Samsung Electronics, the Korean manufacturer of mobile phones is currently the world’s leading smartphone manufacturer. Samsung’s Android powered handsets are doing extremely well and it seems illogical for them to be concentrating on any other smartphone OS platform.
However that is exactly what it is doing. In a statement released yesterday, Samsung has revealed that it would soon start selling smartphones based on the Intel backed Tizen operating system later this year.
“We plan to release new, competitive Tizen devices within this year and will keep expanding the lineup depending on market conditions”, the statement said. What however Samsung did not reveal was details regarding the models or the kind if specifications these handsets would sport.
Samsung’s strategy seems to be very clear. As of now, it is heavily dependent on Google’s Android platform. Google in a way is also Samsung’s competitor considering the fact that the software giant now also owns Samsung’s rival – Motorola. In the long run, Samsung seems to be looking to reduce its dependency on Android. As for Tizen, this new smartphone operating system is the brainchild of executives from Intel, Samsung, NTT DoCoMo and Vodafone. Intel’s involvement in this space is of particular interest considering the fact that they have not been very big in the mobile space – which is currently dominated by Qualcomm and Samsung.
Tizen has also been in the news recently when it was recently reported that Samsung would soon release a Tizen-based smartphone in Japan through wireless carrier NTT Docomo.
This is not the first time that Samsung has shown keen interest in platforms other than Android. The company also makes Windows Phone powered devices and in the past, we have seen them come up with their own bada operating system – which didn’t do that well. Samsung however is hopeful to taste success with the Tizen.
