Today, Samsung confirmed to Bloomberg that they are planning to ship multiple Tizen smartphones this year. The Tizen platform shares much of the same things as Samsung’s own abandoned project, Bada OS, won’t be a wide release, but their impact on Samsung’s strategy could be a bit far-reaching.
Starting in September, 2012, rumors had surfaced that Samsung would release a few Tizen-based smartphones under the Galaxy brand, which so far has been mostly Android exclusive. Even Windows Phone doesn’t have Galaxy devices from Samsung. But would Samsung take a hiatus from Android to focus on Tizen OS? I think not. Samsung would be pretty stupid to take a break from Android for a new OS which no one has really tried yet. Android has made Samsung Mobile most of their money and given them the most of their market share.
Just think of an Android world without the most popular OEM in 2013. That’s a world I won’t want to live in. You’d be left with HTC, Motorola, LG, Huawei, ZTE, etc. Without Samsung producing Android handsets, the other’s won’t be innovating as much. And what if Tizen OS is a flop? And no one buys it. But looking at the other side, it could be Samsung’s chance to have their own ecosystem similar to Amazon and their Kindle Fire line. While it’s unlikely, it is still a possibility.
We don’t have much of a clue when these new Tizen devices from Samsung will be announced, but I doubt they’ll make it to the US anytime soon. But who knows, Samsung could surprise us and show off some Tizen-based devices at CES next week, or next month in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress. More than likely they won’t be introduced until later this year, around IFA (mid-August).
Would you buy a Samsung device with a brand new smartphone OS? Let us know in the comments what you think.