Rumours that Samsung will launch at least one Tizen-powered smartphone in 2013 continue to gather steam. According to Japanese Daily Yomiuri, the smartphone will be sold through Japanese carrier NTT Docomo Inc. which is also getting involved in the development of the Tizen mobile operating system. It could also also make its way to Europe although it’s not clear whether it would reach North American shores.
Samsung and NTT DoCoMo are hoping that they will be able to establish Tizen as an alternative to industry heavyweights Android and iOS. NTT DoCoMO is also hoping that Tizen will allow it to reverse subscriber losses caused by the fact that it is the only Japanese carrier not to offer the iPhone.
There have been a number of rumours about a Tizen-powered smartphone in the past year. There were rumbles about Tizen-powered Galaxy smartphone last September and the Tizen-powered Samsung GT-I9525 popped up on a benchmarking site in November.
Tizen, first announced in September 2011, is a Linux-based open source software platform backed by Intel, the Linux Foundation, LiMo Foundation, Samsung and others. It builds upon older platforms such as LiMo and MeeGo and is designed to support multiple device categories ranging from smartphones to netbooks and in-vehicle infotainment devices.
It appears that 2013 will see a number of mobile operating systems do battle to establish themselves as a credible third option. Windows Phone 8 debuted earlier this year, BlackBerry 10 will launch on January 30th, and now Tizen is jumping into the mix. It will be interesting to see which remain standing a year from now.
Sources : Daily Yomiuri // CNET