A new operating system is under development that could change the way mobile devices – and ultimately items within the home – communicate. Kate Jordan reports.

The mobile operating system (OS) market is currently dominated by Apple iOS and Android. The duopoly is so strong, older players – such as Windows and Blackberry – are being squeezed out, while newer alternatives like Sailfish struggle to have any impact. But now there’s a new prospect with a chance of success: Tizen.

Tizen is an open source OS based in Linux and written in HTML5 – but it’s more than a mere summation of its parts. As outlined on its website, Tizen “is a broadly supported industry effort to create and to grow a new, open and flexible mobile operating system.” The driving force is the Tizen Association, which includes big names such as Samsung, Intel, Fujitsu and Huawei, and is already building a community of developers. Along with the usual games and organisation applications, developers are looking home automation.

Tizen could potentially offer a lot to home automation. Not only is it being developed for controller devices – Samsung has already released TVs, mobiles and wearables running on Tizen – but its open source, flexible nature means Tizen can also be used for other connected items within the home, such as fridges, washing machines and locks.

As the Tizen website states: “Any device with any mobile OS that supports an HTML5 runtime should be able to run an HTML5 app, similar to how website content can be displayed on any number of web browsers. The ability for developers to “write once/run on many devices” is expected to create a robust selection of mobile apps which Tizen can leverage, rather than requiring developers to create native apps specifically for Tizen devices.”

So what? You may ask. Surely that’s what iOS and Android already do?

Yes and no. iOS is run exclusively on Apple hardware and developers can only release apps on the platform after paying a fee. The Android OS is open source, but is becoming increasingly attached to certain devices, especially with Google producing their own phones, such as the various Nexus models. Tizen is not limited to certain devices; it can used on any item in the Internet of Things.

Australian tech start-up Environexus provides home automation and control solutions and is an early adopter of Tizen. The company already has home control apps available on iOS and Android, but finds Tizen very interesting due to its flexibility and openness and is in the early stages of developing code for Tizen applications.

Environexus chief executive and co-founder Chris Hall says: “With Tizen, we have a lot more flexibility with regards to what we can explore from a level of integration. Tizen is top level and more than just an OS for smart devices.”

“What the Association ultimately want Tizen to be is a common architecture that ties together, not just smart devices, but TVs, washing machines and dishwashers. Any number of devices can potentially have a very small system in there, which means they’re automatically going to be connected through that Tizen network.”

To encourage Tizen’s use in the home automation sphere, its developers are focusing on auto-detection.

“The Tizen operating system is more about auto-detection than auto-awareness. It’ll actually know those devices are there, their capabilities and what it allows them to do,” Chris says.

Chris describes the Tizen tactic for becoming a home automation operating system as one of ‘stealth’. He reasons that Tizen won’t actively target the mobile market, but will instead insinuate itself into the home via smaller devices. Once people realise their TV and other home devices are running on Tizen, they will be more likely to adopt a smart device running that system.

Chris goes on to posit that this stealth tactic (which could also just be described as ease-of-use) will help Tizen tackle the next big hurdle in the smart home market: moving from early adopters to the mass market.

“The challenge in any new space is always how to jump that chasm, in this particular case, it’s about removing the need for people to even download applications. Once that process is gone, that’s when it really starts to move into that space of inflection point and actually start to get mass consumer support.”

Environexus’ commitment to Tizen at this stage is, however, much less than their already successful iOS and Android applications.

“For us, Tizen is more a case of being interesting in the long term, but certainly not something that’s going to have a massive impact in the short term.”

One company showing a much greater commitment to and investment in Tizen is Samsung. Currently, Samsung is the major original equipment manufacturer producing devices running on Tizen. Surprisingly, though, Tizen is not being emphasised in the release of new products.

When the first Samsung TVs running Tizen were lunched – the JS9500, JS9000 and JS8500 – at International CES in 2015, much more attention was focused on the new SUHD display, the use of nano-crystal semiconductors and the curved screen.

Similarly, when Samsung released its new wearable devices – the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo and Gear S – more attention was focused on the relatively new concept of a wearable smart device, rather than the OS.

In the mobile market, where the OS would normally be discussed and analysed the most, Samsung released its Tizen models to less-known markets. The Samsung Z SM-Z910F was released in Russia and the Z1 in India, both without any fanfare.

Tizen is simply not making a big deal of itself. Press releases from Samsung frequently mention a Tizen ecosystem – both in terms of different devices and content – and this metaphor appears to extend to its development, with a natural evolution being encouraged. That’s largely the point, if we accept Chris’ argument that the aim is to gradually infiltrate and integrate the connected home –perhaps even without the owner knowing.