Samsung to launch first Tizen-based smartphone in 2013: Report

Samsung is said to be working in collaboration with NTT DoCoMo to launch a Tizen-based smartphone, according to reports in Yomiuri Shimbun. This smartphone is expected to see the light of the day by sometime next year.

For people who may not be aware,Tizen is a linux-based open source operating system announced after the demise of MeeGo. Nokia had launched two MeeGo-based smartphones Nokia N9 and Nokia N950. However, it later decided to partner with Microsoft, leaving a foundation backed by Samsung, Intel and others to take over the development of the operating system, which became Tizen. Tizen is seen as an alternative operating system to iOS and Android. It is touted to be more open Android and HTML5-friendly by its makers. In May 2012, Tizen had released its 1.0 Larkspur SDK and source code.

Apart from NTT DoCoMo, CNET reports that there are other UK-based carriers such as Vodaphone and France Telecom, which are interested in this Tizen-based smartphone.

Samsung has always maintained that it is happy to look beyond Android and had even tried to push its own operating system Bada, which failed to garner much attention beyond the company itself.

There are also murmers doing the rounds that Samsung is looking at merging its Bada OS with Tizen. Given that in there has been absolutely no interest or momentum on the Bada platform, this could be a possibility. However, there is no official confirmation available on this front as of now.

Earlier in 2012, we had also seen another off shoot of MeeGo being spun into operating system dubbed as Sailfish OS, which too is expected to debut in 2013. So overall, it looks like we might get some freshness in terms of operating system in the new year.