Tag: tizen

Samsung confirms Tizen TV move

Posted on January 2, 2015 by - News

tv58Samsung has confirmed that it is moving all its new smart television products launched in 2015 to its operating system which is named after a particularly loud sneeze.

Tizen will give smart tellies additional software and connectivity functions, such as video streaming and web browsing capabilities.

Kim Hyun-suk, Samsung’s president of visual display business said that while Samsung is focusing on Tizen, the hope was that other TV makers will follow suit and help build an ecosystem that will help the platform grow.

Televisions are only part of Samsung’s Tizen plans. The idea is that a few smartwatches and cameras will also use it.

Samsung has been keen to move to Tizen to break it free from Google’s iron grip with its Android platform. Some pundits think that it will not take off until Samsung builds a successful smartphone with it.

This will encourage developers to write software for Tizen.  Certainly TVs will increase the platform’s user base, even if it is not the normal sort of market developers write for.

 

Android to swamp 2015 smartphone market

Posted on December 31, 2014 by - News

7d0b48c2aafb49dba955a982d484463eNext year could see the rise of the new Android defeating platforms, according to new research.

Sales of smartphones based on newly emerging platforms, including Android One, Firefox OS and Tizen, are expected to increase significantly in 2015.

According to beancounters at Gartner,  the ratio of feature phones to total global handset shipments already dropped to 34 percent in the third quarter of 2014 and is expected to dip to as low as 10 percent in 2018.

The narrowing price gap between smartphones and feature phones is the main reason for feature phone subscribers to switch to smartphones.

Microsoft Mobile’s decision to phase out its feature phones has also encouraged handset makers to roll out more Android One-, Firefox- and Tizen-based models, priced from$50-100, to cash in.

Mozilla teamed up with China-based handset makers including TCL, ZTE, Huawei as well as chipset vendor Spreadtrum Communications to form a supply chain for Firefox smartphones.

In cooperation with regional telecom operators, the Firefox supply chain has launched 14 models in 30 markets. Some Firefox models available in the Philippines and India are even priced below US$30.

In reply, Google has been promoting Android One smartphones and with Micromax to promote Android One smartphones in India and chipset vendors Qualcomm and MediaTek and handset vendors HTC, Asustek Computer, Acer and Lenovo to develop next generation Android One phones, which are expected to come in the first half of 2015.

But it faces some competition from Samsung with its first Tizen-based smartphone, the Z1, in early 2015. The Z1 is expected to come with a 4-inch display, 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and priced below US$100.

 

Samsung delays Tizen

Posted on July 29, 2014 by - News

tizen-(1)Samsung’s plans to get its Tizen phone into the shops have been delayed, with the initial planned third quarter launch in Russia abandoned.

The Korean electronics maker had been hoping that Tizen would cut its dependency on Android.

The phone was supposed to be tried out in Russia sometime in the third quarter, but Samsung said it needed more time to enhance the “Tizen ecosystem.”

This comes as no real surprise as there had been rumblings at a recent Tizen developer’ conference two weeks ago, but this was put down to a dodgy fish supper.

Samsung did not say exactly what was wrong with Tizen but it would appear to be concerns about the availability of apps and related services that are needed to make the product sell.

Network operators NTT DoCoMo and France’s Orange pulled out of promotional campaigns launching the Tizen phone because of a lack of Apps.

Samsung has already launched Tizen smartwatches and cameras, but wants to get it into smartphones so that it has greater control over its phones operating system. Its license agreement with Google restricts its freedom to make more than cosmetic changes to the Android system.