Samsung is "doubling down" on software. With Samsung planning to use its operating system Tizen in new smart phones, increased focus on its own software can help the Korean company begin to divert some of the cash currently funneling through Android to Google -- but is that bad news for phone fans?
Speaking to AllThingsD this week, Samsung global media boss David Eun discussed the company's plans to "double down" on software. Using other companies' software in Samsung hardware is costing the company money, so Tizen is set to make its debut before the end of the year.
Tizen is an operating system developed by Intel and Samsung. The Webkit-based operating system is built on the Linux kernel and provides an alternative to Android, Google's operating system found in the best-selling Samsung Galaxy line-up of phones and tablets.
So why would Samsung want to break away from Android, which has been an integral part of making Samsung the world's best-selling phone company? Money, of course.
At present, Samsung makes money from selling phones -- but once they're sold, that's it. Meanwhile, Google takes over and starts milking each Android like a fruit machine, if you'll pardon the mixed metaphor, by taking a cut from all the apps, movies and music we buy in the Google Play store. Samsung is planning its own app store for the new software in order to steal a slice of that pie away from Google.
The downside for us is that another closed-off app ecosystem means it's harder to switch from one phone to another. Right now, you can buy loads of Android apps for your Samsung Galaxy S3 knowing you can happily switch to an HTC or other Android phone at a later date. But if you spend loads in the Samsung store, your next phone has to be a Samsung too, or you lose all your apps.
Do you think it's time for Samsung to ditch Android, or is Android the key to Samsung's success? Have we already got enough operating systems? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.
Update: A previous version of this story, entitled 'Samsung ditching Android this year with new Tizen phone' implied Samsung was moving away from Android entirely, which is not the case. The headline and text have been edited to clarify this.
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anonymous 15 February, 2013 09:40
I think that this was a bad decision by Samsung.
Eric Manktelow 15 February, 2013 09:42
Madness if you ask me!
Samsung hardware may be great but do they really think their brand-new untested OS can go against Google Play and the App store?
It would be suicide after all the success they've had with Android.
In fact, it such a stupid idea to drop Android (at least until their new venture has built up enough steam to compete) I don't believe it!
From nothing to a Android rival in the space of less than a year... No chance!
Damien2501 15 February, 2013 09:43
Google is coming into the hardware market, it makes sense for Samsung to move into the software market. Nevertheless, I think Samsung should have a diverse range of operating systems, it should continue its Android range in case Tizen doesn't succeed.
Eric Manktelow 15 February, 2013 09:46
On the plus side, HTC, Motorola and Sony will no doubt do very well out of this as all the previous Samsung owners hit upgrade time and start looking at other Android handsets.
anonymous 15 February, 2013 09:46
Choice is always good. I imagine Samsung will continue to make Android smartphones so if Tizen doesn't look viable then they'll just ditch it and continue with Android.
Peter Hudson 15 February, 2013 09:51
Sounds good to me. No Phone company should be dependent on Google. And also, the only reason Samsung have risen to the top is because they above all the other manufacturers have been able to turn Android into something that is pleasant to use. It shows that they do have a good sense for what makes a good software experience. Even if they did, debatabley (not sure if that is a word), copy it off apple. If they can get the app development community behind them then why not.
anonymous 15 February, 2013 09:54
if they do this then I'm no longer going to buy there phones.
Damien2501 15 February, 2013 09:56
Furthermore to my point, are people really buying Android phones or are they buying Samsung Galaxy phones?? Samsung Galaxy is bigger than Android thanks to Samsungs marketing budget. And I agree with Peter Hudson for once, Samsung needs to get the devs behind them and make it easy for them to make apps for Tizen.
anonymous 15 February, 2013 10:03
I think this is incredibly stupid stupid move on Samsungs part I was looking forward to by an S4 bit now I'm not if there going away from android.
Peter Hudson 15 February, 2013 10:05
Surely not Damien. Isn't that one of the signs of the apocalypse?
Damien2501 15 February, 2013 10:12
Aha, I doubt the meteor will hit the Earth tonight Peter.
anonymous 15 February, 2013 10:32
Bad idea
Kumar Velayutham 15 February, 2013 10:38
Can't tell if it's a good decision until we see the os.. if it's sleek,more stable than android and can get updates without delay then brilliant, love Samsung hardware but not a great fan of Android instability.. good stable os on Samsung phone sounds great, hope they won't messup the os.
anonymous 15 February, 2013 10:48
is this operating system cross-compatible with android apps? If it is then I don't care. If it isn't then no thank you
anonymous 15 February, 2013 11:12
complete junk this article.
yes samsung will be testing their new OS Tizen in the market.
