The 2013 edition of the Mobile World Congress has been a lively affair. Despite being marred with initial disappointment regarding the Samsung Galaxy S4, the show has maintained its reputation for satisfying and satiating the immense appetite of mobile enthusiasts. Held at Barcelona every year, the Mobile World Congress is a three day event that ropes in some of the biggest players in the consumer electronics industry, and is often seen as a platform to showcase some of the most anticipated products that consumers can expect in the year ahead.
Although Samsung refrained from unveiling its flagship device, the Korean based manufacturer did spring a surprise with the launch of the Tizen OS. The new mobile OS developed in collaboration by Intel and Samsung made a splashy debut at this year’s Mobile World Congress. Tizen is seen as a potential competitor to Android as carriers continue to complain about the lack of customization possibilities in the popular OS.
Tizen has also sparked interest among a number of key carriers. European wireless carrier Orange has committed itself to selling Tizen phones from Samsung and Huawei this year. NTT Docomo was one of the first carriers to make the announcement regarding Tizen-based smartphones, stating that company will begin shipping in July or August this year. In fact, Kiyohito Nagato, the marketing director of NTT Docomo and also the Chairman of the Tizen Association, asserted that the carrier would make special efforts to promote devices based on the platform.
Both Orange and NTT Docomo are consistent in their strategy of releasing only mid to high end Tizen smartphones initially. These are expected to be priced around $300. Both carriers stated that low-end smartphones priced around $100 would be sold in emerging markets from 2014. Samsung seems to be investing a lot on this operating system, as it has components from the now-defunct BADA OS, which gained a bit of regional popularity in Samsung’s Wave line of smartphones.
NTT Docomo has expressed willingness to work with the Tizen OS as it would allow carriers to maintain control over the kind of interface and features which get into the hands of customers. This has been the common theme this year at the MWC, as more carriers feel at odds with companies like Google and Facebook that make money by sending data across their networks. This edition of the MWC has seen the unveiling of several open operating systems like Mozilla’s Firefox OS and also a few phones powered by Ubuntu.
