Samsung Electronics is reportedly wrapping up plans to expand the use of the Tizen operating system in Europe. Samsung had indicated earlier on that it would start applying the Tizen operating system to all Samsung manufactured smart home appliances as against the use of Google’s Android OS or Apple’s iOS. The Koren tech giant is said to be hoping to bring a new approach to the market aimed at crushing Google’s dominance in Europe through home appliances, thus giving Tizen some of the market shares.
In this regard, Samsung intends to apply the Tizen OS to all small-sized products such as smart scales, thermometers, lighting apart from the major home appliances which are already covered by the Tizen OS. Those familiar with the Samsung ecosystem know that the tech giant has already been utilizing the Tizen OS for its smart home products, including its Smart TVs. The Tizen operating system is based on the Linux kernel which has a larger percentage of market share than any other kernel-based operating system according to a recent report. Tizen is a Linux based OS and has been actively used in Samsung’s long line up of Home Appliances as an embedded OS.When Tizen 4.0 was announced, Samsung disclosed that its use in the IoT industry is expected to grow massively and that is what we are about seeing unfold.
According to Lee Hyo-keun, vice president of Samsung Electronics, Tizen will in the future control all devices in the home. The rationale behind the adoption of its own Tizen OS in IoTs is due to the thought that maintaining its own independent OS would be more cost-effective in terms of the entire business synergies and costs. An official of the Korean tech giant expressed the opinion that in the absence of Tizen, Samsung would have to pay a lot of royalties to other OS developers such as Google every time a new home appliance comes on board. The official opined that it was much better for Samsung to run its own operating system on its IoT -based home appliances, thereby saving cost.
The move is figured to have got a boost in Europe already with growing anti-Google sentiments helping the Korean giant in its drive to expand the market, according to industry analysts. Before now, Samsung has been experiencing difficulties expanding its market share but an industry observer noted that it could be a game changer if the company approaches Europe using an entirely new strategy of “OS distribution through Europe’s anti-Google sentiment and home appliances.” Presently, there is a strong demand for new competitors to emerge who will be able to compete with Google, thus breaking the virtual monopoly the U.S. company enjoys worldwide.
Such anti-Google sentiment was demonstrated recently when the EU slapped Google with a record 2.24 billion euros fine for allegedly manipulating its search results in its favour, thus abusing its market-dominating position which is a violation of the EU’s Antitrust Act. Samsung is already leveraging on this with the recent visit of company vice president, Kwon Oh-hyun to Europe last month where he met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron in separate meetings. The Samsung VP was said to have proposed to the two EU leaders for an integrated OS for the EU against Google and Apple. The proposal is interpreted as a gambit to challenge Google and Apple with the belief that using a bypass which is by supplying the OS through home appliances. The foundation has already been laid, we’ll have to wait to see how this pans out but given Tizen’s open source nature, the adoption of the OS will be a good one for the entire tech industry.
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