Samsung may be making big Android bucks, but it's also working to wean itself off Google's mobile OS at the same time.
Samsung launched its new Galaxy S4 smartphone this week, but the company isn't putting all its eggs in Android's basket, revealing plans for additional high-end devices running the open-source Tizen platform.
Bloomberg reported Thursday that Samsung Electronics Co. plans to parlay its success with Android into a rival operating system viewed as less restrictive than Google's own.
Known as Tizen, the open-source platform is being developed by Samsung and 11 partners - including Intel and Sprint - as an effort to slow the domination of Android, which currently powers all of the Korean manufacturer's smartphones and tablets.
Samsung's Executive Vice President of Mobile Lee Young Hee confirmed the news in an interview, promising devices "in the high-end category" available in August or September.
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Although there are currently no devices yet available capable of running Tizen, the company behind the OS appears confident of its success.
"As an open-source software platform, Tizen is designed to make it easy to develop for a range of devices," a Tizen Association spokesperson told Bloomberg.
Samsung expects the first Tizen smartphone to be one of three premium handsets the company releases this year, kicking off with Thursday night's launch of the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy S4.
"The device will be the best product equipped with the best specifications," Samsung's Lee Young Hee added without elaborating on how it might differentiate from what the company has already done with Android.
