Samsung, which is attempting to take on Microsoft, Google and Apple in the smartphone software market with its new bada operating system, has said that it is set to tip over $120 million dollars into trying to get a foothold in the software application market.

Choi Jee-sung, Samsung’s chief executive officer, told reporters at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week that the ompany would continue to pump millions into the project.The world’s second largest mobile phone manufacturer is trying to grow market share in the smartphone segment with a “changed” marketing strategy that emphasises content, apps and services over hardware design and functionality.

The company expects to bring its app store to 50 countries this year and has released a software development kit for its quasi-open-source bada operating system.

In Australia, several software developers that already have applications running on the Apple iPhone and are now developing for the Google Android platform have said that they will not develop for the Samsung platform, with several claiming that they will only develop for the platform if Samsung pays for all of their development work.

Samsung’s bada platform supports multi-touch and the company’s custom TouchWiz 3.0 interface. TouchWiz handles widgets and features a combined inbox that manages contacts from phone, email, and updates from social media sites. The company launched its first bada phone, the Wave, earlier in the week, with Telstra executives telling SmartHouse that they will not be ranging the new phone.

Samsung plans to triple the number of smartphones it shipped last year. It will continue to develop phones for other mobile operating systems, including Android, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. It is also committed to the Wholesale Applications Community, a consortium of phone manufacturers and networks that includes rivals LG and Sony Ericsson.