Tizen, one of the new mobile operating systems that will be launched this year, has finally made a public appearance at this year’s Mobile World Congress. On a prototype device that looks just like a Samsung Galaxy SIII, Samsung showed off the latest 2.0 version of the operating system. The unveiling marks the first public appearance of the mobile OS, which has long kept away from the public eye as it slowly made progress. Tizen 2.0, codenamed Magnolia, is still far away from a public release, but the prototype device gives a quick feel of the user experience.
The Tizen Association, the consortium backed by members such as Samsung, Intel and carriers such as NTT Docomo, also announced new members to the consortium. On the hardware front, Chinese manufacturers Huawei have now pledged to work on Tizen devices as well as joining the “steering committee”. In addition, European carrier Orange have stated that they will be selling Tizen devices from Samsung and Huawei this year.
Also, some light has been shed on the future Tizen products. Firstly, Samsung announced that it will merge the best of its Bada OS features into Tizen, and then possibly retire Bada to concentrate on Tizen. Also, executives from both Orange and NTT Docomo stated that the first Tizen devices would be for the high-end market, costing above $300. Next year, Tizen devices would also be scaled down and marketed to the emerging markets.
After a relatively quiet period, it looks like Tizen is ramping up its efforts in the alternative mobile operating system race.
(Source: CNET)