Why would they stop making android phones as well? They're currently pushing both android and Windows Phone, and have has more phone os's in the past.
i said it before, i say it again
complete junk this article
Matthew Russell 15 February, 2013 11:14
I think this is a good move, i dont think there stop making andriod phones just yet, they make alot of money off them and that would be a bad move at the moment so there probably just develop for both
anonymous 15 February, 2013 11:19
Honestly I don't see nothing wrong in samsung ditching android. Let's be honest, samsung made android popular, even made the os stand against ios. Android has been on various smartphones for a while but they weren't a good competition to ios.
I like the move, samsung should of course try having their own OS but let's hope this OS doesn't screw up.
We need more OS out there n samsung's good with hardware designs, so I strongly belive they'll do find with the Tizen
anonymous 15 February, 2013 11:32
competição? quanto mais melhor.
anonymous 15 February, 2013 11:58
This design not good ly le
anonymous 15 February, 2013 12:14
Click bait eh? Nowhere has anyone said Samsung is stopping making Android phone. They are just testing the waters with Tizen. You are simply trying to create a frenzy with you cleverly worded headline. Samsung would be stupid to make a move away from Android so soon.
anonymous 15 February, 2013 14:38
Samsung have always been placing their bet on multitieard. They have multiple devices at different price range. They have various operating system from Bada, Window 8, android. So what if they add one more os.
anonymous 15 February, 2013 15:03
dont know what everyone is upset about... Sansubg isnt ditching android... they are still making tons of android devices this year into next... they just working on another alternativeas well. to try and build their own platform... I competition is good... pushes innovation.. but I wont be switch any time soon, if ever... tizen will need years to grow and catch up nywhere near android and ios... to move on now would be a backwards step... but years from now... who knows?
anonymous 15 February, 2013 15:15
Move to mainly web based apps - HTML5 - and it won't matter.
Damien2501 15 February, 2013 15:22
The original article stated that Samsung is ditching Android entirely, that is why some of the first few comments are a bit strange...I think its a brilliant idea that Samsung is adding another OS to its portfolio - Nokia and Motorola should have done this when they were at the height of their power.
anonymous 15 February, 2013 15:26
well let's be honest, this is going to be a big fail.
iOS will beat it hands down, Android cant even beat it let alone 'Tizen'.
oh dear.
Jonathan Aze 15 February, 2013 15:39
Does anyone remember Samsung's Bada operating system?... Thought not
That's all I'm saying
George Scott Leon 15 February, 2013 15:52
Asinine... Yes, they are "ditching" Android. Geez, I guess you are a fanboy of another OS, because nobody else could possibly come up with a more asinine title. Especially with the Note 8 & S IV already being hyped big time. They will not even miss a beat with Android. Samsung will not lessen Android production one bit. Hell Android cameras, tablet & phones will be their number one & this Tizien crap will not find itself anywhere but in emerging markets on entry level equipment for the foreseeable future.
anonymous 15 February, 2013 16:39
Apps should be cross platform, end of.......
Those selling the app should, by law, provide versions for all platforms in the same way most computer software is sold with Pc and Mac installation options.
anonymous 15 February, 2013 17:00
i think they should go for bada rather than tizen because it is their own os.
they should make more softwares for bada rather than jst switching to next os
anonymous 15 February, 2013 17:05
@Jonathan Aze yes I remember bada and what point are you trying make!
@anonymous 15:26 are you mad bru?
anonymous 15 February, 2013 17:08
A very bad(a) idea
anonymous 15 February, 2013 17:13
Forgot to mention Tizen is the new bada but target of Samsung is to make it better and more powerful in the years to come.
Bassam Al-Mawry 15 February, 2013 17:16
I think this may help Samsung produce cheaper lower end smartphones, but its best phones will continue to be android.
anonymous 15 February, 2013 17:36
I use Google products for e-mail, synchronizing all my files w/Docs and its simplicity in sharing through the OS on Samsung phones. If Samsung can match that and make it all easier, then I'll be on board.
anonymous 15 February, 2013 17:42
Idiotic. Android is why they are popular.
anonymous 15 February, 2013 17:49
I think it's a bad idea.
Those switching from Android/iOS/whatever will lose all their apps and whatever and vice-versa, this is one of the reasons I bought another iPhone.
anonymous 15 February, 2013 18:08
*cough Symbian. Excuse me.
anonymous 15 February, 2013 18:24
As a devoted 'Samsunger' I think this is a bad move. I really like Android and have bought top end Samsung phones due to this. If they move away this year I will look at buying a Sony Z instead of my planned Note upgrade.
anonymous 15 February, 2013 18:54
If this is the end of the Samsung/Android relationship, then good luck to Samsung and bye bye. I'm more than happy with stock Android on my Galaxy Nexus and have never felt that any manufacturers skins on top have bettered Android, if anything they have bogged it down.
anonymous 16 February, 2013 11:02
Most customers don't really choose a phone because of their os. Many of them would pick an iPhone but it's too expensive. Samsung makes big numbers with its Galaxy S line but even bigger ones with the low-mid range. Not much of this people would get hurted from a switch to Tizen.
