Despite its incredible success with Android, Samsung aims to begin breaking free with the launch of its own Tizen mobile operating system. Problem is, the company doesn’t quite seem ready to act on those ambitions, with another botched launch plan happening this week in Russia.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a planned event in Moscow yesterday to mark the official launch of the consumer-ready Samsung Z—revealed last month to debut in Russia sometime during Q3—was suddenly cancelled earlier this week.
Samsung still held an event for developers and displayed prototypes, but was not willing to peg a clearer release target for its first handset to run the alternative OS. In a statement, Samsung said that “the smartphone will appear on the Russian market later, when we can offer our users a fullest portfolio of applications.”
The company also confirmed to The Verge that the phone doesn’t currently have an official release date. Earlier plans to launch a device in Japan earlier this year were halted by phone network NTT Docomo, which claimed that the market wouldn’t support three major operating systems.
Currently, Tizen powers Samsung’s Galaxy Gear, Gear 2, and Gear 2 Neo smartwatches—the oldest of which launched as an Android device, but was converted via update—but getting it into a mass market handset has clearly been something of a struggle for the company.
Building Tizen into a robust and competitive OS could surely be a matter of billions of pounds for Samsung over time, as controlling both hardware and software means no longer cutting Google a cheque every time a Galaxy device is sold. When Samsung will feel confident enough to take that leap remains unclear, but developers are no doubt twiddling their thumbs waiting for action.
