Samsung may launch first Tizen phone in India

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A report says Samsung Electronics Co. will released its long-delayed Tizen-powered smartphone in India.

Tarun Malik, a Samsung executive, said in an interview with the Economic Times that a Tizen-based mobile device will be launched in November in India.

Samsung’s headquarters in Seoul said it had no comment.

The Tizen mobile platform is Samsung’s effort to build its own mobile ecosystem akin to Google’s or Apple’s.

Samsung earlier this year shelved plans to start selling its Tizen-based Samsung Z phone in Russia during the third quarter. It said it needed to enhance the Tizen “ecosystem” which apparently lacked sufficient developers and apps.

It was not clear if the upcoming Tizen smartphone in India would be the Samsung Z.