Samsung courts mobile developers with open platform, dinner.

Samsung played “wait and see” for quite some time on mobile apps, but it is now taking some serious steps towards attracting mobile developers. Today it announced the launch of an open mobile platform, with a Software Development Kit (SDK) that will help developers to create apps for millions of Samsung devices.

This isn’t such a surprising development, as Samsung has been moving this direction for a while. It has limited developer tools available for a few months, in the form of the Samsung Mobile Innovator site. More importantly, in late October Samsung joined the Join Innovation Lab (JIL) – a body founded by mobile operators to overcome fragmentation in the mobile OS, apps and services market. This was a big move. Before Samsung joined (along with three other manufacturers, including RIM) the JIL had been comprised only of operators.

What’s the new platform like?

It’s called bada, which apparently is Korean for “ocean”. The name was chosen for a reason – it is meant to convey the limitless nature of the service. After all, Samsung is part of JIL, so we can expect an overlap between the Samsung SDK and those of other operators and phone makers.

Samsung has held “user-friendly” to be an important aspect of bada. It claims that the UI is easy and intuitive to use, but allows the sophistication required for cutting-edge developers. We can’t actually judge that yet, unfortunately, as the SDK won’t be available until December!

Dr Hosoo Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Media Solution Center at Samsung Electronics said that “by opening Samsung’s mobile platforms we will be able to provide rich mobile experiences on an increasing number of accessible smartphones. bada will be Samsung’s landmark, iconic new platform that brings an unprecedented opportunity for operators, developers and Samsung mobile phone users around the world.”

The bada site is open from today, and the SDK will be shown for the first time tonight at a special event for developers in London.

What we think?

Man, people treat developers so nicely these days. It’s not like before, when being an app developer got you a haughty demeanor and a bag of crusty rinds (if you were lucky). These days it’s all workshops, APIs and dinner engagements. It’s almost like something has changed. It’s almost like manufacturers and operators alike have realised that people are more interesting in the content of a phone than the phone itself, and that developers are the best source of content you could possibly hope to tap.