“Samsung Electronics Co. launched a smartphone in India that runs its homegrown Tizen operating system, a major step by the world’s largest phone maker in advancing an alternative to Google Inc.’s dominant Android platform,” Jonathan Cheng reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“The launch, on Wednesday in New Delhi, comes after a year of frustrations and near-misses, underscoring the challenges of competing in the cutthroat market for mobile software and services, which is increasingly dominated by Google and Apple Inc.,” Cheng reports. “By focusing on first-time smartphone users in India and loading Tizen onto other electronic devices like televisions and smartwatches, Samsung hopes to gain a foothold in parts of the market where its Silicon Valley rivals aren’t entrenched players. The entry-level device, dubbed the Samsung Z1, will be priced at less than $100.”
“On several occasions last year, Samsung tried to launch a Tizen smartphone variously in Japan, France, Russia and India. In each case, the South Korean company or its partners balked at the last minute, citing a lack of support from the market — from carriers and from app developers,” Cheng reports. “This time around, Samsung overcame these obstacles by bypassing carriers and app developers, selling the phone directly through its retail networks and using Web versions of Facebook , Twitter and YouTube to cover over the fact that none of those companies built Tizen-specific apps.”
Cheng reports, “Google, whose Android platform powers nearly every smartphone that Samsung now sells, has been closely monitoring Tizen’s development, and some Android executives are concerned about the possibility of Google’s biggest smartphone partner trying to build an alternative, low-end operating system.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Schism among thieves.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz,” “Dan K.,” and “Judge Bork” for the heads up.]