Open source mobile technology from Samsung may soon be a reality, but not necessarily for the entire world, after the company announced that it could be ready to launch its Tizen operating system in Russia and India. The company has been looking at the opportunity as a means of entering markets where high-end smartphones are still not able to compete with cheaper mobile models due to economic constraints.
The company had expected Tizen operating system open source mobile phones to be on the market last year, but a few hiccups after mobile operators Orange and NTT DoCoMo backed away from previous plans to sell the smartphones, leaving the future for Tizen up in the air.
Now, it appears Samsung and Intel - partners on the project - may have enough financial resources to make it happen and have been developing the operating system. The goal is that Samsung can begin to move away from Google and its Android platform into something distinctly Samsung in product development and operating system.
India would be an ideal fit, most tech experts believe, considering the country is on the map for tech innovation and could be a great testing ground due to lower economic buying power many Indians have, but also a keen sense of having technology that is useful, easy to use and monetarily accessible. The hope is that Samsung can have higher quality smartphones in the future without seeing massive price hikes.
Samsung, however, has not confirmed media reports that the new phone would go on sale in Russia and India, nor was a time frame for the possible launch addressed.
"My take would be that there is more of an opportunity to drive volume in these markets as they don't depend on operator distribution or subsidies as the primary route to market," said Ben Wood, director of research at CCS Insight.
Others also tend to agree with the idea that by going into these markets could be a very smart move for Samsung in order to not lose out on the idea of not testing first.
Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics agreed: "We believe Samsung is taking a path of least resistance for Tizen. India and Russia are relatively open markets, where mobile operators have limited control over distribution channels. This makes it easier for Samsung to sell new Tizen models. Breaking into the established markets in Asia, Western Europe and North America, where operators have far more control over smartphone distribution, may prove to be trickier for Samsung," he said.
