By Min-Jeong Lee
LAS VEGAS-- Samsung Electronics Co. will expand the use of its
homegrown operating system beyond wearable devices to include Tizen
in its televisions sold starting in February, its chief executive
said, highlighting the tech company's renewed push for adoption of
the alternative platform that has struggled to take off.
In an interview ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show, B.K.
Yoon, Samsung's top executive in charge of its consumer-electronics
business, said Tizen TV sets will be available in the U.S. and
Korea first, and the company will gradually roll them out in other
markets later this year.
"We've been at [Tizen development] for years and a lot of money
was spent," Mr. Yoon said. "We're going to continue upgrading the
platform."
Samsung is widening the use of Tizen to beef up its own internal
software capabilities as it attempts to compete better with Google
Inc. and Apple Inc. in the more lucrative market for software and
services. The South Korean company, whose profit from mobile phones
has tumbled amid stiff competition, has been developing Tizen as an
alternative to Google's Android mobile operating system for many
years. But because of a lack of interest from app developers,
Samsung has delayed the launch of a Tizen-based smartphone several
times.
The majority of Samsung's smartphones use Android, but Google
controls the user experience and is increasingly tightening rules
on how much Android handset makers such as Samsung can modify their
phones to attract new consumers. Android and Apple's iOS have a
tight grip on the mobile-operating-system market, together holding
more than a 95% share, according to third-quarter data from
Strategy Analytics, making it difficult for alternative operating
systems such as Tizen or Microsoft Corp.'s Windows to compete.
But launching Tizen on TVs could have its merits, analysts say,
as Samsung already holds a dominant position in the TV category
with roughly one-third of the global market. There isn't a dominant
or unified platform for Internet-connected TVs yet so the market is
up for grabs. Rival LG Electronics Inc. is competing with Samsung
through its WebSHYOS platform, the business it acquired from
Hewlett-Packard Co. in 2013. Meanwhile, efforts by Google to power
TVs with its proprietary software haven't taken off despite years
of development.
"If we have our own [TV] platform it will give us much greater
flexibility in what we want to do," Mr. Yoon said.
He added that a Tizen-based smartphone is still scheduled to be
launched this year in India, but declined to provide more
specifics.
Mr. Yoon said Tizen might have a better chance of succeeding in
the TV market because it isn't as reliant as smartphones on the
availability of applications. Tizen also allows for low power
consumption and less memory, he said. Tizen also could make it
easier for users to switch from watching traditional TV channels to
other Web-based video streaming platforms such as YouTube, Samsung
said.
"There could be other forms of Web-connected Samsung TVs, but
they will be eventually switched to Tizen-powered ones," Mr. Yoon
said.
Whether Samsung can succeed with Tizen, though, still isn't
assured, given the company's difficulties in introducing a
smartphone. But Samsung's revamped software ambition is tied
closely to its bigger goal of carving out a solid position in the
era of the so-called Internet of Things, an idea in which many
devices will come with Internet connectivity.
"We need an open ecosystem so that IoT devices can work
together, and we need to collaborate across industries," Mr. Yoon
said during a keynote speech at CES on Monday. "Samsung is prepared
to play a leading role."
Samsung says it aims to enable Internet connectivity in all of
its TVs by 2017 and expand connectivity to other consumer
electronics within the next five years.
It hopes to spur a replacement cycle for TVs and home appliances
such as refrigerators and washing machines by embedding more
software functions that it hopes will help boost sales, which have
been lackluster for several years. Samsung's consumer-electronics
business accounted for 24% of its total sales of 47.4 trillion won
($43 billion) in the third quarter of 2014, with mobile phones
still making up the bulk.
But even Mr. Yoon expressed doubt about whether the company can
generate a profit from these initiatives soon. "Everyone knows that
a huge change is due when all things become connected and that
relevant businesses will grow. But we don't know how big that will
be," he said, forecasting fresh revenue streams from Samsung's new
Internet-connected devices in 2016 or 2017.
Analysts say Samsung can't risk losing out on the opportunity to
control its software and services.
"If they can't do it internally, they have to do [mergers and
acquisitions] or find a way to have software capabilities
equipped," said Lee Seung-woo, an analyst with IBK Securities in
Seoul. "That's the only way they will survive the looming
change."
Write to Min-Jeong Lee at min-jeong.lee@wsj.com
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