Besides that, Tizen as well as Firefox OS are projects heavily sponsored from telecom carriers, who see the web as the only platform who can reach iOS and Android popularity through customers and even more important through developers.
It's going to become very interesting race for Google (which i actually support..) once Apple should release an iPhone, let's say, Nano, and when Samsung, Huawei and ZTE are going to push to the market their Tizen or Firefox OS devices.
anonymous 16 February, 2013 11:28
I don't think Samsung will drop Android - that would be suicide. There are few apps for Tizen at this stage, and plenty of competitors would step in with Android phones which would steal Samsung's market share overnight. I think Tizen is Samsung's answer to intermediate between dumb phones and smart phones which can run a full range of apps - a replacement for their Bada phone range.
anonymous 16 February, 2013 14:40
What if it could run existing android apps as well as Samsung apps?
anonymous 16 February, 2013 14:47
According to wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tizen
"Android applications can run on Tizen devices with OpenMobile's ACL".
It is very much HTML5 based so Tizen apps will work on other browsers. It could make Android redundant eventually.
anonymous 16 February, 2013 20:04
I would like to have my hands on the Tizen-run phone! Really anxious
anonymous 17 February, 2013 01:40
Samsung are developing Tizen for two reasons.
One is as a hedge against Google desire to draw back Android into a semi-walled garden and any plans to favour its own manufacturing arm (Motorola).
Two, because Samsung's ambitions are to emulate the Apple business model of being both hardware manufacturer and content provider. Their own OS would be needed to have any chance of achieving that goal.
in the meantime, Google will continue to leverage third party manufacturers like Samsung, in order to grow the Android user base and Samsung will continue to leverage Android to achieve their sales ambitions for hardware.
Both parties are spoiling to go their own way, but will hang onto their unholy alliance for as long as it suits them.
anonymous 19 February, 2013 13:12
The key to a successful business is deciding when to evolve your business and expand. Samsung have the right idea. You need to try and expand and evolve before android and ios monopolise the market.
anonymous 25 February, 2013 05:53
I believe Taizen is a open source OS, and it is not a new OS. It has been there for a while and was called meego( from intel). now samsung is co-developing the OS with intel.
The best part for us users is that Taizen will support android, Bada and ios apps.
I dont feel the main reason for switch is money, it is to remove dependency on Google as Google is going to focus on their nexus series phones through Motorola. Once google nexus goes hot, they will definitely delay releases to samsung.
anonymous 10 March, 2013 13:18
Much of Android's popularity is down to the success of Samsung.
The majority of Samsung consumers do NOT buy it because of the OS, the majority probably have no idea about the OS and no real preference as long as the phone looks good, works well, and has the apps they'll likely need.
I love the S3 (have an SGS and it's awful), but I would not use a non-Nexus phone - Well, it's unlikely anyway. There is no doubt that Touchwizz offers things that pure Andriod doesn't though and for 95% of consumers is probably the better choice.
Is this a bad move though? I don't think so, not for Samsung. It could impact Android though, so let's hope that Google steps things up to make sure that they don't feel the loss of Samsung costumers. A line of Nexus devices is a great start. Android TV is the next step, and better integration wbetween Chrome OS and Google Play (madness that Chrome OS can't download and store Google Play movies - I will more than likely get a Chromebook in the summer and would much rather watch movie on planes and trains on a 12 inch screen than my Nexus' 7 inch screen.
anonymous 10 March, 2013 13:20
And I also think that Google making their own Nexus devices is the next step. They've done it with the pixel which is utterly stunning. Now to make a £200 Google's own Chromebook, the next Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 to be made in house, and of course the next Nexus phone.
Keep the prices low and work on the content and integration. Improve Google Drive. Improve Google Now (I love it but it's far from seamless, great for appointments and travel etc. but not so much for leisure use).
anonymous 13 March, 2013 09:14
People say its suicide ... but all samsung would do is experiment releasing TIzen phones - there is no mention of them stopping with Android Phones.
Lets face it, Samsung has the best UI or Skin amongst all the manufacturers and are really making some innovative software - so they do have the experience.
Samsung sells windows and bada (do they still?) so what harm experimenting with a new OS - it cannot sell less than their windows phone.
If over the years the new OS kicks off - its more money for them. If it doesnt, the software experience gained would be put back into the Android platform.