Tizen in the Big Picture

In 2015, Samsung Electronics will be introducing a flood of devices running the Tizen (pronounced “tie-zen”) operating system. Tizen has already featured in our wearables and cameras, and will feature prominently in most of our smart appliances and all of our Smart TVs throughout 2015. And, today, we introduced our first Tizen smartphone, the  Samsung Z1. But, these devices are just the tip of the iceberg.

Tizen constitutes a large and important part of our Internet of Things (IoT) strategy that encompasses all device categories across the company. BK Yoon, the company’s CEO, announced last week at the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that all Samsung devices will be IoT-ready in five years. Many of these devices will be running Tizen. Considering that we sold around 665 million devices last year alone, that could translate into a lot of Tizen.

But, why Tizen?

The benefits of Tizen are very simple: Tizen is “lighter” than other operating systems. In other words, Tizen requires less processing power and memory, thereby ensuring faster device speeds while consuming less energy. As a result, consumers will benefit from a smoother user experience through the likes of shorter boot time, faster web browsing and seamless multitasking, all the while enjoying longer battery life.

Because it is lightweight, Tizen is optimal for use across a wide spectrum of smart connected devices in the IoT space. While devices with high demand for computing power, such as smartphones and TVs, are part of the IoT, so are devices that require relatively less computing power, such as wearables, vacuum cleaners and washing machines, which need an operating system like Tizen that is lightweight enough to run the devices without burning through processing power, memory and overall device performance.

Of course, the aforementioned benefits of Tizen would not be felt by consumers without an expansive ecosystem. While the Tizen ecosystem has tremendous potential for growth, we realize this potential cannot be realized without the participation of those at the core of any vibrant ecosystem: developers. In turn, we have been working with developers across the world to help shape ground-breaking applications and connecting them with consumers. Examples include the Samsung Developer Conference (SDC) and other developer events in major cities across the world, where we have engaged developers face-to-face and released Tizen software development kits (SDK) that cover different types of Tizen devices.

Through these efforts, we hope not only to expand the Tizen ecosystem, but also to diversify and acclimate the Tizen experience to fit the diversity of consumer lifestyles the world over.

So, does this all mean we’re abandoning other operating systems? No.

At Samsung, our IoT initiatives are being undertaken with foremost emphasis on openness. We want open platforms, and we also remain open to other operating systems. In doing so, we can ensure seamless interoperability and connectivity among the billions of devices being used daily. We also value the relationships we have built with our partners, as these relationships have helped us discover more ways to improve the user experience of our devices, ultimately creating more value for consumers.

That said, we clearly see the benefits of Tizen, as well as the convenience and diversity it can bring to consumers. We’re very excited to bring the Tizen experience to you, and we hope you’ll give it a try!

* All functionality, features, specifications and other product information provided in this article including, but not limited to, the benefits, performance, availability, and capabilities of the products and/or services are subject to change without notice or obligation.