Samsung plans move to high-end Tizen 'open source' phone

Samsung is planning to release a high-end smartphone running on the open-source Tizen operating system in August or September, the company confirmed Friday.Samsung is planning to release a high-end smartphone running on the open-source Tizen operating system in August or September, the company confirmed Friday. Samsung makes half of the Android-based smartphones globally, and Android now has more than 70% of the global smartphone market, according to research firms IDC and Gartner. The confirmation of a phone running on Tizen came hours after Samsung announced the Galaxy S4 smartphone running Android 4.2.2 in a lavish Broadway-style production from New York City.

During the New York unveiling, analysts noticed that Samsung barely mentioned that the Galaxy S4 runs on Android. Some speculated that Samsung was setting the stage for greater use of Tizen as an OS. In a Bloomberg news service interview from Seoul, Lee Young Hee, executive vice president of Samsung mobile, said the Tizen smartphone "will be in the high-end category" and "the best product equipped with best specifications."...