Samsung's Smart TV operating system, Tizen, will for the first time be made available to other TV makers. But who will take the bait?
"World's largest TV platform"
The news was announced during Samsung's developer conference (SDC 2019) where Tizen was touted as "the world's largest TV platform". Over 100 million TVs are currently running the Tizen OS, according to the company.
- "And soon, that platform will get even larger. That is because for the first time we are going to make the Tizen TV OS available to other manufacturers," said Sang Kim, VP of Smart TV, Samsung.
It is not clear in what form Tizen will be made available to other TV makers but it is an interesting development that puts Samsung in a different position. By making Tizen available to others, Samsung will compete more directly with the likes of Roku and Google.
In recent years, Samsung has expanded Tizen to include Bixby voice control, the Samsung TV Plus app with free content and partner integration, and other features. It also has a built-in store with apps such as Amazon, Apple's TV app, HBO, Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube.
Who will take the bait?
The move raises many questions. Is Samsung coming from a position of strength or is it being forced to expand Tizen's reach as competitors such as Apple, Amazon, Google and Roku move forward aggressively? Will partners accept that Samsung is not providing major software updates to Tizen-based TVs sold in previous years?
And which TV makers will take the bait? Competing manufacturers such as LG and Panasonic have their own platforms, while others such as Sony and TCL signed on to become Android or Roku partners years ago.
The timing of the announcement is interesting. With CES 2020 just around the corner, we suspect that we will get some answers very soon.
- Source: Samsung (2)
