Tizen Phone, TV
Samsung Electronics will unveil its Tizen-based smartphones and smart TVs next year.
“We will introduce the Tizen TV, shortly after the Tizen phone,” said Kim Hyun-seok, head of Samsung Electronics’ visual display unit, at the Smart TV Global Summit 2013 at the Renaissance Seoul Hotel on November 7.
The tech giant intended to showcase its first Tizen phone in October through NTT DoCoMo, but postponed the launch until next year in order to achieve higher quality.
The open-source Tizen is a Linux-based operating system that Samsung and Intel are working on. In addition to the two companies, SK Telecom, KT, LG U+, NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone, Panasonic, Orange, Sprint, Fujitsu, and Huawei are members of the Tizen Association.
Initially, Tizen was designed for mobile devices, but it is also used in smart TVs, cameras, printers, laptops, and in-vehicle infotainment devices.
A delay in the development of the operating system can be interpreted as developers’ efforts to add more diverse functions for wider use. In April 2012, Tizen released version 1.0, and version 2.2 was announced in July this year, after continuous upgrades.
As a keynote speaker at the event, Imad Sousou, Head of Tizen OS at Intel, said that Tizen 3.0 with advanced GFX and other various functions will be revealed, without mentioning a specific date. However, the new version is expected to be unveiled early next year.
The Intel executive is scheduled to attend the Tizen Developer Summit Korea 2013, which will be held in the Ritz-Carlton, Seoul from November 11 to 12. It is a technical conference led by Samsung and Intel.