There is still time to enter the Global bada Developer Challenge - submissions for the first round are being accepted until August 31st and there is a pot of $2,700,000 to be won. If you are wondering what bada is read on.

bada is a new open platform OS and eco system for Samsung mobile devices.

Currenlty bada is hardly a competitor in the same race as iOS 4, Android, or any of the well known mobile platforms - but Samsung aim to change this with an invitation to compete in the bada Developer Challenge

The incentive is $2.7 million in prizes.

To enter you need to sign up as a bada developer and register. You can then download not only the SDK/IDE but also your personalised manifest.xml file that contains the application ID, privileges, application features, and other design and runtime information.

You then develop your application (write code, design the UI, build, and debug), test it with the Simulator and submit your application for the Simulator Phase judging - all this by the August 31st deadline.

In September 300 qualifiers will receive Samsung Wave phones and the top 90 qualifiers continue on to the Device Phase.

Submission for this second stage is from October 1st to 23rd and in November the winners of 56 prizes  will be announced.

There are seven 1st place prizes of $100,000 dollars and eight  2nd place  ($60,000) and 3rd place prizes ($40,000) for the following categories.

• Mates and dates
  How do people manage their social (and love) life in the mobile world?
• Entertain me
  When you are stuck in a meeting, on a bus, or in a waiting room, what kind of an application makes the time pass by?
• Freaks and geeks
  What kind of an application appeals to someone who is obsessed with mobiles and gadgets?
• Easy life
  What kind of an application helps us make the most of our spare time and enjoy it more?
• In the workplace
  What kind of an application can make us more productive, profitable and perhaps less reliant on the physical office?
• On the road
  What kind of an application makes our mobile the most valuable piece of equipment that we have when we travel.
• Older and wiser
  People use mobiles to assist them with their studies, hobbies and family matters. What kind of an application can help these people get more from their device?
• Down to business
  What kind of an application or service can generate revenue?

The bada OS uses a C++ based API and the SDK which includes an emulator can be downloaded for free. Development is done in C++.

To help you get started free sample chapters of a forthcoming book, Introduction to bada: A Developer’s Guide can be downloaded from the Wiley website.

There's also a bada Developers website with tutorials, a developers guide, an application UI guide, and all the tools needed to proceed including the SDK/IDE.

Clearly there is a lot on offer and it will be interesting to see how effective it is in raising the profile of this currently ignored platform.

The bada website is at http://developer.bada.com/