In 2013, a new giant may rise to challenge Apple‘s iOs and Google‘s Android. Tizen is the new giant.
This company that you may have never heard of has a long history behind it. Samsung’s collaboration with the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (EFL) for years was known as LiMo or Linux platform for mobile. LiMo’s name was changed to Tizen in 2011 when Intel joined the project. In 2012, LiMo Foundation changed its name to Tizen Association, and Sprint agreed to become part of the Tizen association. An alpha code called Magnolia was released. Tizen 2.0 is expected to be released this month.
The Japanese publication Daily Yomiuri reports that Samsung will release the first smart phone based on Tizen this year. There are reports that NTT Docomo, the biggest wireless carrier in Japan, will support Tizen. Vodafone in the UK and France Telecom in France are also reported to be on board.
Tizen is likely to be popular among developers because of its robust HTML5 development capabilities. HTML5 is rapidly becoming the top choice among app developers. Apple and Google have demonstrated that getting app developers on board is one of the keys to success.
Phone carriers are likely to prefer Tizen because it offers more flexibility than Android. Android makes it difficult for phone carriers such as Verizon to offer their own services.
As of this writing, Android holds about 70% market share, and iOS holds about 14% market share. Tizen has the potential to take significant market share from both Android and iOS…Read more at Forbes
