Can Google's Wear OS integrate with Tizen to break the stronghold of Apple Watch: Nikkei Cross Tech Active

The United States Google (Google) will hold an event for developers "Google I / O" for the first time in two years on May 18, 2021 US time. Among them, it is noteworthy that Samsung Electronics announced that it will integrate the OS "Wear OS by Google" for smart watches of the company and the OS "Tizen" installed in its own smart watches. Why did both operating systems need to be integrated?

Integrated smart watch OS

In 2020, Google's developer event "Google I / O" was canceled due to the influence of the new coronavirus. It is said that 2021 will be held online from the beginning, and it was successfully held on May 18, US time.

Since this was the first time in two years, the content of the keynote speech was wide-ranging. Specifically, it is designed with a new AI language model "LaMDA" that enables natural conversation, a new search algorithm "MUM" (Multitask Unified Mode) that transcends language barriers, and a new version of the smartphone OS "Android". For example, "Android 12" with greatly enhanced customization.

What's something your dad tought you?

— Varinder Sinngh Tue Jun 29 15:31:49 +0000 2021

One of the surprises was the announcement of Google's OS for smart watches, "Wear OS by Google." The content is that the company's Wear OS by Google and Samsung Electronics announced that it will integrate Tizen installed in its own smart watch Galaxy Watch series to provide a new OS. The new OS will be installed in Samsung Electronics smart watches in the future, and other smart watch makers will be able to use it as well as the conventional Wear OS by Google.

Google announced the integration of Samsung Electronics and OS for smartphones at "Google I / O 2021" held on May 18, 2021 US time. The company plans to offer a new OS that integrates "Wear OS by Google" and "Tizen" in the future. Image is a screenshot of the event [Click the image to enlarge]

By the way, Tizen is an open source OS originally developed for smartphones. Samsung Electronics is one of the leading companies in the project, and once actively adopted Tizen for its products, such as providing smartphones equipped with Tizen for emerging countries.

However, Tizen stalled without breaking the stronghold of Android and iOS on smartphones, such as the lack of support from NTT DoCoMo, which was positive about selling Tizen-equipped smartphones. Since then, Samsung Electronics has come to utilize it as an OS for smart TVs and smart watches.

"Tizen", which Samsung Electronics was focusing on, was originally developed as an OS for smartphones, and smartphones such as "Samsung Z1" actually equipped with Tizen were also sold. The photo is from "Mobile World Congress 2015" held from March 2, 2015 (taken by the author) [Click the image to enlarge]

Therefore, with the integration of Wear OS by Google and Tizen, the future of Tizen is also a concern. However, according to overseas reports, it seems that Samsung Electronics will continue to use Tizen as the OS for smart TVs, only for smart watches.

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