Samsung and Google fought alongside each other in the smartphone wars against the iconic Apple iPhone. But their partnership is fraying as attention shifts to the next wave of personal mobile tech: wearables.
For years, Samsung has been the most visible ambassador of Google's Android operating system on both phones and tablets. But according to USA Today, the company's newest smartwatch will abandon Android in favor of Tizen, an OS built by Samsung itself. The Tizen wearable, the paper says, is set for an unveiling next week at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona.
>Samsung could prove Apple and Google aren’t the only ones who can create a definitive platform for mobile tech.
That may seem like a betrayal, especially when you consider recent signals. Just last month, the two companies agreed to cross-license each other's patents, and Google appeared to display some added goodwill in jettisoning its Motorola Mobility division, ensuring it would no longer compete with Samsung as a smartphone maker.
But Google and Samsung both know that, at least for now, the smartphone war is over. Excepting the iPhone, Samsung and Google's Android have won. But as it moves into the wearable world with its Google Glass digital eyewear, Google is still a hardware maker, which makes it a Samsung competitor. Both companies are now looking to a future where wearables become the next big category of personal digital tech. And Samsung -- the first of the biggest tech companies to bring a smartwatch to market -- sees a chance to set the terms of that category, both in hardware and software.
If Samsung Does Software, Google Needs Hardware
So far, the Samsung Galaxy Gear is not a must-have. But that's not an especially big deal for Samsung, since no other smartwatch has yet taken hold of the market. The field is still wide open, inviting any hardware maker to figure out exactly what smartwatches are for and why they're essential rather than just fun. Amid the uncertainty, Samsung has a chance to prove that Apple and Google aren't the only companies that can create a definitive software platform for new mobile tech.
But Google also sees an opportunity here. That's why it forged ahead so aggressively with Google Glass rather than expending all of its energy trying to play catch-up as a smartphone maker. As also evidenced by its $3.2 billion purchase of thermostat and smoke-alarm maker Nest, Google is intent on tackling what's next in hardware.
Focusing on wearables is a necessary strategic move for the company. If other major mobile hardware makers such as Samsung abandon its Android software, Google will have to offer superior devices as well as a better operating system to keep Android on people's wrists and faces. And the company needs that presence to ensure that its core advertising business -- and the services that deliver those ads -- have a platform on which to land when mobile makes its next great leap.
By venturing into wearable hardware before the market has a true leader, Google is giving itself a fighting chance. If it makes the best wearable devices, the company can trust that Android will dominate wrists and faces the same way it now does phones and tablets.
The iPhone of Wearables
The obvious wild card in this mix is Apple. Though Android enjoys a much greater global market share on smartphones than iOS, Apple's operating system still defines the smartphone paradigm. Android partisans may argue that their particular non-Apple handset is better, but the iPhone will always be the device that originated the concept. So far, wearable tech hasn't had its iPhone. And Google and Samsung have a chance to fill the gap. But Apple could just as easily produce the iPhone of wearables -- the device that finally sends the concept into the mainstream.
One other possibility is that no one "wins." It's possible the whole wearables paradigm is different. Maybe wearables aren't just smartphones you wear on your wrist (Galaxy Gear) or face (Google Glass). Some analysts believe the real value of wearable tech will come from specificity of function rather than the sort of all-purpose mobile platform you find on smartphones and tablets. Instead of a single dominant operating system, the platform for wearable tech may be wearability itself. The hardware and software could be as varied as the many ways you can wear things on your body.
Certainly, if there's not a dominant OS, Google, Samsung, and Apple will still find ways to play in the wearable world. In that multiplicity, the real winners will be the rest of us.
