The majority of smartphone users have never heard of Tizen. Neither possess automobiles nor refrigerators. Image from article That is not what Samsung Electronics Co. wants to change. The South Korean electronics giant is in a quiet push to make its Tizen operating system a part of the technology lexicon as familiar as Google’s Android or Apple’s iOS. Its ambition doesn’t stop there. Samsung sees the software in your car, fridge and television too.
After two days, the first Tizen developer conference in Asia concluded on Tuesday, bringing together mobile operators, Samsung, Intel, and app developers. Samsung did not announce a Tizen device, but it made a pitch for developers to create apps for the mobile operating system that is yet to be seen in the market. Samsung promised the best Tizen app developers a cash prize of $4 million. Samsung supplied about one third of the smartphones sold worldwide in the third quarter, nearly all of them running on Google’s Android. Samsung benefited from its early bet on Google’s free operating system, and the company’s rise to the top smartphone seller also helped Android become the most widely used mobile platform worldwide. According to Localytics, 63 percent of all Android mobile devices in use are made by Samsung.
However, despite Samsung’s phenomenal success in selling its Galaxy smartphones and tablets, the company struggled to entice users to subscribe to its music, messaging, and other services. Google, however, benefited from more people using its search service, Google Play app and other Google mobile applications on Galaxy smartphones. Owners of Galaxy devices remain for the most part a slave to Google’s Android update schedule and its rules.
About nine in every 10 smartphone users are tied to either Google’s Android or Apple’s iPhone ecosystems, generating profit for Google and Apple every time they purchase a game or application on their smartphone.
Samsung wants to build its own mobile operating system in part because it wants to control software as well as hardware. According to Kang Yeen-kyu, an associate research fellow at the government-run Korea Information Society Development Institute, “With only hardware, its influence is limited.” “Samsung’s goal is to establish an ecosystem centered on Samsung.”
These trends are reflected in the recent consolidation of global technology companies. For the iPhone, Apple has always developed its own operating system. Samsung is the only major player in the smartphone market that does not produce its own operating system. Google Inc. bought Motorola Mobility in 2011 and Microsoft Corp. said it would buy Nokia Corp. in September. Analysts were told last week by executives at Samsung that the company intends to increase its software competitiveness through acquisitions and spending money on the creation of mobile content and services. However, Tizen’s start appears to be bumpy. Samsung said earlier this year the first Tizen phone would hit the market this fall but it has not materialized. Samsung declined to comment on release schedules.
Analysts said Samsung is unlikely to reveal the first Tizen device until February of next year, when the company said it will announce the winners of its Tizen app contest, despite Choi Jong-deok, Samsung’s executive vice president overseeing Tizen, saying a launch of Tizen phones or televisions will occur “very shortly.” During the developer conference, Samsung gave more clues about how its first Tizen device would look.
Tizen would work across a vast range of consumer electronics made by Samsung, encompassing mobile devices, televisions, fridges as well as wearable devices. The mobile operating system will also work with automobiles. According to Samsung and Intel, Toyota Motor Corp. and Jaguar Land Rover are collaborating to introduce Tizen OS to automobiles. “You can build an application once and relatively easily move from device to device,” Mark Skarpness, director of systems engineering at Intel Corp., told the conference.
Samsung and Intel are also aiming to capture a bigger share of business in emerging markets where demand for cheaper smartphones is growing. Skarpness said future versions of Tizen will support lower-end phones, the same direction that Google is taking with its latest version of Android, KitKat.
