Samsung Tizen Phone Release Not Going to Happen in US Immediately, Says Exec

There's been a lot of talk about a Samsung Tizen phone hitting the markets in 2014, but it looks like the United States won't be a recipient of the new operating system for quite some time, according to recent comments by a Samsung executive.

"We don't feel the U.S. is a great test market for those kinds of products," Ryan Bidan, Samsung's director of product marketing for its U.S. mobile operations told FierceWireless.

"The U.S. market is pretty mature. Bringing a new entrant here that doesn't meet a certain performance bar would be a challenge. Recognizing that, we don't want to set ourselves up for failure."

Tizen is a mobile operating system based off Linux, with Samsung playing a huge role in attempting to bring it to the mainstream. By having its own in-house operating system rather than depending on Android, Samsung is hoping to make itself less reliant on outside influences such as Google, the company that develops Android. Tizen is uniquely positioned to work well with low-level hardware.

Still, despite the obvious advantages, Bidan has a point concerning the U.S. smartphone market. Android and iOS pretty much claim it all, shoving even major platforms like Blackberry and Windows Phone to the fringes. Samsung won't have an easy time convincing U.S. consumers that a Tizen phone is going to be the "it" item, especially when there's so many flashy Android smartphones and iPhones.

Samsung has confirmed that it will reveal Tizen-based devices at a special event Feb. 23, just before the Mobile World Congress kicks off in Barcelona.

Check back with The Latino Post for more information on Samsung Tizen devices as it becomes available.