One thing you must give Samsung credit for just simply not giving up on Tizen OS, despite having failed back in July 2014 to enter the Russian market as I’d reported in Samsung Z running Tizen OS fails to enter Russian Market hints at Caribbean and Latin American Launch.
Samsung now plans to launch the Samsung Z9000 ZEQ in or around India’s Diwali festivities in November 2014 . Apparently they’ve noticed that India seems to have a strong appetite for trying new smartphones such as competitor Blackberry, who’s Z3 was sold out in India earlier in July 2014.
It’s really tough for Samsung. Since MWC 2013 (Mobile World Congress) in January as noted in Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona announces Huawei Ascend P2 as Samsung debuts Tizen OS had dreams of owning both the Operating System with their own App store and Hardware just like their oft-copied but never quite Duplicated Rival Apple.
Perhaps for them India was a way of getting over rejection by emerging Chinese smartphone and global No. 1 Equipment maker Huawei, who in August of 2014 had rejected the use of their new Tizen OS, itself a result of a partnership between themselves and Intel as noted in Samsung’s Tizen OS launched to partake in Apple and Google’s App Economy.
However, there is another reason Samsung is desperate for some inkling of success: they’re losing money and marketshare since the Second Quarter of 2014 and it has now gotten worse in the Third Quarter of 2014 ending September 2014
Samsung racks up Profit and Sales losses – Tizen OS success needed for long-term profitability
The news is now out all across Asia about Samsung’s negative Third Quarter. Based on a preliminary announcement on Tuesday October 7th 2014, before their full Third Quarter 2014 Report up to Tuesday September 30th 2014, Samsung doesn’t look to be in such healthy shape:
- 7% drop in profits from US$ 9.5 billion (10.2 trillion Korean won) to US$3.8 billion (4.1 trillion won)
- 20% drop in sales earnings from to US$$43.7 billion (47 trillion won)
The culprit?
Samsung, in their bid to beat Apple’s two successful Apple iPhones, the Golden Apple iPhone 5S and the plastic Apple iPhone 5C as noted in my article Apple iPhone 5S and 5C Shortages means it’s coming to LIME Jamaica in November 2013, over extended themselves.
They made more smartphones than the market demanded, resulting in a glut of extra smartphones for which they couldn’t find sellers. Worse, these smartphones turned out to be too pricey when compared to the competition from cheaper brands such as HTC, Lenovo and yes, Huawei !
In fact, according to stats from IDC , both Apple and Samsung were losing marketshare to these aforementioned smartphone manufacturers. This as their smartphones are cheaper and target Developing World Markets that aren’t yet saturated with smartphones or have carrier lock-ins like the US of A.
Tizen Key to Samsung’s Growth – Embrace Dewali Festival of Lights or be Scrooged this Christmas
Thus Tizen, so elusive, remains the key, as it would allow Samsung to be profitable from BOTH the sale of hardware and their own App store, as is the case with both Apple and their iTunes Store in iOS and Google and their Google Play Store in Google Android, which practically runs on almost all smartphones, including their cheaper rivals.
Samsung is already reaping success from the use of the Tizen OS on smartwatches, specifically the Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 and Samsung Galaxy Gear Neo 2 smartwatch launched since Saturday February 22nd 2014 as chronicled in Don’t cry over spilt Samsung Milk as Samsung Galaxy S5 and smartwatches disappoint.
Perhaps making more products that use Tizen Os and then gradually introducing Tizen Os into the Smartphone arena will soften the transition. Samsung needs to move fast to capitalize on the Dewali Festival of Lights to get some traction behind Tizen OS. With such a dismal Third Quarter of 2014, Christmas 2014 may be the one where they get Scrooged in a Christmas Carol of their own making!