Trial Run in India
Samsung Electronics introduced its first Tizen-based smartphone to India on Jan. 14, after delaying its launch several times. The Z1, which is sold for 99,000 won (US$91) per unit, is aimed at responding to mid to low-priced phones manufactured by Chinese companies, including Xiaomi Technology. In addition, the launch is significant in that it is the beginning of Samsung's efforts to wean itself from Google's Android operating system (OS).
The competition to dominate the Indian market between Google's Android One, Motorola's Moto E, Xiaomi's Hongmi 1S, and the Z1 is expected to heat up. The price and technical specifications of Samsung's new model show that it targets the entry-level smartphone market.
What is noticeable is its high performance compared to price. The new model sports a 4 inch 480x800 resolution display, a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 768MB of RAM, 4G memory, and a 3.1 megapixel camera at the back. It also has new services such as Club Samsung, where 70 live TV channels and more than 23,000 songs are available, and Joy Box, which offers TV, movie, and music content. The new phone is widely acknowledged to have the potential to be sold at a price range of 400,000 won (US$369) if it was released in Korea instead of India. If Samsung's first Tizen-powered phone is successful, the tech giant is planning to roll out the new model in other countries like China, Russia, and Korea.
When it comes to the expansion of the ecosystem for Tizen OS, which was pointed out as a problem, Samsung is going to try hard to address the problem based on the success of the Indian market. Currently, the company is executing changed strategies to target the market with Tizen OS. The core strategy is to not just focus on smartphones, but use Tizen OS in various areas such as household appliances, smart homes, cameras, cars, and robots. Ultimately, it is planning to cultivate Tizen OS as an Internet of Things (IoT) platform.
The Tizen-enabled Gear series dominates the wearable market at the moment, which started with smart watches. Samsung's move can be interpreted as a bid to widen its reach in the wearable market based on the success of low-cost smartphones, and to reclaim a dominant position in the market from Google and Apple.
With the launch of its first Tizen phone, the industry is paying attention to whether or not Samsung can lessen its dependence on Google this year. According to data released by market research firm IDC in the third quarter of last year, Android OS occupies 84 percent of the smartphone OS market, and its market dominance is being strengthened.
Experts are saying that the number of handset makers and mobile carriers that will adopt Tizen OS in the future will determine whether or not the ecosystem for Tizen OS will be able to counter Google's Android OS.
Tizen OS is an open-source mobile platform developed by the Tizen Association, where Samsung and Intel are leading development efforts with the support of the Linux Foundation. In addition to the two companies, Fujitsu, Huawei, SK Telecom, KT, LG U+, NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone, Panasonic, Orange, and Sprintare are members. Aside from Samsung, Huawei and Fujitsu are the only mobile phone manufacturers, but it is uncertain whether or not the two Android phone makers will participate in the expansion of Tizen OS. A Huawei spokesman recently expressed negative views on Tizen phones.
Tizen OS was made based on the next-gen web standard Hypertext Markup Language 5 (HTML5), which enables people to use content with the same screen composition on various kinds of mobile devices. Therefore, it is not necessary to develop separate apps for OSs or mobile devices. An increase in Samsung's utilization of Tizen OS to expand the IoT, starting with TV, is attributable to this kind of innovative convenience.