Samsung has released the SDK for their Tizen-based wearables. Their newest crop of wearables all use Tizen (kind of), Samsung’s proprietary OS, which may just be limited to their wearables ambitions. It’s an interesting move for Samsung, as they didn’t release an SDK for previous wearables, but a smart decision when considering current and potential competition.
With the Galaxy Gear — which ran the more popular Android operating system — Samsung kept the device limited to their own designs. Though it could have meant more apps could utilize the device (and really put an end to the media complaining about it being a limited use device), they kept the Galaxy Gear out of the hands of Developers. Now it seems last year’s wearable was Samsung’s big toe in the water.
With the release of a Tizen SDK, Samsung is essentially soft-launching their OS to the world. If Samsung can effectively show that Tizen works well with Android, Developers may be more open to future Tizen devices. Those could be additional wearables, or a smartphone or tablet. For now, it looks as though Samsung is intent on creating an ecosystem around their wearables to compete with others like Pebble, and is likely a preemptive strike against the coming Google wearable SDK.
In the upstart wearable device market, Samsung is already king, selling more devices than any other OEM. The switch to Tizen for their wearables was a curious one, but now seems to signal a more controlled approach. The SDK will be available today from Samsung’s site, so interested Developers should go ahead and take a look.
Via: The Next Web
