Android? Nope. iOS? No Way. Samsung's Newest Smart Watch Will Use a Different Operating System. Samsung is opting for an open source OS the company is hoping will give Android some real competition.
By Benjamin Kabin •
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Although Samsung's most popular devices run on Android, the company's new Gear smartwatch will not. And, no, it won't run on Apple's iOS, either.
Instead, the latest in wearable tech, which is expected later this month, will run Tizen, an open source, Linux-based operating system.
To date, Tizen does not run on any commercially available devices, but that's something Samsung hopes to change, according to USA Today. The Seoul, South Korea-based electronics maker is moving toward a strategy that sees it developing more of its own services and software.
Related: Why This Will Be a Huge Year for Wearable Tech
For those who haven't heard of Tizen, it is a collaborative project between Samsung and Intel that's designed to give users a uniform experience across devices including smartphones, tablets and vehicles. Along with the Gear watch, Samsung will present an updated HTML5 version of Tizen at this month's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.
Samsung launched an Android-based version of the Gear watch last year but is attempting to challenge Google's ambitions toward Android ubiquity as the world's predominant mobile operating system.
By becoming the mobile industry's software standard, Google's services are now the default on billions of devices, generating billions of dollars in revenue each year for them, but not for manufacturers. If companies like Samsung shut Google out early as wearable tech takes off, there might actually be some real competition.
Related: Despite Long, Litigious Past, Samsung and Google Announce 10 Year Cross-Licensing Agreement
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the location of Samsung's headquarters. Samsung is based in Seoul, South Korea.
