Samsung’s own take on operating systems, the bada OS, will get a lot of new features in its upcoming 2.0 version, which is set for release in the first half of 2011. Sammy promises an improved user interface along with Near-Field Communication (NFC) support and SDK support for Linux and Mac.

As you have probably heard, NFC provides safe transactions including mobile phone payments and support for it is a welcome addition to the OS. The recently launched Google Nexus S heralds the technology’s launch in the United States and we expect to hear much more about it next year.

The bada OS made its debut on the Samsung Wave, the first device to showcase the Super AMOLED technology. And while there weren’t many devices following, the operating system is growing steadily and Samsung expects to sell 10 million handsets of the Wave series by the end of the first half of 2011. Currently, sales are expected to reach nearly 5 million Wave phones by the end of 2010.

The Samsung Wave was released with the first version of bada in the summer of 2010. Currently, the OS stands at version 1.2 with some minor tweaks over the original release. Even though we find bada to be pretty responsive, it is still lagging significantly in apps and functionality in comparison to iOS and Android. Do you think that it could find its place among other operating systems out there? Let us know and check out Samsung’s expectations for bada below.

source: Samsung Hub

On an award ceremony held today Samsung marked the first anniversary of its own mobile OS bada, that is supposed to gradually replace the software in its feature phones. There are already six phones in the Wave family, from the lowly Samsung Wave 525, to the original Samsung Wave, which was the first phone with the groundbreaking Super AMOLED screen and Hummingbird chipset technologies, developed by Samsung.

At the conference, held today in Seoul, Samsung made good on its promise to distribute a few million dollars among developers with the best bada applications. The grand prize of, hold tight… $300 000, went to the Polish developers’ shop Mooncoder, for creating a 3D yacht racing game, called “Little Sailor”. The bada Developer Challenge had 2,077 teams from 54 countries participating in it, but only 34 applications made the cut, and won $2.7 million in total.

To share the festivities with bada users, which are supposed to reach 5 million by the end of the year, Samsung will have 31 of the 34 applications for free until the end of December. Samsung Apps is now available in 118 countries, and the free apps are visible everywhere, so hurry up if you have a Samsung Wave or a Samsung Wave II, and see for yourself what a $300 000 yacht game looks like. A list of the freebies is in the source link.

source: Samsung via SlashPhone