Samsung first announced the Tizen OS in 2012 and planned to make it a strong competitor to Android. In its latest announcement, the company said that all of its smart TVs will be based on the Tizen platform in 2015.
Tizen, Samsung's own open-source OS, has so far failed to take over Android. However, this didn't stop the Korean company from continuing making products that run on the Tizen OS.
Building smart TVs that run on the Tizen platform will allow them to sync with other Tizen-based devices of Samsung.
"Tizen's compatibility with other devices establishes Samsung's Smart TVs as the control center of any Smart Home," said Samsung.
The electronics company also announced that it is about to unveil at the CES event in Las Vegas next week its first-ever smart TVs that run on the Tizen platform.
"Building our Smart Platform around Tizen is a groundbreaking step towards a much more intelligent and integrated system," said Lee Won-Jin, executive vice president of Samsung. "Tizen not only enriches the entertainment experience for our customers today, but unlocks great potential for the future in home entertainment."
Samsung, along with other companies such as Intel, has focused on creating products that are based on the Tizen OS, in an attempt to reduce its dependence on the Android OS of Google. Apart from the smart TVs, other products that can run on the Tizen platform include digital cameras, mobile devices and home appliances.
In 2014, Samsung rolled out its wearable smart watches and digital cameras based on its own Tizen OS. These are the Samsung Gear S and Samsung NX300M camera.
The Samsung Z is the company's first Tizen phone, which has yet to make it to the stores. In September, the phone was rumored to start going on sale in November. The launch date had to be postponed. A second launch attempt was made in December but it was again postponed. However, rumor has it that the device may finally launch on Jan. 18.
At present, the majority of Samsung's products are still running on Android. If the company wants to make its own Tizen OS a viable contender, it will have to release a Tizen-run smartphone soon.
When Samsung was asked how it hopes to market the Tizen OS next to Android, a spokesperson replied with a non-committal answer. According to the spokesperson, Samsung is a "multi-platform company" and that it wants to offer its customers a number of choices as much as possible.
