Samsung’s Updated Smartwatch Rumoured to Shun Android ⇥ usatoday.com

Alistair Barr, USA Today:

The new version of Samsung’s Gear smartwatch will run on Tizen, not Google’s Android operating system, the latest attempt by the South Korean electronics giant to develop more of its own software and services, according to three people familiar with the situation.

Samsung will unveil the updated Gear watch, and a new HTML5 version of the Tizen operating system, at an event at the Mobile World Congress later this month in Barcelona, the people said.

While I’m intrigued by its forthcoming introduction, the Galaxy S5 rumours aren’t that interesting to me yet. But this? This is very interesting.

The Galaxy Gear probably hasn’t sold that well. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s one of the top five best selling smartwatches or something, but I can’t even name five smartwatches; as a whole, the category isn’t really that hot yet. But this looks like Samsung is taking a cautionary shot at Google’s onerous and controlling OEM licensing agreement. It’s not a full-bore attack — there aren’t any rumours that the Galaxy S5 will be using Tizen — but it is a warning that Samsung isn’t loyal to Google. They’ll take their business elsewhere if they need to.