Samsung launches Bada 2.0 SDK and plans more Wave smartphones
Samsung has released the Bada 2.0 SDK and set its sights on extending the reach of the operating system by launching high-end smartphones later this year. — Bada 2.0 will pack some major updates, including support for multi-tasking …
Context & Ripple Effects
Samsung is running a deliberate two-track OS strategy. Its Android ambitions go back years — from the planned Google Phone in 2009 through the Android lineup Forbes covered in April 2009 — and the Galaxy S II is now positioned internally as its best shot at cutting into the iPhone's share. Alongside that, it has kept Bada alive since the original Wave S8500 surfaced in leaked photos in February 2010.
The Bada 2.0 SDK, with multitasking headlining the update, lands days before Samsung's September 1 IFA event in Berlin, where the confirmed lineup includes the Galaxy Tab 7.7, the Galaxy Note, and a Wave 3 — the high-end Wave hardware meant to give the refreshed OS a flagship to ride on.
First-order effects
- Bada developers can finally build against multitasking via the new SDK, closing one of the platform's most visible gaps against iOS and Android just as third-party apps matter more for a phone launch.
- The Wave 3's expected IFA debut gives Samsung a concrete vehicle for moving Bada upmarket this year rather than keeping it confined to budget handsets.
Second-order effects
- A premium Wave competes for shelf space with Samsung's own Galaxy line, forcing the company to segment pricing so Bada targets buyers Android would otherwise capture — an internal cannibalization trade-off unique to a dual-OS vendor.
- Carriers and emerging-market distributors gain a third smartphone platform beyond the iOS-Android duopoly, giving Samsung leverage in carrier negotiations that a pure Android licensee would lack.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, major Android OEMs treat in-house OSes as strategic hedges — insurance against Google's terms shifting — which fragments developer attention across platforms and raises the cost of writing for any single mobile ecosystem.
The trend: Top-tier Android handset makers are building proprietary OS fallbacks alongside their Google-powered flagships, using SDK refreshes and premium hardware to keep those alternatives credible.