Samsung postpones Tizen smartphone launch in Russia

SUWON, South Korea, July 28 (UPI) -- Samsung is postponing the launch of its Tizen smartphone in Russia, dealing a small blow to the company's attempts to promote its operating system.

The company was expected to promote the device at a developers' conference in Moscow, but has canceled the event, leaving Tizen developers confused as to the fate of the phone. Samsung has been working hard to develop its own OS, in an attempt to move away from Google's Android OS.

Currently, all Samsung devices use Android, but the phone maker wants to develop its own operating system to capture a larger share of the mobile operating system market.

"To further enhance Tizen ecosystem, Samsung plans to postpone the launch of Samsung Z in Russia. Samsung will continue to actively work with Tizen Association members pursuing to further develop both Tizen OS and the Tizen ecosystem," said Samsung, in statement.

Samsung did not give any specific timelines for when it expects to launch the device. The operating system is developed by the Tizen Association and includes phone makers like Fujitsu and Panasonic, chip maker Intel and service providers DoCoMo, Orange and Vodafone.

The South Korea-based company announced the Samsung Z smartphone earlier this year with plans to launch it in India and Russia, but India was later dropped. The company has also been working to ensure other devices are Tizen compatible, including the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo smartwatches.

Samsung has tried to launch Tizen-compatible devices to maintain interest in the operating system but earlier this year Japan's NTT DoCoMo called off plans to develop a Tizen smartphone and European cell phone operators have stopped being vocal about their support for the new OS.