Founded in 2011 as a software project between Samsung and Intel, Tizen was a direct continuation of Samsung’s past efforts on working with bringing Linux to the mobile space. These efforts dated back several years with several smaller alliances all working to build a proper mobile operating system. The DNA of Tizen consists of MeeGo (a Nokia/Intel venture), LiMo (a Linux/Samsung venture) and Bada (Samsung’s solo efforts) merging together to form the current state of Tizen.

Governed by the Tizen Association and part of the Linux Foundation, Tizen is meant to be an open source platform and is even described on its website as “progressive”. What they mean is that the members within the Tizen Association (LG, Fujitsu, Huawei, Intel, Kt, Docomo, Orange, Samsung, SK Telecom and Vodafone) vote on the direction that development of the system should take with the overarching goal of preventing a monopoly of any one manufacturer. However it should be noted that Samsung is going to be the primary manufacturer of devices that run Tizen within the foreseeable future. As well as the fact that Samsung and Intel are the two largest contributors to the Tizen OS and as such are the ones who will ultimately be in charge of its fate.

It’s an operating system with patience, and operating with the longterm goals it’s easy to overlook. The strategy of Tizen isn’t instantaneous, but rather persistence. As such it’s being developed to run on very low-end hardware as well as having capabilities to upscale to the latest hardware. The initial goal, when it does eventually launch, will be emerging markets where there is still room for competition. Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe are going to be testbeds for future rollouts globally. But a stated goal for the first releases is affordability by making Tizen cheap enough to eliminate subsidies on phones. Without subsidies, those manufacturers that do choose to contribute to expanding Tizen will be rewarded with a near instant profit. Not much of a profit, but something that’s at least guaranteed. All of this sounds good until faced with the problem of applications to run on.

Over the past year Samsung and Intel have been aggressively reaching out to top app developers (often in the form of cash) to convince them to develop for Tizen. Various companies have also signed on, showing interest in establishing a third alternative to the Google/Apple monopoly. Since Tizen itself is compatible with some of the same developing standards (like HTML5) that make Android so popular with most of the world it should be relatively easy to port apps between the two. Going even farther into Tizen the code itself allows for various manufacturers and business to overlay Tizen with custom skins. Essentially what most companies have done with Android without the restrictions Google imposes. But at the end of the day developers must ask themselves why they should develop for an operating system that isn’t even sold to the populace yet?

Samsung sells 1/3 of all phones sold globally. Within the Android ecosystem it accounts for 63% of those sales and generates a majority of the total Android profits. With only one problem: Google still controls the software. A company on the scale of Samsung dependent on another company for its software makes no sense (in the eye of this writer). Why should they tie themselves to Google when Google isn’t risking themselves in the highly competitive market of manufacturing smartphones?

Tizen is going to be Samsung’s break of independence. Not within a year, or even two. But within four years Samsung is going to use its market clout to push Tizen to the global market. The pieces are coming together, slowly and under the radar, as Samsung needs to fully refine the OS. Without the scrutiny of the consumer base there is the time Samsung needs to make Tizen a direct competitor and a true third player in a market dominated by Android and Apple.

Given the goals Samsung and Intel have, combined with the industrial scale of Samsung, they may very well succeed. Whether consumers follow is another thing entirely.