Samsung launches Tizen smart phone Samsung Z1 in India

South Korean electronics giant Samsung, which early this month unveiled the first set of TVs that would run on the Tizen software, has launched the first Tizen-powered smart phone in India, Samsung Z1, priced at Rs5,700.

Earlier last year Samsung had launched its Tizen-based phones, which failed to get a favourable response and the company was now trying to use Tizen for TVs and other electronics products the way Apple and Google were using their OS.

According to the company, the Samsung Z1 offers exclusive benefits for localised entertainment apps and a simple user interface that makes mobility easier and more enjoyable, even for first-time smart phone users.

Speaking at the launch, Hyun Chil Hong, president and CEO of Samsung India Electronics, said, "The smart phone market in India is rapidly evolving, with many consumers using their device as their screen of choice for content, including videos, television programmes and video games as well as a range of apps."

Samsung, the biggest TV manufacturer in the world, is gearing up to compete with Google as it moves to make smart TVs.

Samsung has been reinventing itself as a purveyor of internet-connected appliances and wearable devices to grab share of a market that might be worth $7.1 trillion by 2020 (See: All Samsung products to be internet ready by 2020).

Samsung, which had risen to No 1 position globally for its phone sales, however, is depended on Google's Android.

The software powered 243 million smart phones Samsung shipped through 30 September. Google had given away the software in exchange for mobile advertising revenue and a share of app sales.

Samsung, however, now face the strongest challenge to its phone supremacy after posting the smallest quarterly earnings in over two years. Operating profit at the mobile-phone unit, the company's biggest cash generator, was down 74 per cent in the September quarter while sales retreated 33 per cent.

Reports, meanwhile, said Samsung's Lee family was trying to reinvent the electronic giant as a purveyor of internet-connected appliances to grab share of the $7.1-trillion market by 2020.

Analyst say there is little chance that the company's Tizen could edge out the two dominant operating systems. However, Tizen did stand a chance in TVs, they add.