Japan’s NTT Docomo has teamed up with Samsung and Intel to promote the development of a new mobile operating system for smartphones and tablets.
According to the Japanese-language Yomiuri Shimbun , the ultimate aim (beyond a new OS) is to form a business group that will eventually rival industry heavyweights Google and Apple.
Although official details are scarce, reports indicate that Samsung is likely to begin selling a Tizen-based smartphone at some point in 2013, with the first devices hitting the streets of Japan before launching in other countries.
The Tizen OS would allow mobile providers to more easily offer their own services to customers, such as online shopping, improved security features and curated app stores.
It should be noted that the rapidly evolving operating system has already garnered support from a number of wireless carriers, including Orange, SK telecom, Telefónica, Vodafone and Sprint Nextel.
Based on Linux, Tizen is built around HTML5 applications for smartphones, tablets, laptops, smart connected TVs and in-vehicle infotainment systems. The operating system is said to offer a flexible environment for application developers, based on jQuery and jQuery Mobile.
Tizen released version 2.0 alpha, code-named Magnolia on September 25, 2012. Tizen 2.0 is officially slated to go live in January 2013.
