Samsung's Tizen Phone Delayed Again
The Wall Street Journal reports that Samsung has once again delayed the release of its first phone running Tizen, the company's own open source mobile platform. The Samsung Z phone was slated to launch in Russia during the Tizen developers conference in Moscow in Q3 2014, but now the company has postponed the release indefinitely as Samsung and third-party developers fatten up the platform's ecosystem.
The Tizen phone was introduced back in June during the Tizen Developer Conference in San Francisco. The device featured a 4.8-inch screen with a 1280 x 720 resolution, a quad-core SoC clocked at 2.3 GHz, 2 GB of memory, 16 GB of internal storage, and a microSD card slot supporting 64 GB of additional storage.
Additional specifications listed a 2.1MP camera on the front, an 8MP camera on the back, a fingerprint sensor, dual-band Wireless N and Bluetooth 4.0 LE connectivity, and NFC. Other features included a heart rate sensor, GPS, a barometer, accelerometer, gyro, a proximity sensor, and more.
Tizen is Samsung's answer to Android, a flexible and open mobile device platform that comes with multiple profiles to suit the devices we use today, including Tizen IVI (in-vehicle infotainment), Tizen Mobile, Tizen TV, and Tizen Wearable. The Tizen platform resides within the Linux Foundation and is directed by a Technical Steering Group.
This is likely the fourth time the Tizen phone has seen a delay. The phone was supposedly ready for a debut right before Mobile World Congress 2014 in February, but France's Orange SA decided not to release the phone because Tizen "is not as mature as we may have expected at this point." NTT DoCoMo was also expected to sell the phone but pulled the plug and shelved its plans.
The Tizen device was originally expected to launch sometime in Q3 2013, but sources claimed that co-CEO JK Shin wanted extra time to "create the best smartphone," thus pushing the launch window into Q4 2013 instead (which never happened). At the time, the delay centered on the hardware, not the ecosystem.
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Why the hell is Samsung trying to move back to how things used to be?
What in the heck do they need Tizen for? What do people need it for?
Google has no cause for litigation unless they can prove Samsung has stolen something from them. Tizen, like Android, is based on Linux, which Google owns no rights to. Anyone is free to develop their own distro, including Samsung.
Google has no cause for litigation unless they can prove Samsung has stolen something from them. Tizen, like Android, is based on Linux, which Google owns no rights to. Anyone is free to develop their own distro, including Samsung.
Perhaps, but it seems to me like it's forking simply to try and stand out.
The simple fact is that while consumer choice is good in theory, the iPhone has categorically proved consumers don't need or want choice as a mass. Fragmentation is murder - it certainly makes my job as a tech salesperson a lot harder.
"I use facebook and look at cat videos."
"Good, well, pick one and let me know, because I don't have shit to go on from that."
Seriously. People don't need choice - they need simplicity, by force if necessary. Apple learned that a while back and look how successful they've been.
It existed years before Android.
Why the hell is Samsung trying to move back to how things used to be?
Because they want more money by making own market place...
Tizen is closed market area like iPhones and Windows phones have. It could mean more money to Samsung. If they sell Tizen phones a little bit cheaper than their Android phones, the may succeed, because normal user don't need so many apps. The want to make calls, send text messages, read email, maybe have a map, take selfie pictures and visit in face book, if they are very advanced even use the calendar... And I am not talking about heave users. I am talking about people who almost could manage with normal old fashion phone.
Is it sensible to put another system in the phone market... maybe not, but if Samsung manages to get customers, it is win win situation to them.