Gear 2, the follow up to the original Gear smartwatch released last year that connects to a Samsung phone including the Note 3 and Galaxy S4, may no longer run on the Android platform, reports USA Today.
Gear 2 will run on Tizen, the Linux-based open source platform which it is currently developing mobile devices on, say insider sources.
The move away from Android, Google’s platform which propelled Samsung to become the biggest phone maker globally, would put the Koreans back in the driving seat on software, and, potentially, gain more revenues from developing its own apps and services. The source suggests Samsung has developed a new line of Tizen smartphones to work with the wrist device, both of which are to be shown off at World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, next week.
Samsung has been working on the Tizen platform for some time.
Samsung CEO J.K. Shin has indicated he wants Tizen to be on everything, referring to it as a “simple alternative for Android.”
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