Samsung accelerates moves to cut Google reliance
Samsung’s Z1 smartpones using Tizen software
Company confirms more Tizen-powered phones coming
By Kim Yoo-chul
Samsung Electronics said Sunday that it plans to release more Tizen-powered smartphones by the end of the year.
"In order to meet growing demand for less pricey smartphones, Samsung has continued developing its Tizen mobile platform. At least two smartphone models using that platform will come by the end of the year," an official said.
Tizen, which was released in April 2012, is being pushed by the Linux Foundation in a move to lesse the impact of the Google Android platform. Samsung Electronics and Intel are strong backers of the software.
The impressive success of the Samsung Z1 Tizen smartphone in the West Asian market is the main inspiration for Samsung's further expansion, said the official.
The tentatively named Z2 and Z3 will have enhanced hardware specifications and a 5-inch display at an affordable price, said the official. Samsung said the Z1 model sales, priced at about 90,000 won per unit, crossed the 500,000 mark in May.
Research firms said the Z1 was the number one selling phones in Bangladesh for the first quarter of this year.
The "Tizen commitment" represents Samsung's move to revitalize its smartphone business as the company was losing market share to cheap Chinese vendors such as Xiaomi and Huawei Technology.
Data from IDC showed Samsung lost 7 percent of its market share for the January-March period this year from a year earlier.
Facebook support, China plan
The Tizen platform has yet to become mainstream because the global mobile platform market is still divided into Android and Apple iOS. Samsung plans to hold massive forums for app developers in its target markets to expand its Tizen base.
The official said that it plans to hold the "Tizen Developer Summit India" forum, followed by the "Tizen Developer Conference" in Shenzhen, China on September.
"As China and India are countries that have huge growth potential in budget smartphones, Samsung is confident that the forums will draw big attentions," the official said.
In content, which is the crucial factor to gauge the success of mobile platform, Samsung plans to provide more benefits and incentives for application developers. "Content is everything. Ahead of the release of new devices, Samsung will open up its software development tools to encourage app developers."
The company plans to boost its partnership with Facebook for content.
Sources said that Facebook's Instagram and messengers will be used to promote some Tizen content.
"Samsung can supply competitive devices with content provided by Facebook and other strategic partners. Mobile ads and app markets could be the right channels to bring revenue offsetting the impacts of decline in device sales," he said.
Samsung is one of them with other global handset producers to feel intense pressure from increased spending to promote Android smartphones, benefitting Google as more consumers using the Google platform means more profits for Google.
For example, Google collects a 30 percent commission fee in return for purchasing services and products via its Google Play app market. Google has no imminent plans to share the profits earned from the Play with manufacturers.
"Google has a relatively weak presence in China's app market dominated by Chinese brands such as Baidu and TenCent and that leaves room for Samsung to do something with the Tizen software in collaboration with such Chinese brands," said one software developer by telephone.
"If the Tizen platform runs into the Google and Apple platforms, then this will be huge for Samsung," he said.
Samsung's already low margins _ on most of its Android smartphones _ are further aggravated by Microsoft's Android licensing fees. After a steady growth from 2010 to 2013, sales of Samsung smartphones declined last year.