Setting sail
But Samsung obviously wants to test the waters and see whether its new OS can sink or swim. The firm may also be targeting those users who don't own high-end smartphones, but who want some app functionality anyway.
By allowing developers to tweak already existing smartphone apps and subsequently make them available to a plethora of averagely smart phones, Samsung just might be in with a slim chance.
Releasing the OS is also a symptom of the fear many handset makers are currently feeling vis a vis Google's free and open Android, which telcos are lapping up.
Before Android, phone makers had previously been able to exert a fair bit of control over their devices, their pricing and what could and could not be done on them. But Android has helped to commoditise handsets and open up an easy development environment that is genuinely independent. This, needless to say, scares the likes of Samsung witless.
No doubt the firm will be doing all it can to woo developers over the coming months, with the full SDK and handset simulator to be released next month. There will also be developer conferences in Seoul, Korea, as well as events in London and San Francisco in January.
In other words, if you're going to build an ocean, you may as well dive in head first.
