Android Plays, bada on the Bench

Take couple of stepchild Linux-based operating systems, stir well, and you might get one of the biggest threats to the Android platform.  Samsung plans to merge bada and Tizen to replace the Android. Samsung is biggest Android vendor in the world and most profitable one, so why the switch? Taking a look at the big picture, what is the bada's purpose?

Long time ago, before IBM sold PC manufacturing to Lenovo, it offered both Windows and Linux desktops. Some say that even today Linux on the desktop sucks; back then, it sucked big time. IBM offered it to keep its big and nasty partner under control: Microsoft. Microsoft applied all kind of pressure to its partners to sell more Windows licenses for more under terms that they dictated. They could, because there was nothing else hardware vendors could offer. But not IBM; one of the main purposes of the Linux desktops were to tell Microsoft "look, if you don't play nice with us, we have viable alternative to Windows".

Samsung is as huge in smartphone market as IBM was with PCs. They don't want to be pushed around and they need something to negotiate with mobile OS vendors, Google being the most important one. They also don't like Google's acquisition of Motorola. So whenever they are not happy with them, they can play bada card, either as threat or for real. But I don't think that Samsung will abandon Android:

• Samsung is the biggest Android vendor. Other vendors are not even close. Only other company that makes money on Android is much smaller HTC. Yes, Google bought Motorola, but it doesn't mean that Motorola will, by some magic, turn into profitable company that makes more appealing phones than Samsung. Androids success depends heavily on Samsung.
• Samsung has brand name on its own. They invest heavily in advertising and improving their brand image. People will buy Samsung indepedent of operating system. As Android is popular and probaly cheapest, why not keep it?
• Samsung created their own user experience. Yes, many people hate TouchWiz, but then many like it. Before 4.0, stock Android looked awful. I would take TouchWiz over stock any day. Samsung created different and recognizable interface with faithful followers.
• Samsung makes money on hubs. Last year, when I opened Samsung Apps on Samsung Ace, it told me that I cannot buy anything. Google forced vendors to use Google's market. This year, I can buy applications directly from Samsung. And not just applications; there is Music Hub and Games Hub and who knows what else will come in the future.

So there you have it. Samsung is a big dog in Android world, they have a lot of ammo for negotiations, and they are making a lots of money. Would you abandon Android if you were Samsung? Or would you rather fork it?

Google I/O is next week on 27th, so expect next story after start of the event.