Samsung Bada OS to take open source route?

Samsung was certainly bold when they decided to venture into the world of mobile operating systems with the Bada OS a couple of years ago, and sad to say it did not really take off as much as the suits at Samsung would have liked – I presume this is no biggie to Samsung since they’re doing extremely well with Android-powered smartphones in their stable.

Word on the street (or rather, from the Wall Street Journal) has it that the South Korean conglomerate is looking to give Bada OS a much-needed shot in the arm – by making it open source for developers and other manufacturers. It seems that the storybook “person familiar with the situation” knows what’s going on inside, with Samsung not keen on acquiring another operating system (webOS, anyone?), but rather prefers to strengthen its independence from Android assuming things turn sour after that.

What do you think? Will this cause an explosion of Samsung handsets running on the Bada OS in the future?