三星Tizen系统为什么没成功？

    三星（Samsung）依赖谷歌（Google）的安卓操作系统已经赚了很多钱。那么三星为什么还要反复尝试构建自己的操作系统呢？

    三星可以免费在其Galaxy系列手机、Note系列平板和其它相关设备上安装安卓的开源系统。三星相当于把规划未来功能、确保系统安全和维护应用市场（谷歌的官方应用市场Play Store已经拥有150多万款应用）的任务都丢给了谷歌。最妙的是，三星还能从谷歌的移动广告收入中分一杯羹。

    那么三星为什么还要大费周章去构建自己的操作系统呢？因为它能做到。

    三星已经多次尝试发布运行Tizen系统的手机了，Tizen是三星与英特尔（Intel）共同开发的系统。三星在这个过程中也做过不少承诺，如许诺在它的高端旗舰机型上使用Tizen系统等等。不过就在上周，三星发布了一款旨在进军印度等新兴市场的低端Tizen手机——这相当于承认尽管付出了不少努力，但是Tizen还是缺乏吸引力。（三星和谷歌都没有就此给出评论。）

    科技界早就在质疑Tizen项目的魅力。一方面，移动设备市场很大程度上是由苹果的iOS和谷歌的安卓主宰，微软（Microsoft）的Windows Phone和黑莓（Blackberry）的BlackBerry OS只能远远落在后面亦步亦趋。如果有一个强势的老三，必将提高市场竞争程度，激励进一步的创新。而三星作为在全球范围内大获成功的设备厂商，可以说是一个最合适的人选。

    ABI研究公司移动设备、内容与应用高级业务总监杰夫•奥尔指出：“如果说有人能成功构建第三大生态系统，那一定是三星。他们能生产自己的CPU、调制解调器、显示器、软件……因此他们摆脱谷歌也是说得通的，而不是继续把自己拴在自己无法控制的东西上。”

    另一方面，之前一些昙花一现的操作系统（如命运多舛的Palm OS）也没能打破iOS和安卓的双头垄断。据市调机构IDC估算，全球使用iOS和安卓以外的其它操作系统的设备还不足5%。那么作为韩国电子巨头的三星，真的认为市场上还有足够的空间再容纳新的系统吗？

    大家可以思考一下Windows Phone的困境。微软的规模也不小了，但是它的WP系统只占据了美国的市场的3%，在全球市场上的占有率甚至还低于这个数。其它移动操作系统商的命运也都大同小异，比如Pam、收购Palm后的惠普（HP）、诺基亚（Nokia）、黑莓还有少数其他几家。

    因此，搭安卓的便车似乎是一种合理的做法。不过尽管谷歌的操作系统是免费的，但是它并非没有限制。比如谷歌自家的应用和它的Play Store必须要预装在手机里；像三星这样的厂家必须与谷歌签订“移动应用分销协议”，在协议中，谷歌对其合作伙伴生产的每一部安卓手机都有明确的要求。

    其中包括：

    • 谷歌将是设备上所有“连接点”的唯一搜索引擎，除非用户自己下载了其它替代应用。

    • 谷歌的搜索栏要被放置在手机或平板电脑主页的最顶端。

    • 必须有一个名叫“谷歌”的文件夹，里面包含大量谷歌的应用，比如Gmail等常用应用。

    Samsung has made a lot of money selling smartphones based on Google’s Android operating system. So why is Samsung trying again (and again, and again) to build out a competing operating system?

    Android, which is open source, is free for Samsung to install on its Galaxy phones, Note mini-tablets, and other connected devices. It allows Samsung to outsource to Google the concerns of planning of future features, locking down security, and maintaining a marketplace, the Play Store, with more than 1.5 million apps. Best of all, it actually earns Samsung a cut of Google’s mobile advertising revenue.

    So why would Samsung bother with its own operating system? Because it can.

    Samsung has tried many times to launch a phone running Tizen, an open-source operating system it is co-developing with Intel. It has made many promises along the way, such as using the OS for its high-end flagship devices. This week, it revealed that it would instead chase low-end devices in emerging markets such as India—an acknowledgement that, despite its efforts, Tizen lacks traction. (Neither Samsung nor Google responded to requests for comment.)

    The technology community has long questioned the merits of the Tizen project. On one hand, the mobile devices market is largely dominated by Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, with Microsoft’s Windows Phone and the BlackBerry OS trailing far behind. A strong third player would heighten competition and spur further innovation, and Samsung—a massively successful manufacturer of devices around the globe—is best positioned to be it.

    “If anyone can succeed at building that third ecosystem, it’s Samsung,” said Jeff Orr, senior practice director for mobile devices, content, and applications at ABI Research. “They make their own CPUs, modems, displays, software . . . it makes sense they would have a strategy to move away from Google, rather than locking themselves into something outside their own control.”

    On the other hand, previous operating systems (such as the ill-fated Palm OS) failed to disrupt an apparent duopoly. Less than five percent of smartphones around the world use operating systems that aren’t Android or iOS, according to estimates by IDC, the market research firm. Does the Korean electronics giant really think there’s room for one more?

    Consider the plight of Windows Phone. Microsoft MSFT -1.48% , no mom-and-pop shop, has just 3 percent of the U.S. market and even less share globally. Or perhaps consider the mobile OS remainders bin: Palm, HP (after buying Palm), Nokia, BlackBerry, and a handful of others.

    So hitching oneself to Android seems sensible. Yet while Google’s operating system is free, it is far from without constraints. For Google’s own apps and its Play Store to come pre-installed on a phone, companies like Samsung must sign “Mobile Application Distribution Agreements” that dictate requirements that Google GOOG 0.50% has for every Android phone and tablet that ships from its partners.

    Among them:

    • Google will be the only search engine used on the device at all “access points” unless the owners themselves download alternatives.

    • Google’s search bar will be at the top of the foremost home screen on the phone or tablet.

    • A folder labeled “Google” containing a large number of Google’s apps and prominent placement of certain apps such as Gmail.