You don’t have to be clairvoyant to predict success for Tizen to based mainly on the ability to run a massive number of already known apps. Apps, either on iOS or Android have changed the world of telephony, a lesson both Nokia and Blackberry did not heed to, and we all know about their past and future.
For an odd-ball OS like Tizen but also Blackberry OS and Sailfish, to name a few, there are two shortcuts to get these apps: Create an OS that can handle Android apps or create a smart interface solution. That’s like creating an app that’s not too dependent on Android/Google interfaces or an extra layer that will “translate” Tizen commands to Android and the other way around. Many of you will now say that there’s a third route: HTML5 brings platform independence. Or so it should be. And that’s right but then they wouldn’t need a short cut in the first place. According to Industry sources Samsung expected to have enough cloud and leverage to bypass shortcuts and get the desired apps into a Tizen flavour. Which makes sense if you claim you can use Tizen on 256 Mb of RAM. You get: An extra layer takes it toll and 256Mb for Android over 2.0 isn’t to good an option. Blackberry’s 10 comes with a minimum of 1.5 Gb, just to handle the extra overhead.
The good thing about rumors is that you know it can be wrong until confirmed by the important players, in this case Samsung or the Tizen community. Still it’s not unlikely that, in need of market introduction speed, Tizen based devices will get their first apps not in a native but in an translated version. And only a few would cry wolf when they update, or upgrade, from an intermediary version to a full Tizen version. After all, we all get so many updates a week, only the discerning few would notice the difference. And even less would care, as long as that upgrade doesn’t cost money or loss of data. They might just notice the improvement in speed or graphics performance and it would buy Samsung a fast lane into the markets they crave.
Any sensible individual will tell you that for a mobile OS to work in today’s market, it needs to have all the major apps that are present on popular operating systems like Android or iOS. Given Android’s open nature, OS like BlackBerry and Sailfish decided to take the easy route and simply add support for Android apps, instantly giving them a huge number of apps right from the get go. Samsung, obviously banking on its market presence, didn’t think it needed to add Android app support to Tizen, but according to a new report, the company could be having second thoughts about that decision.
Tizen people are used to getting rumors and then some news. Or no news. But from where we stand a massive introduction of a Tizen operated smartphone is getting closer!
