company has to scrutinize all pos-
bada more aggressively to build a major smart- sibilities and clear the way for bada through
phone platform. Although the bada platform is cross-licensing and other measures.
not open to other handset manufacturers at Translation: BYUN Ha-Na
present, over the long term, the company plans
to supply it for free to grow its business. Keywords
bada, smartphone operating system, bada phones,
In this rapidly changing smartphone market, iOS, Android, Blackberry
Samsung needs something unique to realize its
ambitious plans for bada. Above all, it needs to
have superior technology to compete with rivals
on performance, rather than price. So far, the
company has overcome bada phones’ relatively
low performance by strategically positioning
them as low- to mid-end devices, achieving a
measure of success. Nevertheless, it needs to ad-
just this strategy as cheap smartphones quickly
come online. Samsung needs to upgrade bada
into a dual core platform that can handle multi-
tasking and HD video as quickly as possible,
while developing bada’s distinctive features.
Second, the company should further expand
the bada ecosystem. Some say the bada ecosys-
tem has already entered the stabilization stage
thanks to the continued increase in the sales of
devices and the number of bada apps. Critics,
however, point out that the ecosystem has not
been fully activated and is not used by many
compared to iOS or Android. Accordingly,
Samsung has to consider integrating bada OS
not only into its handsets but into other elec-
tronic devices it produces as well, including TVs
and cameras.
The last factor to consider is the possibility of
patent lawsuits if the company opens bada to
other manufacturers. Unlike Java-based An- CHOI Eunjeong is a research fellow at SERI. Her current re-
droid, bada is free from Java-related patents search focuses on software and services in the area of Informa-
tion and Communications Technology. She holds a PhD in In-
held by Oracle, who has demanded royalties of dustrial & Systems Engineering from KAIST. Contact: eunjeongc.
$15-20 for each Android phone, causing difficul- choi@samsung.com
January 2012 | SERI Quarterly | 93