RUMOR: SAMSUNG'S BADA MOBILE OS TO GO OPEN SOURCE

Samsung launched its own smartphone OS, Bada, almost two years ago and so far adoption by consumers, and developers, has been lukewarm at best. If a Wall Street Journal rumor is true however all that may change. According to the report Samsung is going to make Bada open source for developers and manufacturers. Citing the usual "person familiar with the situation", Samsung apparently isn't interested in snagging any outside companies like, say, webOS, but wants to strengthen its independence from Android after Google announced it will purchase Motorola. Right now, it feels like we've already seen this story play out for the still-kicking Symbian. On the other hand, maybe Samsung, with its massive manufacturing capabilities and current hit-making prowess, can strike the right balance of hardware, software and apps to make it worthwhile.

SAMSUNG TO RELEASE CHATON APP FOR iOS, ANDROID, BB AND BADA

Samsung has promised ChatOn for “all major smartphone platforms,” which appears to mean Android, iOS, BlackBerry, and Bada right now. With Samsung also developing Windows phones, it wouldn’t be surprising to see ChatOn appear there, too. Users will be able to send messages and photos, as well as share calendar items. Samsung’s also going to release a web client for carrying on conversations from any device with a modern browser.

SAMSUNG BADA 2.0 ENHANCEMENTS ANNOUNCED; INCLUDES MULTI-TASKING, PUSH AND UPDATED UI

Samsung took some time at a developer day event in South Korea to note that it will have sold 5 million Bada-powered Wave phones when 2010 comes to an end. It also projects sales of more than 10 million Wave devices in the first half of 2011 alone. Most of the attention at the event, however, was focused on the host of features Samsung said it will introduce in version 2 of its in-house mobile operating system. Among the more notable additions making their way to Bada 2.0 are third-party multitasking support, push notification support, an updated UI that will include a “smart home-screen,” enhanced security, an integrated ad network, carrier billing support, HTML5, NFC and speech recognition. Needless to say, Bada 2.0 is set to be a huge update that could put Bada on par with most modern smartphone operating systems when it launches in the first half of 2011. [BGR]

SAMSUNG "PRIORITIZING OUR ANDROID PLATFORM"

Speaking to Reuters at the IFA, Samsung's head of marketing for the mobile division, YH Lee, stated flatly "we are prioritizing our Android platform," and also "Android is very open and flexible, and there is a consumer demand for it."

This can't be good news for Microsoft who saw Samsung as a key partner in Windows Phone 7 (WP7) .  When asked specifically about WP7, Lee said "there is still some professional, specialized demand there."

Samsung will still also concentrate on their own Bada OS, at least outside the US where it is more popular.