Should Microsoft Be Worried About Tizen?

Windows Phone is a major step in the right direction for Microsoft’s mobile efforts and has certainly made major ground in its short time here on the market, especially when compared to Windows Phone 7.

That said, it still has an uphill battle ahead and has yet to secure “3rd place” in the mobile market, though it is getting ever closer as Blackberry continues to see somewhat modest adoption of its newest BB10 platform.

You have to wonder though, could Samsung’s Tizen soon get in Microsoft’s way? One of Android’s calls to fame has been that it is open-source, meaning that any vendor can use it without some of the same restrictions or licensing requirements that you’d need to put Windows Phone 8 on a phone. Tizen hopes to do the same thing.

For those that don’t know, Tizen isn’t owned by Samsung, but they are a very important player/owner of the technology, alongside other big boys like Intel and US mobile carrier, Sprint. Samsung has confirmed it is preparing its own Tizen handsets for this year, shortly after calling out Windows Phone 8 as not being an ‘important player’ in the mobile market.

With a similar strategy to Android, Tizen could end up proving as a popular choice if Samsung and its partners play their cards right. While Android and iOS have little to nothing to fear, the same case might not be made for other mobile players like Blackberry, Mozilla (Firefox OS) and Microsoft.

The biggest thing Microsoft has going for it is that MS controls services like Bing search that are highly integrated into the mobile experience, and has an OS that isn’t like all the others thanks to its live tile approach. The fact that Tizen looks quite similar to what is already on the tablet, might be something that holds them back from really taking off.

What Else Can Microsoft Do To Ensure That Tizen Doesn’t Present a Challenge?

Outside of being different, what can Microsoft do to make sure Tizen doesn’t catch on? While they can’t control what Samsung does with Tizen, they can make sure that they have a solid product that Tizen has trouble competing against.
Part of this will entail making certain that Microsoft and its partners keep pushing forward with solid handsets that take the focus away from other would-be 3rd place contenders. The second part of the strategy is to make sure that Windows Phone Blue is a success when it launches later this year.

Do you think Microsoft has anything to worry about with Tizen or not?

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