“Late last month there was jubilation in the Samsung camp with the news that NTT DoCoMo was going to be the first carrier to offer a Tizen powered device – a smartphone powered by Samsung’s own OS,” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple. “Samsung was so excited about the project that they had sent invites out for an event scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, according to The Times of India.”
“Last week we reported that Japan’s largest carrier NTT Docomo had added more subscribers than its rivals for the first time since December 2011, gaining 279,100 net users last month due to their big push selling Apple’s iPhone,” Purcher reports. “Was Docomo’s success with the iPhone enough for them to kill the Tizen project?”
Purcher reports, “On January 16, Sankei Business quoted a high-ranking official at the telecoms operator as saying, ‘The release date is up in the air for now, and the project itself may be canceled.’ Ouch!”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Tizen’t happening. 🙂
Related articles:
iPhone powers NTT DoCoMo to No. 1 in new subscribers in Japan for first time since 2011 – January 10, 2014
NTT DoCoMo: Apple iPhone staunches subscriber hemorrhage – November 13, 2013
Apple strikes gold in Japan – November 11, 2013
DoCoMo subscribers flee as scarcity of Apple’s iPhone 5s hurts Japan’s biggest carrier – October 8, 2013
Significance of Apple’s iPhone deal with DoCoMo: 66% of carriers former customers left to buy an Apple iPhone – September 13, 2013
NTT DoCoMo and Apple team up to offer iPhone in Japan on Friday, September 20 – September 10, 2013
Japan’s DoCoMo paying heavily for not carrying Apple iPhone – July 5, 2013
Japan’s iPhone have-not Docomo loses record 40,800 subscribers in November as customers switch carriers for iPhone 5 – December 7, 2012
Funny take!
bwhahaha best MDN take so far in 2014
I’d actually rather have Samsung be semi-successful with Tizen since it would take users away from Android and be a huge mess of an OS that will never be as good as iOS or Android.
TL/DR: Bummer, could have hurt Android.
Whilst agree with you bpondo, NTT Docomo have to protect their image by not being seen as grasping for every straw that comes by their way.
Once they have recovered their subscriber loses to previous levels and the level of new subscribers to the iPhone package levels off, then, do I think that they will regard it the right time to test Tizen.
As I understand it, Tizen is based on Enlightenment. That *probably* means native, not Java. If so, it shouldn’t have the lag and other performance issues associated with Android.
Tizen is based on who’s enlightenment? Certainly not mine! If not mine, then how do I know that it shouldn’t have any issues associated with Android let alone, WP8, BBM, Open Moko and other software?
Much as I appreciate berzerking the sadists of the world, I’d rather Apple have some actual competition. I don’t see any point in driving the wannabes, plagiarists and ripoff scammers off a cliff. These clowns are already driving themselves off a cliff. Let the clowns have at it while the creators focus on creativity.
Ha, Ouch!
Add that to a bad Q3, pathetic response to the curved Galaxy Round phone and Samsung is stumbling badly. New stats today show that Apple’s iPhone share in the US just gained market share over Sammy, so it’s a bad start to the year for them.
The beginning of the end of Samsung’s perceive dominance of the smartphone market.
Apple just needs to stop coming out with new products for a couple of years and Samsung will be toast.
What kind of strategy is that? Apple needs to put their foot to the floor and accelerate.
Innovation
In a way, this is too bad. Here was an opportunity for Samsung to produce something original, not slavishly copied, and it was rebuffed. Leaving aside for a moment the question Tizen is original or not, this sends a message to Samsung that they’d better continue their slavish copying ways if they want to remain successful.
I’ve done a few years of work for samsung inthe middle of the last decade, so I wouldn’t hold my breath. They’re run by small fiefdoms of engineers each trying to shove the project or product so full of bloated features that nothing is ever unified.
TL/DR: They lack someone with an overall vision for their software and products.
Not only screwing Samsung but Intel as well. Tizen is really designed as a Trojan Horse to propagate widespread use of Intel’s x86 architecture CPU, although ostensibly ARM architecture chips are supported also.
But the question is, is there room for a fourth OS ecosystem when the third, Windows Phone 8, is scrabbling for market share despite being supported by the world’s biggest software company, Microsoft.
It’s hard to see a fourth ecosystem thriving alongside the two dominant mobile OSes, iOS & Android. Many have tried, webOS being one of the early ones, and many are trying, Ubuntu Sailfish & Firefox OS are the most notable examples. All are floundering for market share.
Something needs to replace windows.
I’d be OK with a pile of broken glass.
By what measure is MS the world’s largest software company? Apple sells more software in terms of installations, revenue, and profits.
The lack of a variety of OSs for desktop PCs is an anomaly in the business world, brought on my Microsoft’s luck + their illegal anti-competitive practices. There is room for quite a few platforms.
Remember the variety of platforms available before MS-DOS? New software routinely came out on 4-5 platforms simultaneously.
Yes, but that was during a time when “information” came from the sales person or an acquaintance. With the Internet, people can get reviews and information at their finger tips from all over the world. It’s much harder for a new platform to emerge unless it has something that’s really different to offer.
Unfortunately, Android is free and available for almost all pre-existing hardware, so companies making cheap “smart” phones from outdated components can easily install and modify (or not) an older version of Android.
Any new OS that tries to enter this market WILL need the backing of a few capable companies that can market the hell out of it.
Most likely Docomo was hedging their bets.
If the iPhone failed to stop the subscriber loss, they had Tizen ready to launch.
I was hoping to see what kind of patents Tizen violated and eventually get their asses sued again.
Maybe Samsung boasted too much and the Japanese are just saying no to a competitor that has no ethical guidance. The same company that would have no problems with doing the same shell schuffle or bait and switch with Japanese companies. Better to dump Samsung before Samsung dumps on them.
Samsung: The arc of Tizen is incredibly predictable. It has nothing going for it, especially software. You invested in the crappy Android thing. Now you’re stuck with it. Make the most of it. 😆
you are right
and Android is going down the path of the PC storyline where PC OEMS undercut and compete so much that nobody makes money: see Dell, HP, Acer etc and many give up like IBM. Low cost Chinese makers (as they start getting better) are going to irritate Samsung phone sales in the Asia market just like Lenovo is killing Dell in PCs.
Besides that Samsung is now worried that Goog will give preference status to its own Motorola for Android development.
Hey! Funny take!
I guess that NTT DoCoMo was expecting a Balmer check from Samsung, then found out that they weren’t going to get one.