Samsung, Docomo to ship first Tizen smartphone in early 2013
updated 12:59 pm EST, Mon December 31, 2012
Open mobile operating system to spread across Asia, Europe
Samsung is to launch its first Tizen-based smartphone in 2013, according to reports. The open-source operating system, being developed in partnership with NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone, Intel and others, will apparently appear on a handset in Japan in early 2013, and will spread to other Asian and European countries shortly afterwards.
Tizen is said to be a scalable operating system that will be able to run on a variety of devices, ranging from smartphones and tablets, to desktop computers and smart appliances, and will be able to run Android apps using Open Mobile's Application Compatibility Layer. The creation of Tizen stems from a number of carriers being restricted in terms of what they can add to devices they supply to customers, and sees Tizen as having a “truly open project and governance structure” in comparison to Android, citing Google's apparent control over the operating system.
The report by Daily Yomiuri Online claims that DoCoMo is suffering from a large number of contract cancellations, partly due to DoCoMo being the only main carrier in Japan that does not stock the iPhone in its catalog. The company hopes that the trend will reverse after the first Tizen OS products are released, especially considering that in November, the number of canceled contracts exceeded new contracts for the first time in five years.
Rumors of a Samsung-created Tizen smartphone have previously suggested that a version of the flagship Galaxy S III has already made an appearance, undergoing Wi-Fi certification. If true, it is likely that the handset will make another appearance at Mobile World Congress in February.
