Radikally Different - Our World View

Is Tizen the Future of All Samsung Smart Devices

In a world where mobile technology is mostly governed by two major platforms – Android and iOS, the wave of a third force might have just surged. Although it is too early to predict anything, the fact that Samsung’s firm support behind the operating system Tizen can give rise to immense possibilities, should not be ruled out.

The Linux kernel based OS Tizen is a project of the Linux Foundation and is managed by the Technical Steering Group (TSG) of which Samsung and Intel are a part. While Linux and Samsung have been associated with Tizen since its early days, Intel joined later.

The operating system Tizen is already an integral part of the Galaxy Gear smartwatches. In fact, this year in January, after Samsung released the low-priced Tizen supported smartphone called Samsung Z1 in India and Bangladesh, the device soon emerged as Bangladesh’s best selling smartphone. Following this Samsung even revealed its intention of expanding the Tizen market. In fact, this OS is expected hit the European markets soon.

The smart watch Gear 2 and smartphone Z3 are the latest Tizen based tech devices that Samsung plans to roll out shortly.

Speaking of Tizen and its endless possibilities, Samsung CEO, JK Shin had said Tizen is more than a “simple alternative for Android.”  Interestingly, Tizen has recently surpassed Firefox to become the fifth largest smartphone OS by volume in the second quarter of 2015. The company strongly feels that adopting Tizen would allow them to offer “cross-convergence” between their smartphones, PCs, cameras, cars, biotechnology, banks, etc.

Tizen is an Open Source platform that allows developers to create applications for the supported devices by using HTML5 and related web technologies. This operating system offers application development tools based on jQuery and jQuery Mobile. Tizen supports ARM and x86 processors and has been specifically designed for smartphones, tablets, TVs, in-vehicle navigation systems and more. Samsung who has already established Tizen as a dominant OS for its line of wearables also intends to do the same for all its upcoming television sets.

Known as the Tizen Store, the app store for this new OS is currently available in 182 countries with 1,000 apps registered on it. While this is just the beginning, Samsung will soon have to pace up with the number of apps for Tizen to turn into a widely used platform for smartphones and other devices. While Tizen does not officially support Android apps, OpenMobile’s ACL (Application Compatibility Layer) enable users to install specific Android apps.

True that Samsung did not have a smooth start with its Android alternative OS Tizen but now that one of the world’s popular smartphone brands has already started viewing its own custom OS as a feasible option for Android and iOS, every move that Samsung makes with its Tizen based OS will keep developers alert. Going by this, one cannot help but question whether the future will see Tizen dominating the Samsung flagship smartphones or not.